moira199 Report post Posted February 25, 2007 My previously non verbal ds (almost 3) can now say about 12 words although not frequently. Does anyone know from experience what i can expect to happen. I know full communicative speech would be lovely but perhaps not likely given that he is ASD but what are the parameters of expectation ? Moira Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baddad Report post Posted February 25, 2007 Does anyone know from experience what i can expect to happen. Moira Anything! There are no real guidelines with ASD - It really could go any way... If he's just 3, that's not an incredibly significant delay, so it may be he's just reaching the speech milestone a year or so later than most, but it could equally be a sign of a more fundamental difficulty with speech that could be ongoing. I think the way you are looking at it is exactly the right way; hopeful of better things but tempering that with the realisation that it may not be so straightforward. That balance makes each gain precious. Hope you have lots of precious moments. L&P BD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flora Report post Posted February 25, 2007 My youngest child was non-verbal until 3 or 4... with slow acquisition of a few words.... He's 10 now and talks none stop and is extremely articulate. It wasn't over night but it did happen.... He still has a few pragmatic difficulties but other than that he's fine. Every child is different... and as Baddad said... 3 is very young and many children even without ASD can have a delay at that age. Flora Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullet Report post Posted February 25, 2007 (edited) Tom (my oldest and diagnosed on the autistic spectrum nearly a year ago) is verbal but has a lot of differences in how he uses his words. He knows his colours, some shapes and numbers and some letters and can name a fair few objects now if they are held in front of him. He won't tell you something, or ask for something and his verbal understanding is very limited. He tends to pick up on a phrase or word and apply it in the wrong way, or to everything. Eg the other day I told him we were going to make some cakes. He'd been watching Something Special and replied with: "Cake. Birthday cake. Birthday party. Birthday card. I wonder (babble babble) party .... little ted's .... birthday." And another example, we went to Manchester to the Science Museum and were waiting in the railway station for a friend. I told him we were waiting and would then go outside to the museum. He replied: "Out-side play!" which is one of the sessions they have at nursery. I count those as good communications because at least he's trying to reply. Most of the time if I ask him something or point something out to him I get no reply. We are teaching him Makaton at the moment, which is helping a lot, but for now his understanding is restricted to having to see something in front of him and a few one step instructions. He had his level of language assessed in January and it was placed at nearly 21 months for both expressivbe and receptive. He is 43 months now. Expressive is more complicated - a verbal non autistic 20 month old would be saying things like "more", "daddy", "want" and "mine" but would probably not be aware of colours and numbers. But they scored him on the perimeters of the test. Edited February 25, 2007 by Bullet Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites