Not Speaking at the Age of 20 Months....

My son has Autism. Here is the website where you can get the "symptoms". The diagnostic criteria is very strict. You have to have so many of this category and so much of the other.

http://ani.autistics.org/dsm4-autism.html

If you want to talk, let me know.

V.....Yes Monica is right and Her saying Relax....
So Relax and Please note that all children are different and learns on their own scales but he should be at age average or just about....if you would like to get a Age Scale evaluation on him please let me know and you can be apart of this as well....i am open all the time and will evaluate him for you in front of you. please if interested give me a call!
I do age Scale Evaluations for Infants to age 5! ###-###-####
~M.

First off RELAX!!! I am not a doctor but I find it pretty doubtful that your son is Autistic. At my daughters 2 year old check up my doctor told me that she may be speech delayed and that we needed to really watch her speech development because she was only saying a few words. About 3 months later my daughter started talking and when I say talking I mean talking. Pretty much every word was easily understood and she knew words and how to use them that 3 and 4 year olds didn't know.

My daughter started walking at 8 months old, not cruising but walking. Needless to say when everyone else was starting to walk she was running and climbing and way ahead of the other kids.

My daughter, who is now 5, has an awsome vocabulary and speaks extremely clearly. She still has a ton of energy but she can also concentrate and listen...this comes with age.

Just relax. Your son is not even 2 yet. All children develope at their own pace. Just give it time. If he is not talking by 3 then you might have a problem but at this point and time I don't see how you would have any type of problem except just trying to keep up with the little ball of energy.

Good luck

M. N.

My son is 22 months now and he still only says Mama. Every once in a while he'll say a new word...but only once. He loves sign language and is learning way faster than I am! He also loves to read and color and play music. At this point his doctor isn't concerned because he understands everything we say to him and responds appropriately. He follows simple to moderately complex commands and understands pretty complicated explanations (i.e. "You can't have your binkie right now because we left it at home. As soon as we get home we'll get it off the couch." And 30 mins later, as soon as we walk in the door he goes straight to the couch for his binkie!)

If you feel that he is where he should be in other areas I (and my pediatrician!) don't thinks there is a learning disability. The University of Florida did a study a few years back on children and the ages that they begin to speak. The hypothesis was that some children do not speak until they are two or even three because they want to make sure that they get it right the first time.Instead of spending the frst year or two of speech trying to remember the right word or the correct pronunciation, these children wait until they are older and they've been taking it all in until... BAM!... they come up to you and say "Mommy, I need an ice cream cone please!"

Good luck with the discipline, though...you'll need to figure out what his trigger is. For my son it's BEING STILL. So when he won't behave, I buckle him into his high chair and put him in the middle of the kitchen (where he can't reach anything) and turn off the lights. Three minutes of that and he's ready to behave!

My son is 3yrs old and he just started talking in sentences. At your sons age, my son wasn't talking either. So when he turned 3 we had him evaluated by speech and language specialists. They said his comprehension was just fine and he's just "one of those" that takes his time. I would wait to worry until he's around three. Then if he isn't saying anything, contact your local elementary school and ask if they have any programs available to evaluate pre-k kids. Most do. Best of luck with you! Jen
PS - my son started walking at 9 months, and I swear he was taking his first steps and two days later, running! :)

Unfortunately, when you get a bunch of moms together, they talk about what they know--which is their kids, and of course the comparing begins from there. That always feels like a competition to me, one of who's smartest, funniest, most clever, fastest, earliest to develop.

On the hyper portion, I too had a very active one that stood/stands out from the crowd. We had a difficult time finding a good fit in preschools, because not ever teacher can deal effectively with an active child. She's five now, and we even went so far at one point to take her to a counselor to be assessed (which is pretty bad, because that's what *I* am--and I was second guessing myself). Some of the same characteristics of ADHD children are the same characteristics of gifted children! THAT was much more welcome to hear than the, "she doesn't sit still", etc. 20 months is very young to diagnose ADHD, and some kids are just more active than others.

With the language, he's sounding like there's a lot that he's picking up. You might try insisting that he speak. Pick an easy item that he might gesture often for (like cup, or up). When he gestures for it, show it to him and say the word. Wait and give him a chance to try the word. Repeat it for him. If he makes any kind of effort or approximation at first, then give a praise and let him have the item. You can add more words as he starts to pick them up. You also want to "up the ante" on him, by making him say the word a little more clearly, obviously after he's making more efforts. He might get frustrated, but that's to be expected since you're making him really work for it. As he starts to talk more or try more, you'll get a better idea for yourself of how he's doing.

In my area, we have the First Words Project, http://firstwords.fsu.edu/index.html There is a USF link in there, so you might have a similar program in your area. It's a nice little evaluative language program, and we have a parent-child play group where they have child assessment and parent education.

If you are this concerned, get him into the pediatrician and request a referral to someone who can evaluate him. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the school district that will evaluate him - your ped will know. Maternal instinct is strong and it is rarely wrong. If you think something isn't quite right, your son deserves the best treatment he can get. An evaluation will give you some answers or point you in the right direction.

My children's godparents have two autistic children who showed similar symptoms at this age. You might want to ask his pediatrician about it. Or try cutting back on wheat/gluten products, it may only be an allergy. Spencer (their son) requires a special diet because of an allergy to gluten. When his body breaks down the gluten, it becomes like an opiate in his system causing hyperactivity and it can seem pretty scary at times. He would run in circles around their house, not listen, and it even hindered his mental development. Once they got his diet figured out, he was fine. He even behaves now as you would want him to.

When you talk to his Pediatrician, s/he may say that it cannot be diagnosed until 48 months, but Spencer's sister was diagnosed at 18 months. Ask about treating your son as if he has an allergy to wheat or if the Ped. thinks it may be something more serious that you could alter your angle on handling this situation.

You might want to check out WebMD, too. They would have some great information that could help you out.

May God bless you!

Get a second opionon about the speech!!! This is a long message only because I went through the same thing. Don't want anyone else to go through the same thing.
I was told the same thing not to worry boys talk later the girls. Finally at age 21/2 years I was told maby there is a problem. My son started walking early and said mama and dada early, then stopped speaking. Your son does not sound like he is autistic, just very active like my son. In fact everything you said was exactly like my son. If you don't have money for therapy or insurance to pay(which ours said it was not medically neccasary even if he was not talking at 2 years)there is a program called Head Start which gives him whatever therapy they think he needs at no cost to you. They will evalutate him.
This program is for infants up to age 3. After that the school system then evaluates him and gives you reconmandations. The Head Start gave my son eithier at home, daycare or office speech therapy. Since he didn't satart till late, he still required therapy so he went into EELP preschool at the Elementary school he has made a huge improvement. I think he would have done better if he had started the therapy earlier.
If you want to know more contact me at ____@____.com

OK I have advice for you that I hope you take... My daughter was 3 years old when she said her first word. My Dr. would blow it off and make we wait until she was 2 before he did anything. Now I know that she has speech apraxia and needs constant speech therapy to help her with her vocabulary. I wish I would have had her seen by a developmental pediatrician when she was 1 year old. In her classes there are mothers with 9 month olds there and I wish I would have jumped on this sooner. Please when it comes down to it if you think there is something wrong you are almost always right being a mother our mothering instincts never lets us down! I would tell you to get him evaluated by a speech pathologist they are the only ones that can tell you for 100% if there is a problem...

I hope everything turns out ok!
jen

I speak from experience of having a son with autism. My son is 2 1/2 now but was diagnosed at the age of 20 months. His main problem was his speech delay but he also had many other issues like he couldn't do motor skills and he had no eye contact at all. If your son is doing everything else but just isn't talking I wouldn't worry. If he's willing to do sign language you should really try it. It would limit frustration for the both of you and give him skills he could use his whole life.
If he still isn't talking after he's about 2 or so I would look into getting a speech evaluation. Maybe he just needs help learning the words. Good luck!!

My son will be 20 months tomorrow. He only says a handful of words. My mom told me I was almost 3yrs old before I started to talk. My son does the baby babbling alot. He will talk when he is ready. I'm not too concerned yet.

Agreed...RELAX! Both my sons were speech delayed and are now doing just fine. If you're really concerned or would just like him to get some speech support, I'd HIGHLY recommend the USF speech clinic. They are wonderful, thorough, and not overly quick to give children prematture or unneccessary diagnosis. Plus, they are dirt cheap. The most you'll pay is $250 per semester. They work on a sliding scale.
Good luck!

I agree with the others, relax mom : ) I also agree that there might be a speech delay. I went through that with my dd. She would try to talk and couldn't figure out how to get it out and would be so frustrated. She really wanted to talk! So I had her tested at 2 1/2 and she began speech therapy. DS was different. He didn't talk for the longest time and the ped and I discussed it. I really felt that it was different than with dd. He just didn't seem to want to talk. It seemed more of a personality thing with him. Sure enough, a few months later he took. And, I mean he really took off.

Everything else seems like a typical little boy to me.

L.

My daughter did not speak until almost 3 years of age. And then it happened all at once.

D.

Have you had his hearing tested?

I would contact the FDLRS (Florida Diagnostic Learning Resources Center) and have them do a developmental screening on your child. This is free. The link is:
http://www1.sdhc.k12.fl.us/~fdlrs/devscr0607.pdf

You can see where the most convenient site is to you. My daughter (who is now 12) wasn't speaking at that time, either. She did a lot of poiting and grunting. Turned out she was speaking, but I couldnt understand her! They found she had a speech deficit and was enrolled in preschool (at no cost).

God luck.

M.

like everyone else said...just relax!! your little man sounds totally normal to me! it was well after my son'd 2nd birthday before he started really talking. before that he still did the baby babble...and he had his little babbly words that i could undertand...but if you didn't know him...then nothing made sense. does he babble...make nonsense sounds or anything? if he does...then he is probably just fine. if you're really concerned, have him evaluated by a speech therapist...but really i wouldn't worry about it, unless he just wasn't making any sounds at all. good luck!

V., i dont think you are over reacting, it does sound like autism. I have a child with a mild form, he's now 20, but ive been trying to be more knowledgeable because i didnt know until 13. As he was growing up at a time they werent so aware.

Because of what i know, go get help for him as soon as you can. Dont settle for anything that isnt working either. Its your son and dont settle for less. Unfortuanetly you will find that finding the right doctor, meds, therapy isnt easy. But if its going to help him, it needs to be compatable with "him".

Im not trying to worry you, just share what i know in order to help. I wish i had early diagnosis, in that i coulod of done better by my son.
Please know that your son sounds very smart! Einstein was autistic you know :}.
Alot of people have been learning/using sign language now a days. I dont know if its the rise in autism or not. But whether your child is autistic or not, its an excellent way to communicate. Most children can be hard to understand at a young age, but sign language isnt. Its international and pretty easy to learn.
I hope ive helped and you need not worry, your son can lead a very productive life, and im sure he will.
L.

I would trust your pediatrician and not worry if your son seems fine otherwise. He's not really developmentally behind yet, just not being very verbal, so I think you can take heart and not assume the worst. Of course, keep an eye on it and report any changes for the worse to the doc, but I think you should give it a bit more time before worrying about autism.

Good luck,
K.

From a special education teacher's perspective...It may be nothing, but getting him evaluated by a developmental pediatrician would be a great idea. If there is a problem the earlier you start intervention the better. If there isn't a problem it will feel better knowing it.
My friend's son is a watcher. He turns 2 next month and just began to say his first few words, but he takes it all in and knows what is going on. Go with your intincts. Mama knows her kid better than anyone!