What can I expect.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

I was pretty much resigned to DD being non-verbal now she is 6.

She had thousands of clear words then lost them all at 2.10.

However i am seeing definite signs of speech starting. I posted recently that she has been pointing things out and much more interactive with us.

She has just got mostly single words but they are clear.."banana" "dog" "milk" "hello" and "bye" (used correctly) and has been calling me "Mummy" and by my name (3 syllables). She says "down" when she wants down from table and said "up there" when she wants to go upstairs. The other day I gave her a pen and she said "drawing".

She is practising words and naming objects often.

She is babbling a lot to us and attempting to answer "yes" and "no" correctly by nodding and shaking her head.

I have been excited before when I have heard a few words but her overall communication has never improved like this.

She seems to have had a general developmental spurt as she was suddenly running very fast at weekend instead of tottering about.

I am wary as she has had me thinking she is starting to speak before and then it all disappears but this does seem very promising.

I just wondered if anyone had any idea how much speech improvement I can expect given that she is now 6.

yours halfexcitedlybutnotgettinghopesupyet.

TIA

(DD's diagnosis is autism on the severe end of spectrum, developmental delay, motor planning issues, hypotonia)

Oh Wow Fanjo. That's just brilliant. Perhaps she just develops a few steps forward and then a bit back whilst her brain sorts it out, and then pushes forward again. Who knows? I don't think anyone will be able to answer your question.

But WOW all the same and I hope it continues. No need to tell you to be encoraging and reward her hugely for her efforts I suppose?

Yes..I was hoping that someone might have had same experience but DD is very unique

I am praising her lots and she absolutely ADORES praise and gives herself a round of applause.

got an appt with school SaLT on Wednesday to discuss but sadly DD does not speak any words at school so I think they almost disbelieve me!

That is fantastic Fanjo :) Ds was 8 and a half before he uttered a word he was completely non verbal. He is now eleven and although he is still severely autistic we can't shut the bugger up now.
Salt were fantastic with him and spent time with us at home and increased his access at school once it became apparent he was becoming verbal and came up with some really interesting stratagies to support him.
Really excited for you :)

That gives me great hope, thanks

I hope they do that at her school and don't just move her straight away if she becomes verbal, there aren't really any verbal children there.

DS has always had a little speech but only used it to object to things,however he used lots of echolalia(never in context just scripting what people said)
However the last 6 months (he's now 8) he's started to use lots of speech,he still likes to use his voice to object but will now answer questions,point out things he finds interesting and likes to sing :).
School still only get objecting and echolalia so I recorded him and it helped his salt revise his therapy as she was trying to teach him things that he could already do and now she's advanced it a bit she's getting a bit more from him :)

That is really great, and encouraging, I bet you are thrilled

I find it fascinating,he knows so much more that's going on in this world than I thought he did :)
And the more he talks the less his behaviour is challenging.

I would so love to get to know DD and what she is thinking :)

That's fab!

If you want school's support with speaking, give them all the credit for the talking, attribute her progress entirely to whatever augmentative communication strategies they use, and ask how you can learn their methods so you can build on their success.

Then subtly integrate your own tricks and very carefully feed the mixture back to them with structured reinforcement

Someone on here told me 2y ago that ABA works even better in teachers than dc

That is a great tip..I am going to meet with them tomorrow. I had noticed DD is blowing a lot and was in fact going to ask if that was one of their exercises that she is practising at home..will imply that that is behind her speaking

Meeting cancelled as SALT off sick..have waited months for it..gutted

I think this is great and ANY speech is better than none let's face it even if it does not develop further - Sorry to put a negative note in as obviously no one can say or know how far your dd will go with speech. I've had lots of moments over the past few years when there have been spurts of development with speech but sadly no massive strides but I am still very very grateful for what we have as it makes life so much easier. Is the school SALT good and does she 'get' dd? I completely agree with mariamama - to get the school on side with verbal language, you have to really butter them up about how fab they are - you cannot lay it on thick enough !

I dont mind the negatives, keeps me grounded! . School SALT is very good but spread thinly

Wow, fanjo what a great thread. I missed it yesterday but have just seen it.

I must be amazing to hear your Dd speaking after such a long wait. I am working with a LO who is pretty much NV at the moment and she can get so frustrated.

Good luck minifanjo and keep up the hard work

Thanks

Just want to say that's brilliant about the speech

Thanks! She is babbling more today but all practice is good :)

I am so so so happy whatever your doing keep it up gives me so much hope with my DD.The only way is up..

It is :)

The main thing I have done is concentrate on getting DD to be aware of me, she loves singing and responds really well to it so I sing to her all the time and she is much more keen to interact,I think that has been key.