Does your DC have GDD? When did they first speak?

[Arabica]

Just curious, as DD is 2 next month and is yet to say anything at all or even point at something and grunt at it...she is not thought to be AS though.

That's interesting.

So far DS1 and DS2 seem unscathed by the rigours of having a little brother with autism, but I have worried that DS1 in particular may find him excruciatingly difficult to deal with in the adolescent years, particularly as DS1 is somewhere on the spectrum himself. It is useful to know that some kind of help might be available.

There is a siblings workshop too. DS enjoyed it last year.

The Makaton sign that we've had the most success with and that our DS finds most useful if "more" - there was a real motivation for him to learn it, as there was instantly something he wanted in it for him, if you know what I mean - so every time he ate raisens, we would use it in between each raisen etc. He now can use quite a lot of the makaton signs, but that's the one that he'll most consistently initiate himself and has really given him a great way to communicate when he is enjoying something and wants it repeated - whether food or an activity, or a game of peekaboo etc.

Does anyone have any experience of Christophers Place - its a specialist speech school in London that I'm looking into. Seems to have a nursery and toddlers group also.

Also does anyone know if there is a Makaton course in London - bizarely the charity said there weren't any in London when I contacted them - does anyone know if there are any anywhere. I've contacted them again, as seems really strange.

He was 3 when he uttered his first word, we went and learnt Makaton and went on a Hannen course and then he spoke, he was 5 before he was using sentances of more than 2 words.

Is that the course for the parents? I think that's what they said they didn't have any in London at the moment, but will check.

Thought I'd share a suggestion my speech therapist gave me, which we are starting to do this week, which I think is a good idea:
She told me to write a list of sounds, words and signs that our DS is doing and update the list monthly.

I think it's a good idea and hopefully will be reassuring that things are progressing (hopefully otherwise it might just be depressing!) I may go a stage further and do a short video of him each month showing what he can do in terms of motor skills and speech. It's easy to think that things haven't moved on, but I think if I were to see him now compared with a couple of months ago there would be enough of a difference to be reassuring.

what the Hannen or the Makaton.
The Makaton and the Hannen courses were both 3 months of weekly courses by the speach therapists. The makaton course we took were levels 1-8 plus additional. The Hannen course is more play orientated and was so good.

ARABICA - how did the SALT session go?