Non-Verbal Autism: Know the Signs, Why It Occurs & How to Communicate

When it comes to non-verbal autism, it's important to know what indicators to look for, so you can determine whether or not you should seek out specialist help.

During the first year of life, children are watching, listening, and imitating what they see and hear. By the end of their first year, most typically developing children have a handful of words that they use to communicate their needs. “Mama,” “baba,” “juice,” “doggie,” and “dada” are a few of the words that you might hear depending on your child’s likes and wants.

By the end of their second year of life, most typically developing children are stringing words together to form short sentences such as: “give me that” or “I want milk.”

By age three, typically developing children will have a greater sense of self awareness, and they will start asking questions that begin with “why” or “what.” They may even start using pronouns in their speech.

But, what if a child reaches the age of three, and there is little to no verbal communication? Well, for some children, delayed speech could be associated with an outside factor like being bilingual, developmentally delayed, or even being the youngest in a large family where all of the older siblings are talking for the child. For others, this may be the first indicator that leads to a diagnosis of autism. It is important to know what indicators to look for, so you can determine whether or not you should be concerned enough to seek out a professional evaluation.

View full blog post here...