Communication support for 3.5 yr old with suspected ASD

[love2jump]

Hi!
I am a new member here and I wanted to get some input from fellow mums.
My DS is 3.5 year old has good eating and sleeping habits and does not have any behaviour problems and routine changes do not bother him at all, infact he loves going to new places and exploring things. What I am worried about is he is not interested in looking at us much when we are talking to him, he has a limited vocabulary and does not yet talk in sentences except few things such as 'pick up' 'turn around' 'let's go' etc. he can name shapes, numbers, alphabets, fruits etc. He is interested in other children and he is very happy to see them but doesn't play with them much nor does he do any role playing. However, he loves tumbling with his older brother and sitting with him in their 'den'. Loves to jump.
He points to things, especially in a book and calls out names of things that he sees, he does sounds and action for nursery rhymes such as wheels on the bus but does not wave good bye (he says bye when he is in a mood but doesn't gesture). There are also no other coordination problems, he can eat well with a fork and hold a pencil/crayon.
He is under review with his paediatrician for possible ASD and had attended the pre-school for 2 morning sessions for 2 months and has now since one week started going for 5 mornings in a week. I am desperately looking for some suggestions on how can I improve his communication skills from mums who have been in a similar situation. Would getting a child minder with training in SEN for 2-4 hours every week help?
Any help would be much appreciated.
PS: We are bilingual.

Hello,

You could perhaps check out these people if they are not too far?

play2talk.co.uk/

Hi love2jump this sounds like my DD whose 2.7months whose yet to say very much. I was wondering how your son is doing now with his expressive language. Did you have to go down diagnosis route for extra support ?

Hi! We do Play2talk via Zoom and find it very useful.

We also have a part time nanny with SEN experience and she is brilliant! We tried a few childcare setups and were very lucky to eventually find someone so good.

TheStartMachine, please could you say a little more about how Play2talk if helping your little one? Thank you.

@Seelybee - I would say on the most basic level it has taught us how to get him interested in things.
When we started he was very much in his own world and didn't want to interact with us very much, but now we know ways to interact with him in a way he finds interesting, so he interacts back.
His play is still limited and rigid, but he has started communicating verbally in short sentences, leading us to things he wants and asking us what things are called.
It's possible he would have started doing these things anyway of course, but we really feel like their input 'trains' us to communicate effectively with him and helps us to build on each new skill in a gentle way.
It was also really helpful to have something to 'do' while we were worrying and waiting for a diagnosis (and after) as it allowed us to put our energy into something practical (and in our case helpful) instead of just worrying.

@Seelybee We also find the book 'More Than Words" by Hanen very useful.

@TheStarMachine, many thanks for reply. We are just starting with Play2talk, not expecting miracles but it's encouraging to have an idea of what sort of progress we can hope for. So agree that it is important to fill the waiting gap with something constructive that can only be positive regardless.

@Seelybee I really hope you find it helpful. We have had a few different therapists and found some a better fit for us than others, so don't worry if it doesn't 'click' right away. Feel free to PM me if you ever want to chat.

@TheStarMachine - Thank you again. Really kind of you.