At what age did your ASD child started talking?

[Sttark]

Our DD is 3 and 3 months. She does say some words on her terms but not clear, she bubbles talking to herself. But doesnt talk yet she is very hyper as well. Losing hope here.

My autistic child was an early talker. They're all different op - it's difficult but try not to compare.

Back end of 3 I think. He just screamed bloody murder the minute he came out of me till then. Odd words and then it just happened. Doesnt shut up now.

My youngest was diagnosed with autism and developmental delay at 3. He couldn't really understand much speech or hold a conversation until he was about 4 or 5, and even then it was limited. He was very echolalic and would repeat things, but often without understanding, and couldn't generate his own speech.

I worried about it for years, he was under speech therapy for quite a while, and had help with his speech and understanding in his special school etc.

Then suddenly he had a massive explosion in his speech between age 6 -7, and really shocked everyone who hadn't seen him for a while due to lockdowns! He is fairly articulate now, but can be difficult to understand if you don't know him as some of his speech sounds aren't clear.

4.5yrs

My son is 3 and nothing yet but I'm not expecting it. We are working lots on requesting and preference and the foundations. He's just learnt to point in his book to indicate if he wants to watch a film or have an apple. I think speech is still a way off for us.

Does she do speech therapy? There's lots of evidence to show different strategies are effective in increasing vocalizations when an early intervention approach is used.

I have 3 dc with asd. Dd1 started talking at 6 months old, full conversational speech and understanding plus massive vocabulary by 12 months (most people recoiled in horror especially doctors when she would start talking. She wasn’t just repeating either she could have full in depth adult conversations)

Dd2 was totally average 12-18 months and progressed at an even pace

Ds3 didn’t say a word till 2.5 years , had a massive vocabulary explosion and talked loads by 3 BUT he mimics and repeats, cannot hold a conversation at all and seems to just list off facts etc. won’t/can’t express wants or needs either

So three very different presentations

My son was classified non-verbal at ages 3-4. I remember him starting to talk when he was 1 then it all disappeared and he could only grunt for the longest time. He would get so frustrated with no one understanding him he would starting hitting and scratching me. We did 3 years of weekly speech therapy. I lost a lot of sleep wondering if he would ever speak like his peers. It was horrific.

I think the speech therapy helped immensely as he had his first actual sentence when he was 6. We took it as our best Christmas present that year.

It took until he was 8 for him to be more fluent. By around 12 he was pretty close to normal. Now as a teenager he is indistinguishable from his peers and talk incessantly. He is getting good marks in school in all subjects, especially computer science. I credit video games with teaching him to read as he didn't like books and you can't play them if you cannot read.
You wouldn't know he was the same boy.

Funniest part is, he doesn't remember when he was younger at all. I am not sure he would actually believe this happened if I didn't have some videos of when he was younger.
TL:DR -- DS went from non-verbal to normal but it took a lot!

4

@hosernoser, that’s amazing on your son. Did he engage with therapy? My dd is 8 and she had therapy when she was younger but wouldn’t engage and even now it’s hard to get to her too.

wool He was 4-6 when he went to speech therapy. The therapist behaviour modified it so each time he said something he got to put a puzzle piece or play his turn in a game. She got me to help model it sometimes. So he liked it. We also had homework.

wool That being said, maybe we lucked out. Other things just took a long time. Washing hands, haircuts, baths, etc were screaming matched for years. And we tried all the behaviour methods we were taught by ASD organizations. Some worked some didn't. He eventually outgrew a lot of it.
He doesn't remember any of it.

sstark I hope this help you a bit.

I know this is not what you asked and I completely understand the desire for your dc to speak. I can't imagine how hard it must be.

People often think of speech as the magic wand in autism. If their dc can speak then lots will get easier and answers will be gained but unfortunately autism is a communication delay. Even with speech that delay still exists. Speech is just 7% of communication. Even autistics with varied, full and articulate vocabulary have this delay. Its the processing and organisation of communication that's the difficulty. Even with a great vocab the same difficulties still exist, such as understanding.
My dc spoke at 6 months, full sentences. She can hold a cohesive conversation but its not really that simple. She still has to work as hard as pre verbal people to process that conversation. She still needs extra support to understand simple instructions. Communication is still extremely hard work. It causes high anxiety because people assume you can understand and do not make allowances etc

Its a very complex thing.

I hope your dc begins to speak and I send you love and hugs.

@Rewritethestars1

I know this is not what you asked and I completely understand the desire for your dc to speak. I can't imagine how hard it must be.

People often think of speech as the magic wand in autism. If their dc can speak then lots will get easier and answers will be gained but unfortunately autism is a communication delay. Even with speech that delay still exists. Speech is just 7% of communication. Even autistics with varied, full and articulate vocabulary have this delay. Its the processing and organisation of communication that's the difficulty. Even with a great vocab the same difficulties still exist, such as understanding.
My dc spoke at 6 months, full sentences. She can hold a cohesive conversation but its not really that simple. She still has to work as hard as pre verbal people to process that conversation. She still needs extra support to understand simple instructions. Communication is still extremely hard work. It causes high anxiety because people assume you can understand and do not make allowances etc

Its a very complex thing.

I hope your dc begins to speak and I send you love and hugs.

This is an excellent post

No speech for my son, hes 10,not a single word.id give anything to hear him say mum or to understand him when hes crying or screaming his little heart out.

Justonecup

I am a speech therapist specialising in autism. 28 years in the NhS.

I’ve never heard of anything like a child having full in depth adult conversations at 12 months. This is quite incredible.

Can you give more info? Do you have a video for example? Would you be willing to be interviewed on TV about this? I’ve been asked to collaborate on a BBC thing linked to my work. I’m not the only contributor, the programme is going out in November, filming august I think, but some flexibility regarding interviewing parents.

Your child sounds like a world first. In depth adult conversation at 12m.

Oh hang on, rewrite the stars, your child was speaking in full sentences at 6 months?

I’ve also never heard of this. I didn’t think it was possible because the muscles required for speech aren’t fine tuned enough at 6 months.

Same question to you about the BBC interview (it doesn’t identify your child btw).

@Malteser71 I think you miss understood my post. At 8 months sorry not 6 she could string words together, 2 or 3 words such as "mummy go out" . This as you know is very different to having a conversation. She could probably speak a full sentence at 12 months and have basic conversation. I do have video proof and professionals have seen it including SALT and autism specialists. Of course I'm not going to share it on here. I don't feel comfortable sharing such with the BBC. I have actually allowed my dc to be interviewed for research etc before but we are not lab rats. Id be happy to answer any non outing questions on here. I'm autistic too and I actually work in a job that requires complex and skillfull communication.

@Malteser71 also non of the specialist we have seen have ever said anything about it being totally crazy and one had come across very early words before

@Malteser71

Oh hang on, rewrite the stars, your child was speaking in full sentences at 6 months?

I’ve also never heard of this. I didn’t think it was possible because the muscles required for speech aren’t fine tuned enough at 6 months.

Same question to you about the BBC interview (it doesn’t identify your child btw).

She started saying 2-3 words together at 6 months by 7/8 months was sentences

9months was singing (copying) full nursery rhymes

Then it developed rapidly, I think I have some videos from earliest 18 months though as I didn’t get my camcorder till then and at first I didn’t think anything of it as I was a teenager and she was my first so I didn’t realise it wasn’t typical

I thought anyone who was shocked etc was jealous !

She was able to manipulate too at a vet early age and we had a few difficult situations she didn’t have tantrums she was almost trying things like reverse psychology etc she was challenging.

She was identified as ‘gifted and talented’ at school and asd and adhd missed as she was exceeding all targets etc

I would be happy to talk potentially but my dd is an adult now and I know she would not like to be identified

@Malteser71, would you mind if I pm you for some advice please?

Speaking - 2
Sentences - 4
Fluent and articulate - 6
Lead in the school play - 8

My son made an unbelievable recovery from mutism

My one trick was- I moved him into the front seat of the car and talked to
Him constantly to encourage him.

I really thought he wouldn’t be in mainstream education for long and really understand your worry.

I did also put him On probiotics - proper ones not yogurty things but wouldn’t claim that it had an impact (ever cynical)

@hosernoser

My son was classified non-verbal at ages 3-4. I remember him starting to talk when he was 1 then it all disappeared and he could only grunt for the longest time. He would get so frustrated with no one understanding him he would starting hitting and scratching me. We did 3 years of weekly speech therapy. I lost a lot of sleep wondering if he would ever speak like his peers. It was horrific.

I think the speech therapy helped immensely as he had his first actual sentence when he was 6. We took it as our best Christmas present that year.

It took until he was 8 for him to be more fluent. By around 12 he was pretty close to normal. Now as a teenager he is indistinguishable from his peers and talk incessantly. He is getting good marks in school in all subjects, especially computer science. I credit video games with teaching him to read as he didn't like books and you can't play them if you cannot read.
You wouldn't know he was the same boy.

Funniest part is, he doesn't remember when he was younger at all. I am not sure he would actually believe this happened if I didn't have some videos of when he was younger.
TL:DR -- DS went from non-verbal to normal but it took a lot!

Thanks a lot. Did he had good eye contact?

The preschoolers at my nursery that have diagnosed ASD said first words at 9 mths and you could have back and forth conversations from after 14 mths. They also started recognising letters and numbers from about the same time (9 mths) and are working on a much higher level academically than the other children their age. I don’t see much in the way of social skills development to the toddlers without ASD - in fact one of them is really socially aware and makes friends so easily. So this might become more evident as they get older.