3 year old just started to talk.

[Hohoholymoley]

My autistic 3 year old (3 years 8 months) has started to talk. His speech therapist is on maternity leave for the summer and I feel a bit stuck on what to do next.

He's said over 100 new words this week. Complicated words like bubblegum, gorgeous, good morning. But no direct communication just repeating. He knows he is talking and is delighted with himself.

How do I move forward with this? I'm so happy to hear his little voice but I'm unsure what the next stage in therapy is. I've looked for a speech therapist for the summer but can't find one. He was doing weekly sessions up to a month ago.

Any advice would be great.

Thank you.

Your speech therapist should have maternity cover in place. Contact the service directly and ask for support; you should still be on their caseload and shouldn't have to join the bottom of the waiting list. Sometimes they will provide support or advice over the phone or even by email, with suggestions of exercises/games to do.

Also if he was doing weekly sessions until a month ago, was he actually discharged from the service or did these stop just because the SLT was going on mat leave? If it's the latter then somebody else should be covering. Definitely contact the service.

I wouldn’t worry too much, the main thing is he is able to say the words, the rest should start to follow.

My asd ds did this for a long time. He was pure echolalia for at least a year. He said loads and loads but couldn’t have a basic conversation. It was all words he was just repeating. It was odd as he was capable of saying so much but not in a meaningful way. It took him until 4 maybe 5 to start piecing it together. And it’s been ever since.

He is 8 now and can engage in small conversations. His special school teacher says he is the most inquisitive child they have in the class. Ie - he doesn’t shut up. He asks hundreds of questions a day. Can communicate most of his needs now.

His speech isn’t our biggest problem anymore!

Your son sounds like he’s doing well, just keep on doing what you’re doing.

What I mean is, keep doing whatever it is that’s got him saying 100 words this week.

Keep exposing him to language, but keep cementing it’s meaning, showing him as you’re saying / doing so he’s able to start to make the connections and understand.

Its the receptive language which is more important than the expressive. They have to learn to understand what they are saying to have meaningful conversations / interactions.