Autism. Nonverbal at 3. Longing for their first words so hard :(

[Alwaysmum11]

Hi, my twins are turning 3 in March. They are both non verbal. And show lots of signs of ASD. DS Low attention span. Meltdowns. Hits himself in the face ALOT. DD is more sociable and has better joint attention but again no speech. They do babble away and have some understanding (not age approppriate though) but no words. Weve had a really difficult xmas twins have struggled with this period and are so frustrated all the time we are all exhausted. im trying my best for the both but long so hard for them to develop speech. I know theres so much more ways to communicate if that doesnt come and we do work on makaton with them too but what i wanted to ask was has anyone whos child has ASD and was non verbal turning 3 go on to develop good speech? Really hoping 2023 is their year!

My DD didn't speak until she was 3 and has now been referred for an ASD assessment.

She's older but once her speech did come, it was great, although she did need some SLT.

Have they been referred for assessment and are they under SLT?

Hi @PritiPatelsMaker thanks so much for your response. They are on the pathway for assesment but their pead has been off sick for some time now so things have fallen behind. They are also under SLT although unfortunately so far we havent found this service all that great but they do give us some tasks to work on when we do see them which we continue to do. Its such a hard time for them the frustration when they cant get across their needs/wants i just feel so bad for them. Glad to hear your daughters speech came on great did she have no actual words before 3?

Glad to hear your daughters speech came on great did she have no actual words before 3? no she didn't and then when it came she stated speaking in sentences.

I can understand their frustration. Have you been advised to start using Makaton?

Do they go to Nursery?

Yes we do use makaton along side words definately with certain repetitive words. Their understanding is also delayed although weve seen a huge increase in this. They do progress slowly and when i look back 6/7 months theyve come on lots but then they are also 6/7 months older so have fallen further behind in that sense its so difficult. I just want life to be easier for them thanks very much we keep going and hoping for the breakthrough 🥰

Oh and yes they do go to nursery 3 days a week while i work. Nursery are good with them 1 likes it quiet and organised the other loves to be in the middle of all the chaos ha! Speech do always pass some tasks on to nursery to do with them also and they have already discussed needing a care plan in place before school but thats a little while off yet.

There's also time yet. My DD literally starting chatting the week she turned 3.

Watching this with interest. My DD is 3.5 and not speaking, also on autism diagnosis pathway and that is very much expected

she did have some words but then regressed around 2yo

it is so tough I really sympathise and relate to what you say re progress being very relative when they are getting older and therefore further behind etc.

My son was nonverbal at 3. Started getting a few words at 4 but very very hard to understand and was still incomprehensible to outsiders until he was 8 .
Now an adult and never shuts up (and I still feel guilty when I can't face listening to his very repetitive conversations some days)

Makaton is great, but many children with ASD don't take to it as they don't have the innate desire to communicate in the same way as NT children.

I would really recommend investigating using PECS.. it doesn't hinder speech and can really give a voice :) (I have worked in Special School with children who have profound autism for many years)

And don't give up... our kids can surprise us :)

@StillMedusa thankyou i will look into PECS SALT have never mentioned PECS to us. But i have heard of it are they the right age to introduce this ?

Absolutely the right age... the earlier the better!! I can honestly say that over the many years in special school I have seen children's lives transformed with PECS.
Some use PECS for a year or so and then drop it as speech emerges; some don't develop speech, because it's simply not who they are, but become very competent with PECS and usually move on to an ipad with Augamentative speech software (basically digital PECS.. very handy as you can take an instant photo of something and add it to their vocabulary)

In the early days.. print a pic (small enough to hand over..and laminate it preferably) of their juice cups/ crisps.. favourite toy.. whatever is motivating to THEM. You need two adults to initiate in the beginning.. one adult sits in front and holds the motivating item, when the child reaches for it, the other adult from behind, literally moves the child's arm to pick up the pic and hand it over.. and instantly gets the item they want. Repeat, repeat. If it's motivating enough the child will start to hand the photo over themselves..

Please ask your speech therapist!!! We use Makaton alongside, but many kids with ASD don't copy, which makes it a bit difficult.

A nice example.. last year I worked with a child who was non verbal, severely autistic and completely deaf (won't wear their cochlear hearing aids either) Aged 6 they basically tantrummed their way through the school day ( very strong personality!) PECS hadn't been introduced as understandably they were trying to initiate BSL.
Finally PECS was introduced. In ONE year they have gone from hit/kick to using their pecs book with about 50 photos and symbols in to ask for what they want; to choose snacks and lunch and to tell us if something is wrong. Their family is so happy.
They can now COMMUNICATE!!!! :)

So yes... find out and go for it!

Watching this thread with interest. My son is 28 months and non verbal in communication ways but can say words not in context. We believe he is ASD and he has his 2 year check next week. Hoping to be referred to SLT. I didn’t speak until I was 4 so that may have something to do with it, but he is showing other traits of ASD. Wishing you loads of luck x