In Reply to: Re: At what age do autistic kids start to verbalize/talk posted by Laurie on April 14, 2000 at 14:06:38:

: : I have a three year old nonverbal autistic son. He grunts, shrieks, cries and hums. He has even echoed and said "cow" for a very short period - but he has lost that. I have heard that if kids are going to talk, they will start by five. I want to know other parents experience. Has speech therapy really made a difference in a kid aged three?

: : My daughter started speech therapy at 2 years 8 months and was talking by age 5. When therapy started, she grunted, shrieked, cried and all that. We started by taking a course (Hanen) which teaches you how to determine where your child is on the language-development scale and gives you practical advice, like games and song suggestions, so you can meet the child on his level and encourage him to talk. Language will never come easy to these kids, and we still persist at lengthening her utterances. We used the picture-exchange system to show our daughter how to put one word after another (I want car, for instance). My daughter is 7 and can read, so now we write sentences down and have her practise saying them out loud. Just keep working. You have to believe your child will be one of the group that talks by age 5, for your sanity and your kids' welfare.

My son was severely autistic at age 3. because of extensive speech therapy and fighting for appropriate education with the school system, my son has dramatically improved and his confidence has also grown. dont't give up on hope. your child will improve. there is no substitute for old fasioned love and consistency, even though you may believe that your child won't improve.( I did not believe my son would improve) It is hard to answer this question that you have, but if you fight for the right services for your child and never settle for second best, things will be looking up for you. My son is now almost normal, with only periods of regressions. I can now communicate with him, and he can communicate back to me. thanks to all the wonderful teachers he has had. remember, don't settle for second best!