When did your child with *classic* autism (not Asperger's) talk?

[JFTB1177]

My son (who will be 3 in March) was just dx with autism. He has language but almost all of it is echolalia, although very recently the echolalia has diminished some and he said a few words in a more purposeful way. I am starting to wonder when he will really talk?? I asked his therapists at EI and of course they couldn't tell me but said he has "lots of language" (which still confuses me since he doesn't really talk conversationally). He can label and imitate words, but it's when he wants to and it's not very often. More often he speaks gibberish and squeals, etc. The words and phrases are peppered in once in a while.

His OT said there was a little girl who has ASD who had services through them at the same age as my son, and at the time she was only growling, she had no words. The OT recently ran into her and the little girl (who is now 6 years old) was talking up a storm!!!  A total chatterbox! :) So that gives me a lot of hope!!

What is the "typical" time a child with autism (who is not non-verbal, but who is language-delayed- in other words, not an aspie) start using language to really communicate and be able to ask questions and hold conversations?

[Heavenly]

My neice is autistic and at your son's age was completely non-verbal.  She started with a few words at 4.5 years old and continued to progress from there.  She is now 12.5 years old and she is incredibly verbal and talks up a storm.  My nephew, her adopted brother, started talking at 3 but didn't progress past echolalia until he was about 7.  He said his first real sentence at 7 ("I love you baby broccoli" to a piece of his salad! lol).  He is 8.5 now and talking more but a lot of it is still repeating other people and repeating his own phrases over and over again.  All children with autism will vary, as will all neurotypical children.

[Lollybrat]

DS has autism with hyperlexia.  Hyperlexia is a language disorder that combines early reading with great difficulties in using verbal language. We stared the diagnostic process when he was 2yrs 7mos and got the official diagnosis a week after he turned 3. He's now 7.

When we started the diagnostic process, DS had no verbal words. He was reading and could spell.  He also had a signing vocabulary of about 200 words.  Most of his signing was labeling and otherwise scripted.  Soon after he started talking, but it was all echolalia and scripted speech.  He also spelled words out when talking and we had to teach him to talk in words instead of strings of letters.

The scripted speech phase lasted a very long time. It's really hard to judge exactly how long, because DS memorized so many scripts and was so good at using them that it was deceiving at times. We used his scripting to teach him appropriate responses in a variety of situations. He could combine scripts in unusual ways and from this we could understand just how differently he perceives and understands the world around him.

Around age 5 DS started asking questions, but he only asked things he already knew that answer to. We used to say that he was constantly administering quizzes, rather than asking for information. He could have very basic short conversations at this point. 

Around age 6.5, DS suddenly had a burst of more spontaneous language.  He started asking novel questions, talking about feelings, and saying things we had never heard before. 

Since then, his language continues to improve.  But it's still obvious that processing verbal language is very difficult for him.  Conversations do not come naturally at this point.  It's hard to give him verbal explanations or reasoning about some of his behavior issues. He's not the kind of kid we can discipline with talking methods. 

In a lot of ways, DS is like someone struggling to learn a difficult foreign language. (The written word is his native language and we make full use of this fact.)  DS gets overwhelmed by verbal language a lot and will ask us to stop talking. He can only absorb so much and can express less than what he takes in.  We continue to work on it at home and at school, but it's slow going. 

[mamanoish]

My son has classic autism, and is suspected to be hyperlexic. He did not say his first "word" until 2 years 5 months (after 5 months of ST) and his language still consists of I'd say 60-70% echolalia at close to 4. He does not really speak unless spoken to and most of the time it is scripted or memorized. I hear him talking almost constantly, but he is reciting a movie or book he knows, and if asked a question he will often answer but the answer is't appropriate for the context. It takes several times of me asking or rephrasing to get an appropriate response. 

[isisreturning]

to the OP: 

My DD is 4.5 and is starting to use more language, in more functional ways, though there is still a lot of non-language noises, scripted speech, and some echolalia/mimicking (at her whim, yes ). It's a progression that is thankfully moving forward, but regretfully at a pace we don't have control over. She's in charge (of her own development, that is)! We just delight in each new development. As an example, last week she said, "Help! Help! Help!" and motioned to try and pull her pants down (she's anti-pants and wants them off ASAP as soon as daycare is done). I started to help her and she said, "Bye bye purple pants" - that was a big victory in my book - asking for help and describing what she wanted. My two cents: Hang in there and try to keep an open and hopeful mind/heart... Once I let go of timeframes, things got easier and I found myself being pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed. 

To Lollybrat: This was helpful for me to read! My DD also has some high frequency hearing loss, and we tried signing for a while but she never really took to it. Verbal language is a not a big draw for her, and her receptive capacity definitely exceeds her expressive capacity. She's shown a strong fascination for letters over the last 6 months and seems to be getting the idea behind reading. It's a new concept for me to consider that *written* language might be a first language - but it's a helpful concept because that may be the communication medium that works best for her. Thanks for sharing your DS's story! 

Originally Posted by Lollybrat 

In a lot of ways, DS is like someone struggling to learn a difficult foreign language. (The written word is his native language and we make full use of this fact.)  DS gets overwhelmed by verbal language a lot and will ask us to stop talking. He can only absorb so much and can express less than what he takes in.  We continue to work on it at home and at school, but it's slow going. 

[JFTB1177]

Originally Posted by Heavenly 

My neice is autistic and at your son's age was completely non-verbal.  She started with a few words at 4.5 years old and continued to progress from there.  She is now 12.5 years old and she is incredibly verbal and talks up a storm.  My nephew, her adopted brother, started talking at 3 but didn't progress past echolalia until he was about 7.  He said his first real sentence at 7 ("I love you baby broccoli" to a piece of his salad! lol).  He is 8.5 now and talking more but a lot of it is still repeating other people and repeating his own phrases over and over again.  All children with autism will vary, as will all neurotypical children.

Thanks for this!!! It helps so much to hear stories like this! :))

[MommyKelly]

Mine said his 1st true word, well words right before his 4th birthday. I will never forget it, and typing it now, still brings tears to my eyes. It was the day before Easter and we were having new carpet put in. All the furniture was in the driveway, and Corey loved to be rocked. Having such a disruption at our home was REALLY hard on him. So I sat with him in the rocking chair in the yard and sang to him. When I started singing "twinkle twinkle" he started to sing along, and sang the whole song with me. I wanted to shout from the rooftops, but I sat there and kept singing softly as tears ran down my face. Oh how far we have come from that day. Corey has progressed amazing amounts. He has friends, goes to cub scouts alone, and will talk your ear off about any of his favorite subjects.

[nextcommercial]

My nephew was speaking well by two, but it wasn't conversational speech.  Just parroting.  He taught himself to read at age four, then would repeat EVERYTHING he read.  Over and over and over.  He memorized all the tags off of the Beanie Babies, and recited them non stop.  But, by age five, he would start off with "Do you want Goldie?"  (the beanie baby) and you HAD to answer "yes", or he'd keep asking.  When you did answer "yes", he'd say "Too bad... Goldie retired" then he'd recite the information off the tag.

He's 24 now, and still memorizes information to the word, but doesn't have an actual conversation.  Although, he can answer some questions if he's in the mood.  

He actually has a really good job working for the dept of transportation, and he makes the grids for all the stop lights in town.  He's awesome at it.

[RJ11]

@nextcommercial That is very fascinating. Glad to hear he has a great job! (Sounds like a job my son would be very good at!) Very curious to know if he is able to live by himself and take care of himself properly. Thanks!

[nextcommercial]

Originally Posted by RJ11 

@nextcommercial That is very fascinating. Glad to hear he has a great job! (Sounds like a job my son would be very good at!) Very curious to know if he is able to live by himself and take care of himself properly. Thanks!

He lives in an assisted living condo with other adults.  He has his own small apartment, but uses the shuttle to go shopping.... well, actually he refuses to go shopping, but there's a shuttle available.   My sister in law usually does all of his shopping.

His biggest problem is online shopping. LOL.  He'll buy video games and maps online and spend all of his money on maps.  He has an account for spending, and an account his parents control and use for his actual bills.  He never overdrafts, and can tell you exactly how much is in his account, but, he never uses it wisely.  

I'm actually extremely proud of him.  He still flips out if someone is late picking him up for work.  He won't miss work even if he's sick, and will have a meltdown if he's asked to leave before his normal time.  He has to be driven the same route every day, and will have a bad day, if the route has to change.  But, otherwise, he's amazing.
 

[kathymuggle]

dbl post

[kathymuggle]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

One nephew (age 12) has echolalia, speaks on topic (usually one sentence or less) with some frequency to his parents, and will speak on topic to others when he is stressed.

The other nephew, age 9, is non verbal.