Non verbal Autistic

[doadeer]

Hello,

Can i start a thread for advice from any of you who had non verbal Autistic children... How did their communication progress? What stages did they have?

My son is 3 years 4 months and I'm trying to imagine what will happen in terms of his communication. He uses a picture book sometimes for communication and takes our hand towards things but that's it.

Would like to hear from others who had large speech delays - how did it unfold?

Would love to see these replies too, my DD is 4.1 years non verbal autistic x

I imagine the answers will vary alot. But my child was non verbal at 3 , spoke a handful of words at 4. Spoke many words by 5 - but only close family could understand. By 7 more clarity and full sentences. Now at 10 fully verbal and was discharged from SALT age 8. Diagnosed ASD last year despite years of being told it was only a speech issue. Attends mainstream education, academically able but social difficulties.

Hi all,

Son 1 (9yrs)
Spoke only a few words till about 3, then echolia started (learnt phrases) this drifted off at about 5-6. He's now speaks well, still learnt phrases and structured conversation but doing well. Speech and language were involved from the start till 8 then signed him off.

Son 3, (2.7yrs)
Uses noises and 'mam' and thats it, to communicate he will looks at the TV, pass us juice or take our hand and guide us (sometimes we know some times we dont) speech and language or involved also.

Replies are going to vary hugely!

DS now 12 was non verbal till 9 and a half. He randomly said mummy one day out of the blue. He probably has 40-50 words now and uses a high tech aac device to fill the gaps. No luck with pecs or makaton and we where told he wouldn't be able to learn how to use a high tech aac device because he didn't pick up pecs (I think it's more that he thought it was pointless and couldn't be bothered!). He uses his device to make full sentences, we have and always will take what salt say with a pinch of salt.😁

Thank you these are so interesting.

My son doesn't make any effort with words but he has a sound pattern he does when he is unhappy and he mostly guides our hand to communicate (not his own very much ie pointing). I'm not overly focused on words per se as I'd rather know he understands rather than him just say words but not know the meaning.

Every child we know who is autistic seems to have such a different path

@doadeer your son sounds so much like my youngest son, there doesn't seem to be any interest in speaking or understanding words. He doesn't recognise his name or chooses not to, we are not sure.

We've been told to include sign language but with no eye contact or answering names it's not easy. I think a few months/year down the line we will be looking at other options for him to communicate, like a device maybe.

VERVE techniques have been really helpful with my son. No words yet but more communicative. He’s 4, but started when he was 2. He uses PECS too.

Reading with interest. DS just turned 7, non verbal. Very sociable, good eye contact, jabbers on but cannot repeat specific sounds. Really wants attention and if he’s jabbering and I turn my head away he will touch my chin gently and turn my face back to him so I’m looking at him. Then carry on his chattering.

DH said the other day to me ‘why do you think he doesn’t speak?’ And i floundered a bit. Can I ask you the same question??

My own thoughts (not that it helps really) are

because he genuinely cannot repeat sounds. So if I am holding say an orange and he wants it and I say orange he cannot approximate the word

he is now very used to being given what he needs/ wants if he waits long enough

maybe degree of lack of understanding, if I ask him to fetch me x he often will fetch me the nearest thing to hand rather than x

success using methods like taking my hand to something, bringing me something to do/ read etc which negates needing to speak.

but mostly I feel the first one.

he starts SS in Sep and I hope they can help as I’m out of ideas.

we have dabbled with pecs etc but he didn’t really take to it. He will sign a little bit his copying skills are very poor so it’s a hard one to teach.

Does he enjoy being read to? Or sung to? Or is there any other activity that really motivates him that involves language? This was how we got our foothold (if you want to encourage him to speak - there may be reasons why he either can't or isn't interested in talking that I'm not an expert in!). Our DS loves being read to more than anything else and we'd read then pause to encourage him to fill in words. This at least built up his bank of "words" and sounds in the beginning. I know this is a really common suggestion, but it did get us off the ground. It took quite a few months though to move from a "buh" sound for every attempt though.

We started doing this at 2-2.5 when his only word was an approximation of "biscuit" and while he was vocal, he wasn't verbal. He's now 3.5 and doesn't shut up from morning til night! Every child is different and ours did eventually become really motivated to speak (or shout more like! He's unbelievably loud!). Lots of echolalia right now, mixed with original language, but this I guess is quite common and there's literature out there that I'm currently working my way through (Meaningful Speech on instagram has good tips) to try to help him along to the next stage of more original speech.

He does enjoy books yes and maybe I am giving up too soon but he can’t really approximate. So I may pause and he will just shout or squeal and I’ll try to get him to say the word or an approximation of it but he just can’t. Or there is a total breakthrough and he does but then doesn’t/ can’t do it again which is so upsetting (I know it’s about him not us.)

If he's really motivated to keep you continuing reading (or any other activity - I also did this with biscuits, the steps to get him a bowl of rice crispies, etc which were also highly motivating for him!) and he's happy to join in with his sounds then it can't hurt to keep going! It took ages for us to get from "buh" for "ham" at the end of green eggs and ham but he got there. And then one day he started repeating whole phrases - saying things like "deep dark wood" from the Gruffalo - over and over to fine tune his pronunciation. It was a long slog to get from "buh" to that, but once the floodgates opened he was having a go at all sorts of words.

I recently watched an old video of him from last October where my DS was making loads of noises and saying "pea" while eating peas. "Pea" was his only word and the rest of just babble and vocalisation, and that was after quite a few months of doing those speech exercises with him. Then in the following November, he started saying a few clearer word approximations from the Gruffalo. Now in July he's following us around shouting about what toy he has in his hand, that he wants to go upstairs, downstairs, outside, pointing out a photo of his Nanny, etc. He didn't start speaking full sentences overnight, but there was a tipping point where he sort of found his voice and he's been yammering away ever since. Hopefully your DS can find the fun in speaking as well and experience a similar transformation! 🤗