My 3-year-old daughter only says a handful of words. How can i help her? — Scope | Disability forum
Please read our updated community house rules and community guidelines.

My 3-year-old daughter only says a handful of words. How can i help her?

ash
ash Community member Posts: 4 Listener
edited October 2021 in Sensory impairments

Comments

  • ash
    ash Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Hi, i have two boyx with autism and my daughter who is 3 only says a handful of words, she cant answer any simple questions, she usually repeats what she has heard.
    The salt services in my area are terrible still waiting to be seen past 16 weeks. What can i do to help her?
  • kieran
    kieran Community member Posts: 1 Listener
    Hi, I have only just joined this forum & have a 12 year old son with autism & a global developmental delay. I remember him not saying any words at all at that age & his first words were bye bye when he was about 4. I found using visual methods of communicating through play really helped, maybe look on line for printable PECS, which you could start by introducing pictures as a way for her to communicate. My son now has a large vocabulary even though it can sometimes be very repetitive & language is used out of context, I was told by professionals he may never have talked & he communicates amazingly well with a great sense of humour too. Just trust your gut instincts as a mum & do what works best for your daughter, she will get there. Hope this helps x
  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    @LondonSpeechTherapy can you help?

    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • LondonSpeechTherapy
    LondonSpeechTherapy Community member Posts: 60 Connected
    Apologies all I've been working away and barely had chance to eat / sleep. I'm now back and raring to go!

    Dear @Ash - my recommendation is that you speak to your Health Visitor and your GP to express your concerns that you are still waiting. Are their any Afasic groups running in your local area? Does your daughter access Nursery / play group currently? 

    Dear @kieran - thank you for answering in my absence. I totally agree that for some children PECS can work really well. The most important thing I have learnt from working as an SLT is it's not just about the means of communication (e.g. voice; PECS; apps) but the reason as to why a child communicates. We adults need to make sure we provide children lots and lots of opportunities to communicate. Attention Autism is a fantastic approach!
  • ash
    ash Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Hi, thank you Kieran and Sam. I used to use PECS with my boys and will definitely look into this for her.  Sam, my daughter does attend a pre school three days a week . 
    I do actually play with her and take her park quite a bit.  I attended a SALT parent workshop and use some of their strategies such as giving her 5 min special time each day and only use  specific words to communicate with her and limit my speech. I sometimes comment too. I give her choices and use loads of repetition.  I just havent seen much progression in 6 months.
    I will be contacting afasic to see if they can help but im so frustrated as still waiting to be seen by SALT therapist.
  • Abnoba
    Abnoba Community member Posts: 14 Listener
    This doc on BBC iplayer: Storyville - Life, Animated about an autistic boy may be of interest to you.
  • ash
    ash Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Thanks, will have a look

Brightness