Autism Awareness- Speech

Like most children with Autism, Christopher was late in developing speech. When he was 23 months old, he could only say “NO”. He yelled and cried a lot when trying to communicate. He started speech therapy through Early Intervention. We were so blessed to have one of the best speech therapists I know. I am proud to say that all of the hard work paid off for us, and by the time Christopher was 4 he had developed a pretty normal speech. But even with the speech therapist seeing Christopher twice a week, mine and my husbands participation and reinforcement was vital to Christopher success.

Here are a few of the things we did, and a few of the products we used;

 

 

Your baby can read! was a great way for me to help Christopher with speech. It offers several different forms of learning, like; books, DVD, Slide cards, and flash cards. I cannot speak to weather or not this program will teach your baby to read, but I do know that it was a great way for me to teach Christopher new words. The DVD shows you the word, says the word, shows a picture, and says the word again. Example; Bib - “Bib”- Shows a baby wearing a bib- “bib” – “The baby is wearing a bib, do you wear a bib?” It even integrates Learning, Colors, Numbers, Body Parts….. We loved it!

 

We found a bunch of first word books at our local dollar store, but we loved the Bright Baby books as well. Basically we would sit down with Christopher, and point out the pictures on each page, saying the names of things, and asking him to repeat them.

(Funny side note: For a while Christopher called a cow a Moo Cat)

 

 

One of the things Christopher was behind on was knowing his ABC’s. We used lot’s of ABC songs, and those work well, but it was (and is) hard to get Christopher to sit still for much, so when we discovered that he went into Hyper focus with Letter Factory, I took advantage. The next time they tested him, he knew his ABC’s.

 

 

 

 

One of the things we did as parents was offer Christopher the choice of milk or juice. (no we were not GF/CF) I would say, “Christopher, do you want Milk or Juice?” I would not give it to him unless he attempted to use his words to tell me what he wanted. We did this activity with lot’s of other things too, like; Fork or spoon, bowl or plate, banana or apple, Your Baby can Read or Letter Factory (lol). The sky is the limit.

 

Those are just a few of the things we did with Christopher. Working with your child to develop communication, is an on going task, and requires involvement from everyone involved in the child's life. There’s nothing like hearing your child’s first words, no matter when it comes.

If you are a parent reading this, and you are concerned about your child's speech, I want to encourage you to get him/her evaluated. Speech delays are not limited to children with Autism. There are no silly concerns when it comes to your child, an evaluation will hurt nothing. The worst that could happen is that they could tell you that your child does have a speech delay. If that is the case, then you would be able to get your child the help that they need. And if they say that your child does not have a delay, GREAT! NO MORE WORRIES! So, no matter what anyone says, you are the parent, you know your child, and if you are concerned, question it and get an Eval. You should be able to get the # to your local Early interventions program at your Pediatricians office. Or you can call the Board of Educations Special ED department.