# Is it Speech delay or autism?



## zeebo (Jul 8, 2015)

my daughter is 26 months old, she is very active in every aspect. she was born 5 weeks before her due dates and i was fearful she won't be healthy. today she is as healthier as she can be, she eats almost anything, i cook meals every day and she will eat with us no matter what we have for dinner, there is no junk food or sodas in my house period. once in a while ill give her a cookie. she can put a 35 pieces puzzle by herself and i was quite amazed how she can do that. my only concern is that she won't speak to me yet, she know some words and some letters in the alphabet, she points at things on tv for example she knows "fish, cow, apple, cheese" but not willing to put two word together except "bye mama". my mom told me i didn't start talking until i was 3 years old, but now at age of 35 i'm fluent in four languages. so i'm not sure if this is a genetic thing. I also forgot to mention that my daughter is presented to about three languages, i speak arabic and english to her and her nanny talks to her in Spanish.
if anybody have any thoughts please share.


Thank you


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## Linda on the move (Jun 15, 2005)

Kids who are exposed to multiple languages often speak a bit later than kids who are only exposed to a single language. 


Until a few years ago, the advice for children who weren't speaking much at age 2 was to have their hearing checked, and then if their hearing was fine to not do anything else until they were 3 because so many kids take off with their speech between 2 and 3 without any intervention. In the last 10 years or so, the protocol has changed and children routinely start speech therapy at age 2. 


Are the words she knows spoken very clearly, or are they a little muddled? Muddled speech can be a sign of less than perfect hearing. Because she doesn't show signs of delays in any other areas and she is exposed to multiple languages, my thought is to have her hearing checked, and if it is fine, then give her more time to process all this great language she is being exposed to. 


Is there a reason that you asked about autism? Although classic autism does include speech issues, most speech delays are not related to autism. Do you have other concerns about her that you didn't mention that could be flags for autism?


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## zeebo (Jul 8, 2015)

thank you for your response. her hearing is perfect, she is alert and respond to everything. if i say "would you please give your mom the remote" she will do it with no delay or confusion. her words are clear although she is not pronouncing the Ls and Ds as it should. about autism, i have read an article online and it was mention that a speech delay could be a sort of autism, but i haven't seen any signs.


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## Dawn's mom (Jul 2, 2015)

Be very careful in how you approach this. My girl was diagnosed with a global developmental delay and speech delay because she didn't have the ideal vocabulary the public heath nurse thought she should have. Early childhood educators and therapists were trying to diagnose her with Autism, Aspergers, ADHD. I quickly realized that they were more concerned with trying to label her with a disorder and get her medicated so she wouldn't be a distraction for the rest of the class. Pfft, she is quiet and shy in class. If anything the teachers want her speak up more. She's not very fluent in other languages. She knows a few words in French from school and Japanese, which she is learning on her own. She is an avid, fast reader now. I can tell that she talks slower and more choppy than other kids her age. I have heard her use some fancy, articulate words. The psychiatrist she saw recently is questioning previous development delay diagnosis's and said she should go for an I.Q. test.
All in all, I think kids learn at their own pace. However, since the requirements of skills in kids is increasing for kindergarten, there is more pressure and expectations for toddlers to learn more, earlier and earlier.


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## MeepyCat (Oct 11, 2006)

My dd (7.5 weeks premature) received speech therapy for a speech delay around that age through a local Early Intervention program. EI services in the US are available to children under 3, so there is some advantage to seeking an evaluation now rather than waiting - if she needs services at 3, EI will help your family locate and connect with those services. If not, no big.

My DD's speech therapy happened either in her daycare or at home. She thought the therapist was a fun lady who played with her. At her second reevaluation, she blew the top off the testing curve, and *ahem* "ceased to qualify for services." She talks a storm now, and I am sure those months in speech therapy had nothing to do with that, but I felt better being on top of the issue. There was absolutely no downside.


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## Linda on the move (Jun 15, 2005)

zeebo said:


> her hearing is perfect, she is alert and respond to everything. if i say "would you please give your mom the remote" she will do it with no delay or confusion. her words are clear although she is not pronouncing the Ls and Ds as it should.


Hearing occurs on a continuum. Children can have minor hearing problems that interfere with their ability to learn to speak, but be able to hear well enough to follow a command. Her pronunciation, on the other hand, is a much better guide to how well she is hearing. Different sounds emerge at different ages. This link has a table that shows when different sounds typically emerge, and you can see that /d/ and /l/ are later sounds:
http://www.overtonspeech.net/EmergenceVsMastery.html

Checking her hearing would be the first step to ANY intervention. If you are concerned about her development and you have insurance, set up a real hearing check for her -- with an audiologist. If you don't have insurance, call early intervention. Early Intervention is run at the local level, and varies from place to place.

Speech therapy won't hurt her, but based on what you are saying, I doubt that she has much to gain from it. It sounds like she has a lot of people interacting with her in lots of ways, she is exposed to multiple languages, her articulation is good for her age, her other developmental mile signs have all gone fine, and you were a bit of a late bloomer.

There is a lot more to autism than speech delay, so if you have no other concerns, I would let the idea go. (BTW, I have a DD with autism who is now 18, and I teach special education).


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## Daisy8s (Apr 8, 2015)

MeepyCat said:


> My dd (7.5 weeks premature) received speech therapy for a speech delay around that age through a local Early Intervention program. EI services in the US are available to children under 3, so there is some advantage to seeking an evaluation now rather than waiting - if she needs services at 3, EI will help your family locate and connect with those services. If not, no big.
> 
> My DD's speech therapy happened either in her daycare or at home. She thought the therapist was a fun lady who played with her. At her second reevaluation, she blew the top off the testing curve, and *ahem* "ceased to qualify for services." She talks a storm now, and I am sure those months in speech therapy had nothing to do with that, but I felt better being on top of the issue. There was absolutely no downside.


This is nearly word-for-word what I would have written. I did EI for my son, he began speaking at his own pace and quickly caught up to the norm. Today he's advanced in all academic areas. It was unnecessary but there was no downside--he played games with a nice lady in our home and was given no long-term labels.

The fact that she is hearing THREE languages is a HUGE factor. Kuddos for doing it but grant her tons of extra time in speaking.


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## Letitia (Aug 27, 2009)

My daughter (8) also did speech therapy. We'll never know for sure how she would be talking if she had not done it, but we could see no downside.


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## Linda on the move (Jun 15, 2005)

just to clarify -- I'm not saying that speech therapy is a bad thing -- far from it. I just think that for a child with normal hearing, no developmental issues, and an enriched life, it can be put off until age 3 (because so many kids just get there on their own without intervention, and once kids are 3 they are much better able to participate and get benefit from the therapy). Kids with true developmental issues can benefit from therapy earlier, but those usually occur in one than one area. Besides them, the kids who have the most to gain from speech therapy are the ones who don't get much interaction/enrichment. I'm just not seeing the OPer's child as being in either of those categories. 


I think that the normal range of development is sometimes turned into pathology.


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## MeepyCat (Oct 11, 2006)

Linda, as far as I can tell, the push to diagnose and treat before three is all about the availability of EI services.

If you call EI when your child is two, they'll do a evaluation and help you put if your child qualifies. Many kids outgrow their qualifications for EI before age three, and would have even with no therapy. EI doesn't mind. If your child then still needs services at age three (when EI ends), EI will help hook you up. In my neighborhood, that means special needs public preschool programs that are otherwise quite challenging to get referrals for, and an assortment of other services.

If your child doesn't just naturally outgrow the issue, and you seek diagnosis after the child turns three, you are out of the scope of EI programs and they won't be able to help you.

I don't think any of us are concerned that the OP's child is showing symptoms of a persistent problem, so much as pointing out that worried parents of two year-olds in the US have a great, free resource, which could be both helpful and reassuring, but will not still be available after the child turns three.

Edited because I'm reminded that EI is not always free - they sometimes bill on a sliding scale.


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## Linda on the move (Jun 15, 2005)

MeepyCat said:


> If your child doesn't just naturally outgrow the issue, and you seek diagnosis after the child turns three, you are out of the scope of EI programs and they won't be able to help you.


Yes, but every state is required to have services from birth through age 21, it's just the agency that delivers them that changes. Any one who has questions can goggle "child find" and the name of their state to found out how it works where they are. Generally, it's EI from birth to 3, and then the local school from age 3 up. Agencies vary from place to place. Where I live, there is a waiting list for EI, but it is very easy to get kids in preschool, so this really varies. 
Also, for families with good insurance or the means to pay, there are a wealth of other options as well that aren't tied to age. My DD did private speech therapy paid for my our insurance.


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