Calling all parents with a speech & language delayed child!! Is his/her delay due to autism, or are they just delayed?

Question

Answer

My oldest is two, and still only say: no, mamma, cat, hi. But he understands long complex sentences and instructions, and babbles constantly and have no problems with finding ways to let us know things. So both the specialist pedagogic teacher in his daycare and his pediatrician think he is "a word collector" that doesn't want to speak before he knows "all the words". Other than not speaking yet he has absolutely no other typical signs of autism.

Answer

My daughter has a speech delay due to hearing loss. We didn’t realize she had it at first because she passed her newborn hearing screen and had no red flags at any of her check ups.

Answer

My best friends son is just over 2 years old and only says "momma". He has 22q deletion syndrome.

Answer

I had a speech delay but it was due to ADD plus a head injury as a kid.

Answer

Speech delay due to a tongue tie and pacifier dependancy. It gets better with therapy, but its still noticable after 3 years. Shes 7 now.

Answer

My oldest is 4, started speech therapy at 3 1/2 due to only saying a handful of words and never trying to combine them into a phrase. He isn’t autistic and doesn’t have any other delays we are aware of.
He now speaks in full sentences and is doing great with therapy. I was so hesitant that it would work but these speech pathologists know what they are doing!

Answer

My two year old (26 months) does not speak. She can and has babbled when she was younger, and can say mama, dadda, and the consonants, but she doesn’t. For the most part, she is completely mute aside from whining. Every couple months she’ll babble and say mama for a few days and then will go back to being mute.
She’s in early intervention and has been for about five months with no improvement on her speech, but is making progress in other areas they deemed her delayed. She didn’t point, follow a point, color, pretend play, etc, but is beginning to try. Still won’t speak, but has always seemed capable of understanding most commands.
My husband and I spent the second year of her life in agony worried about her because everyone told us she should be talking more. We’ve gotten to the point that we’re just loving her and letting her be a child. We spent so much time focusing on what she wasn’t doing that we didn’t recognize all the things she CAN do. We’re getting her the help she needs (she’s in therapy 3 times a week) and we go back and forth on whether or not we think she’s autistic, but ultimately came to realize it didn’t matter one way or the other. They’ll test her at 3 if she isn’t caught up.

Answer

My son had a speech delay. He was in speech therapy at around 18 months.  Went well.  He still struggles but, is getting better.  
I know its hard. I can definitely sympathize with you.  Just do the best you can.  Talk to doctors, daycare workers,  other parents.  Sometimes others will notice things you dont. Dont be too concerned if its just the language.  You can start him on therapy and it really helps. ❤

Answer

My 2 year old has still not used any meaningful words and struggles to understand most things we say. He can say most consonant sounds (including “r”) but won’t parrot or imitate what we say. After being assessed it was determined his language development is only between 10-12 months. 
Most of his risk factors for autism are tied to his language delay so we’re still not sure. Examples of his risk factors according to the M-CHAT are:
He does not point as a form of communication (whether he need something or finds something interesting)
He doesn’t look in the direction I’m looking to see what I’m looking at.
If I point at something he looks at my hand instead of in the direction I’m pointing.
We’re waiting to get evaluated for autism, but he’s already started speech therapy. I’m not super worried either way, though I still had to emotionally process everything. I was in denial for a long time because I just wanted him to be my “perfect” little boy without any developmental problems. But now I’d rather get him the help he needs to learn and grow properly because no matter what he IS m my perfect little boy 😊

Answer

My 3 year old is speech delayed and being screened for autism.

Calling all parents with a speech & language delayed child!! Is his/her delay due to autism, or are they just delayed?

Let's Glow!

The Top Baby Tracker App: Embrace New Beginnings with Tender Care

The Top Fertility Tracker App: Your Path to Achieving Pregnancy

The Top Pregnancy App: Nurturing Your Journey to Motherhood

The Top Period Tracker for Empowering Your Menstrual Health Journey