Speech Delay Alone Vs Speech Delay with Autism (from a Mother Who Has Experienced Both!)

I have two beautiful boys, both have speech delays but only one has autism (that we know of so far!) In this video I talk about the differences in their speech development and why communication is more important than speech.

[CaptainSparks_]

This woman is really strong. She looks no sad or upset. She is amazing and inspiring

[jyadiraruiz]

This is the first video i have seen without crying thank you for making me feel normal thank you for posting

[leoosandgurung]

My son has autism signs too and its been a lot of painful days nowadays for me worrying about my sons future...looking at your video has given me some strength

[sandraoware]

You are such a strong woman. How I wish I could be confident talking about my autistic child.

[allure]

You are sooo strong!!! I blame myself for constantly thinking something like “what if l had a well-speaking baby...”
You gave me hope! Thank you soooo much!!!

[kimberleyanng.]

My daughter had a slight speech impairment at 3, which was fine by 5. I was surprised because she started talking early in daycare. It’s sad for the children when people don’t understand the difference between a speech impairment and autism. A lot of kids have speech issues and they get corrected on their own, or diagnosed later. There’s a stigma around Autism, your child gets labelled and it follows them around their entire childhood, and some people don’t understand it enough. There are different levels of severity and lengths of how long it may last. Thankfully for my daughter, her speech has been perfect since 5 years old. She speaks more articulately than most adults I know. Those teachers deserve every dollar they get paid!

[ThePsmith]

My daughter has just turned 3 she got her autism diagnosis about 3 weeks ago. She actually started babbling and saying words normally. Mimicked me and responded to her name. Then at 11 months it all stopped. I thought she had hearing problems. She totally went into her own world. Lost all her words. Then other behaviours starting showing up. Spinning obsessively, lining toys up, walking on tip toes. Didn’t point or wave. No eye contact and very little understanding and generally very difficult. But even as a young baby she hated busy places. Hated sunlight with a passion. She started nursery in August and she’s made so much progress, she’s in a room for kids with additional needs which has helped. Now she parrots words back echolalia as you mentioned. She sings more than she speaks lol can’t pronounce most of the words but her tune is amazing. Can recognise numbers, letters and colours. Again mostly it’s sounds but you know what she’s saying. She loves people now! But she would go with a stranger. Still no awareness of danger and not a lot of pointing but we are getting there. She also hand flaps though her new stim is grinding her teeth 😩she can sound out letters on signs. And she can say her colours in Spanish! I watched your video about sings up until 2 and I totally agree with YouTube videos or educational videos being able to help with their learning. What people don’t realise is trying to get an autistic child to focus on you and give you a lot of eye contact is extremely difficult so these videos help so much. It’s how my daughter knows all her nursery rhymes and can count, say her alphabet. She also watches screens for a loooong time. Won’t lie it’s handy if we are out lol. When she was 7 months she would sit and watch the full film and not make a peep. Same when she’s in a car she is silent on long trips it’s amazing. Thanks for this video. Was very in formative

[kschrock]

I agree with you, watching YouTube videos about red flags to autism can cause fear and anxiety. I've learn to just be the best mom to my oldest who isn't diagnosed with autism but has a speech delay. Thank you for your video!

[Lisa]

My son is suspected to have autism. He just turned 2 and he only says da da. He does a lot of movements that his therapists refer to as stemming. He hasn't officially been diagnosed with autism, but he also has a tongue tie. It's very hard having a neuro divergent and non verbal child but he is such a blessing to me and I Love him with all my heart. We do our own therapy at home on top of his therapy sessions at the center. He has those Monday through Thursday but with me it's Monday through sunday ❤

[getreadywithmemamma]

It my son has ASD and the grief process is sooo important to get to where you need to be to be the strong, loving positive light that you are thank you for this!!!!

[juliepatterson]

I am a early childhood speech pathologist in the US. I found this video and look forward to watching more and sharing them with the families I work with. Thank you for sharing your beautiful family with us and spreading such positive, encouraging messages to other families (and to us professionals too). All the best!

[silviaherrera]

Thank you for sharing your positive outlook and how much you enjoy your boys and accept them for who they are.
When I learned my son had autism, I felt like such fear and anxiety and sadness. I love him so much, but you’re right, it’s all the negativity around it that made me so sad and fearful for him. Thank you for being an example mom to others like me that need to see that it’s not so bad, that your child and family are the way they should be. Thank you so much🙏

[princessdaelim]

Im a mom to a son with (we believe have) a speech delay and i never had a chance to have him evaluated so i started looking up why at 18months he was still not resonding or even making sense. Not even giving interest in communicating with us. As horrible as it may sound, I was devastated and was crying like crazy. My husband who had M.A in speech pathology consoled me that our son was normal but as a mother i dont want to just believe him. I was more than willing to accept it if he happend to have ASD. i started watching vids how to do early intervention for ASD nd speech delay. After about 6months, he had very promising improvement that i started to believe my husband. Parents like you really helped me get through the challenge and i cant thank you enough. Its always a blessing to have children like ours.

[mrsxkaenicole]

Omg I’m so glad I seen this video. My son is 2 years old and will be 3 in October and has speech delayment. I felt like my son was by myself but I see it’s other kids just like him 🤗

[LadyCynthiana]

Very interesting... I can see my child in both your boys to an extent. She is somewhat speech delayed, and she doesn't mimic speech, but she does mimic actions, she has some signs and a few words but they are mostly vowel sounds. She is 20 months and I hope we can get an evaluation soon because I don't have much of a perspective on what's normal, especially since neurodiversity, ADHD, autism and speech delays run in my family and I personally have ADHD and also have some social difficulties. Therefore it's hard for me to assess... she makes eye contact but not much eye contact, and I don't know how much is normal, because I also don't make much eye contact, for example. I appreciate your perspective without the scary language of red flags and it's lovely to see you enjoying your adorable children with their differences.

[LC]

Beautiful family. Thank you for addressing two areas that concern child development from a first person perspective: autism and speech delay.

[robertocruz]

Im so glad I stumbled your videos. I feel so similar with my son. He is 4 years old and only talking a few words. We have his test this month. Thank you 4 your videos! God bless you.

[evemohammed]

I’m so glad you shared this! Our son is now receiving speech therapy along with early intervention..well was until recently when the social distancing came into play unfortunately..but I’ve practiced the examples given to us. I have to say at now 2 years 7 months old now he’s engaging more and trying to communicate with us. Your videos are very encouraging and give me hope. I fell into the reds flags on google and tons of videos displaying all the negatives. You bring all the positives and I absolutely feel 10 times better when watching your videos. Thank you again for what you do😊

[corinaburgo]

This has been a really emotional process with my daughter & this helped me so much .. thank you so much 🙏🏽

[StephyPaige]

Thank you for your positive outlook on autism! It really doesn't feel nice when people act like there is something wrong with you. It is researched that we generally receive more negative input than non-autistic people, especially as developing children, and adding that extra weight that you have "failed" to grow into a "normal" person (which is beyond your control) can cause a lot of mental health, self-esteem and confidence challenges. So again, thank you! Your boys are so lucky to have you!