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late talker

Anonymous posted in Parenting 2 years ago
2 years ago

my son is 20 months old and has spoken less than 5 words. he babbles and will shout when he wants something. when i engage him he responds and will try to pronounce the first letter of the word i repeat. my daughter was similar when she was young and she was so busy i felt like she didnt need me much. she is 13 now and healthy in every way. with the prevalence of autism now should i be concerned about my son?

Answer

You are correct to make the link between delayed language onset and autism however I do not think this is the case for your son because he is attempting to communicate – autism is less about words and more about intent to communicate. If your little one is communicating in the following ways, you do not need to worry:

  • Points at things to show you what he is thinking about
  • Understands your language and responds appropriately
  • Tries to communicate with babbles
  • Smiles and loves to engage with people

You should worry if there are a cluster of these signs:

  • He smiled late or rarely smiles
  • He does not make eye contact or avoids it
  • He does not point and try to communicate with gestures
  • He does not listen to you or try to understand
  • He has no words at 24m
 

Meg Faure Occupational Therapist
2 years ago
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