Social communication help pls-Autism

[Coco2891]

My son is 3.5 and doesn't talk yet-he says lots of words but communication is really minimal. Have seen a speech therapist today who will be on the team assessing my son in October (we've waited 12 months ) . It's the 2nd time we've seen her and she told me today that it looks like he has autism. She said I know it's hard to hear but I can't lie to you-that's what she sees

We've suspected it for a while and lots of various health care / nursery people have said it. I'm in bits today-I think I was still holding on to some hope that it wouldn't be.

I need some new strategies for bringing on and helping his social communication if anyone has some suggestions ? That would be much appreciated.

We sing songs and I stop wait for him to say the next word. We're going to start getting him to tap my arm twice when he wants something I've got and say tap tap. So he has to perform an action . We give him choices, we look at books and tell him what's happening in the picture. I wait for him to look at me before I talk. I play alongside him and we make up little games as we go along . We do lots to encourage speech but the social communication is really key.

I've been reading about it online but not really found anything new . What I'd like ideally is like a checklist / activity sheet if anyone knows any good websites ?

Thanks in advance x

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It sounds like you're doing lots of good things already. I think you'd find it hard to find a checklist as such (although someone else may know of one) as autistic children are all so individual it's trial and error to see what works.

Things that have helped my ds is visual supports. We use photos as that what he responds best to. I make keyrings of images he likes or needs and he has started using these to communicate a bit more.

Finding what interests him and basing things around that. My ds loves films, so we would get him characters from the film he likes and play games with them or reenact the scenes he loved most.

Lots of turn taking, with me and other adults. He's just starting to understand the idea of turn taking with other children (he's 4.5). It's important for game playing and communicating as conversations are essentially turn taking.

Something that has really helped him to interact with other children is getting him to do things for other kids. So when I give him milk in the evening I give him two cups and make him give one to his sister. It took a while for him to get it, but now he does, if I give him two of anything he instinctively gives one to her. I make her do the same and it has really helped build a bond between them. I asked them to do the same with other children at nursery and it has helped him a lot.

We're not that much further along than you but my ds started making massive progress at about 4 and the things he is capable of doing now, I find completely amazing. I think our kids take in a lot more than they can express at such a young age.

Thanks for your reply . I've been trying to look at the positives in that he's not got sensory issues , he's not got any ocd tendencies and it's totally cool with changing routines. He's affectionate and happy so whatever's happening with him isn't affecting him personally. I'm just running out of ideas a bit but sometimes the best little games we play are off the cuff. They want me to have a real go with PECS which he wasn't at all interested in before. Have you tried this? X

And I'm definitely going to try getting him to give things to his brother ! Thanks for that tip

He sounds like a lovely little boy. Try not to stress about the diagnosis. We found out when my ds was about 2.5 and I was a bit floored at first but the more I read about autism and sensory processing the more I find it incredible. Watching the way my ds's brain works is so fascinating and he surprises me every day.

We haven't used PECS. We discussed it a while ago but his communication was coming on such a lot he didn't seem to need it. He's only partially verbal but he has always been pretty good at letting you know what he wants. Now we've realised how well photos work, we have them everywhere! Timetables, Keyrings on toy boxes, his chest of drawers etc. He loves telling me what the pictures are of.

I also forgot to say in my last post. Have you used Makaton? We relatively early on in using it, about 4 months, but it's great. It slows my speaking down, helps ds have something to focus on and is helping him start to use more than single words. It's been a bit of a revelation for me.

Yes I need to sort more photos out and try and get him to show me what he wants.

I'm going to look into makaton again, when we've tried before he won't pay attention long enough. We have some of our own he has never copied but I've been trying to get him to do Ok 👌 and he's attempted it a couple times x

Thanks for your reply , I've not heard of Montessori - will have a look now x