Speech and language

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I have a 3 year old little boy who has been diagnosed as autistic he is none verbal, he says no words at all , he used to around 18 months say mama and nana and no, but now there is nothing , we have been on the speech and language waiting list for over a year , I contacted them today and the wait is going to be several months longer. I asked what could I be doing in the meantime and they was very unhelpful and told me they didn't have any leaflets or activities to be getting on with until he is assessed.

So I am asking are there any parents who's autistic children has started speech and language therapy ? What kind of activities do they do with the children ? That I could be doing whilst waiting.
My little boy has only just turned 3 and is only understanding very simple instructions
Thank you

DS1, ASD, diagnosed at 3 years. Development delay in many areas, no communication apart from shrieks, grunts and tears, non verbal until 4 years.

We started with objects of reference, then moved on to PECS and makaton. We did objects of reference at home before seeing SALT, they moved us on to simple PECS and one or two makaton signs. It took a long time for him to grasp the concept of each and we had to be very consistent with the usage.

To start we would find a game or activity he would play one on one, such as the click clack track, when the car came to the bottom we would say more and sign more. After a bit we would move his hands into the sign.

For PECS we started with his favourite food or comfort object. When he would show he wanted something we would show him the card, give him the card and encourage him to give it back so we could get his item.

We also had a now/then PECS board and a routine PECS board we would show him throughout the day. We still use these now.

My boy is autistic and speech delayed. He does talk but not enough for his age, here are some tips I've learnt along the way

Do lots of pauses so say ready, steady. And let the child say no. Give them a chance to say the correct word. If not then obviously say it but give a decent pause basically

Give choices. Offer for an example apple and banana, hold them out and offer using words like would u apple or banana. If they point or reach out say oh ok u would like the apple, here we are then

Singing and nursery rhymes are very good so encourage lots of singing etc

Basically keep modelling the words. I think a child needs to hear the word about 100 times before they copy it

Contact Afasic www.afasic.org.uk
ican.org.uk
If you can afford private speech and language therapy that would be my first step.

Thank you everyone some great things to try there xxx

My son is speech delayed but not diagnosed as Autistic. He does have some autistic traits but the doctor keeps brushing these side and saying he is too young for assessment. So not sure if my suggestions will work for your son but they might be worth a try to see.

Keeping language really simple was the first thing I did. Usually people say narrate your day and say everything you are doing. This is true but day it in a simple way. So instead of saying "oh look there is a ball. Shall we go play with the ball". I would instead point and at ball. Then play with ball. It felt really strange at first but it is second nature to me now and I don't even have to think about it.

We created some magnets with food items on and put them on the fridge. You can buy magnetic sheets and then I stuck pictures on from the supermarket magazines on. When he was hungry we would go to the fridge and he could pick what he wanted to eat from the magnets.

I joined a few speech delay groups on Facebook. It was great to hear from others going through the same as me and share ideas. I found it very positive and got lots of ideas from them. So would recommend joining a few.

There is a speech delay app called Pippin. It has lots of great suggestions of games to play and books to read. There is also a speech course which gives you a week by week guide on different speech strategies and games to try each week. Might be worth a try:

pippinspeech.com/