Speech referral. Please, please help!

[Rorysmam]

I've raised concerns about my sons lack of speech since he was 13 months old. He's 3 in June. talking to hv was waste of time. 2 appointment regarding his hearing, no concerns raised so no hearing test. Now nursery completed a referral for speech therapy end of January. I'd told them from September about my concerns. Now nursery lead (who is also SENCO) says he is showing a couple of signs of autism. These could easily be explained as falling behind due to a restricted life in lockdown but needs to be mentioned to rule out. So I chased up his speech referral today... dont worry, she said, we have it and it'll be around end of June when he's seen. Erm, no. Nearly 2 years of this, I've had enough. Where else can I turn? Can nursery speed things along? I'm now so worried about him, if he needs any help I need to know now. He's my baby. My one only and I feel like I've failed him. I'm trying so hard to contain it.

I have concerns about my little one regarding autism (as I have three nephws all on the spectrum) and it runs on OH side of the family. he has just turned 12months old and not speaking so I've done a lot of research (altho I know v early to diagnose)

1. do you have any free speech and language sessions at your local council (where they do plygroups etc)
2. have you heard of apps such as speech blurbs or Gemini -Gemini is expensive but is a therapy based programme
3. private speech and language therapy?
4. maybe see if you can buy/get some secondhand books to help with speech therapy
5. follow speech and language therapists on tiktok Instagram etc to see if you can get any tips in the meanwhile

I appreciate it is really hard especially if there are financial constraints, also how is your little ones comprehension?

HV do nothing in my opinion UK has a wait and see policy instead of dealing with things at the right time (which could have a further impact down the line)

Financially, no way can I afford private. I've had apps in the past, I've researched online for hours. I have a couple of activities from nursery which they are also doing with him. A plan has been written up. Nursery lead explained that an observation is needed, to determine which needs he has so to know what exact activities/support he needs. But what is in place should help a little but covers a broad range. His comprehension was very limited until recently, now he knows a lot of what you say to him. Sometimes he chooses not to follow those instructions, I can see in his face he knows what's been asked but doesn't want to.
HV has me at my wits end. She had a nursery practitioner complete his last 2 reviews since id raised concerns about his speech. Haven't heard from her since July 2020. Nursery practitioner i Haven't heard from since January.

I’m not sure about about how to speed up speech therapy but there are definitely things at home that you could be doing in the mean time. Listen to the podcast “teach me to talk”, she’s excellent at giving play ideas for late talkers and those at risk of ASD. Really is worth a listen.