3/5 year old not talking at nursery

[Lunaruby]

Hi my daughter is 3.6 and she just started in nursery in january and just started talking then . Her nursery says she is not talking or playing with other children but at home she talks saying new words all the time the thing she struggles with is asking fpr things she will just take my hand but she can name a lot of things and objects . Can sing nursery rhymes ,knows colours can count to 10 can count to 10 .she has good understanding . She is potty trained nursery thinks she has asd we have the education physcologist coming out in 2 weeks. Has anyone else have similar situations ?

Yes and my DC2 did receive a diagnosis of AuDHD but not until much later.

Has she been referred for a hearing test and SaLT yet? This is important as Glue Ear can present in a very similar way to ASD.

Has she been referred for Portage too?

And is she on the Assessment Pathway?

If you’re in England I would start the process of applying for an ECHP now as they can take a while. Some of the helpful MNers in the SN Children section should be able to offer advice on what it should include and how to apply

Please don't become anxious about this. Even if you try to hide it your child will definitely sense it. Just remember she's only 3! This is exactly why children in Europe don't start school until the age of 6.

My DD was shy at nursery but chatty at home for a long time. They do catch up in their own time and 3 is too young to know if anything is going on. Over analysing will only make things worse.

Enjoy this age, in the blink of an eye they'll be all grown up and living their own lives.

I think if it’s got to the point where an Educational Psychologist is involved it would be weird if the OP didn’t have some worries.

The sheer amount of evidence you need jist to get anywhere near the assessment stage is usually overwhelming.

6 ! They are pushing for her to go to a special school before even having the educational physcologist see her and next year in august she will only be 4 and a half when they want her to go. i think its way to young . Especially when she only started talking in january i can keep her back a year till she is 5 and a half . Were in scotland . The only thing with her is asking questions and answering telling us what she wants the only thing she will say is mummy ? Daddy or mummy where r you? If shes in the other room . She will pretend play with her toys like paw patrol figures she loves and talk away like lets go or hi rubble hi everest lets go to the shops etc . Can name lots of things . Sings lots of nursery rhymes .

Everyone seems to jump straight to autism these days. There are lots of things that could be contributing to this. I’m a SALT, and I would strongly recommend she is referred to speech and language therapy and if there is a long waiting list for NHS, as there seems to be these days, then go private. Your DD should be assessed at home not just in school, and if possible record examples of her talking at home to play to the SLT and other professionals.

I know they do. Yes shes on the waiting list for salt but the waiting list is 70 weeks shes been on it since last christmas but prob wont be seen till january ,feb coming. I have phoned up a few times to the salt helpline and they sent me videos . She has came on leaps and bounds since january . Yes i have been recording her with things she is saying . I am writing everything down as well that i can tell the educational physcologist. she has great understanding of a lot of things. So frustrating shes not saying anything at nursery or playing with other kids . Shes fine at home with her brother and cousins .

Obviously without seeing her and completing a thorough case history assessment I can’t say if this is what is going on, but have a look into Selective Mutism - here is a link to a UK based charity and see if it’s useful https://www.selectivemutism.org.uk/

When I was posting about my DD who was slightly younger and not speaking nobody even mentioned ASD. I wish they had. It took us years to finally understand what was going on and get an assessment.

In our case SaLT absolutely missed the
fact that DD has both ASD and ADHD.

@Lunarubyyou might get some support and information if you post in the SN Children Section. I don’t think they have ECHPs in Scotland but they can help you with what is available

Not talking til 3.6 is a definite worry. Not talking at nursery is irrelevant.

From what you’re saying, it sounds like she isn’t speaking full sentences yet at home. You mentioned she is taking you to things she wants and only saying single words or nursery rhymes. By 3.6 a child should be talking in full sentences and you should be able to have an actual back and forth conversation with her. An autism diagnosis doesn’t change who she is. It might not be what you expected for her, but she can still life a happy and fulfilling life. It’s a label at the end of the day which described a personality type.

I was going to say the exact same. From what the OP has outlined above her DD's speech seems more in line with my 1.5 year old. It's great that shes saying words but definitely should have clear sentences by now.

She started talking at 3 that was in january. But shes not talking at nursery at all

Will see what the ep says . It could be a speech delay as she isnt showing any other autistic traits

If you think that she doesn’t have any other ASD traits but Nursery are suggesting a Special School, Thats quite a difference. I can see why you would be concerned enough to start this thread.

Has anyone asked you to fill out these assessments before you see the EP?

48 month Social & Emotional Ages & Stages

and the 42 month Ages & Stages?

Let us know how she scores

Please don't panic. If you don't see any other symptoms relating to ADHD or autism I wouldn't overworry. It sounds like in other areas she is doing well. My daughter is 4 and started school this week. She previously went to nursery and was very, very quiet there. She very slowly grew in confidence throughout the year. She has been slow with her speech development but always said loads at home but stayed very quiet in nursery and often played alone. Her speech is really coming along now and made friends at nursery who she is now at school with. She is at the top of the list now for speech therapy but she is coming on loads. You said you're little one has been making lots of progress too, which is key. Try not to worry

Has the nursery offered one-to-one support? My daughter took part in a talk boost programme which was one-to-one three times a week. I would say at 3.5 she wasn't talking in full sentences either and noone has ever mentioned special schools or neurodivergence. I wonder if the nursery is the right fit for her.

Your daughter sounds so much like my daughter it is really just her speech and not playing with other kids at nursery but she did cpunt to 10 fpr her teacher yesterday . She is on the waiting list for speech therapy she can say lots of things in the house just asking for things she struggles to say to us . The education physcologist is coming in on tuesday for a meeting with me and then she will asses her then hopefully they can put in place a 1-1 . Hopefully it will help her

If she is saying lots at home and good in other areas I would say that's really positive. Counting to ten is brilliant too for your teacher. It's the small wins you have to take. Also if she only just started talking in Jan she's no way going up be as advanced as her peers. It sounds like a confidence thing which will grow over time. I hope the visit goes well and really hope she has not placed in a special school unnecessarily. My daughter has the one-to-one sessions during nursery. If they offer that I would really recommend she joins that. I think my daughter finds lots of other children overwhelming. But she has a lovely small group of friends now which I think really helped her grow in confidence. I also realised she understood a lot less than I thought. So I think sometimes she didn't understand games or activities so she did her own things or just didn't really engage. Things had to be really broken down for her and her teachers just needed to be patient. They were really good with her. I hope your daughter gets the support she needs.

How did you get in either the assessment forms I linked to @Lunaruby?