25 Month Old Only Says 2 or 3 Words and Goes Around Saying Da to Everything.

I don't think she is developing autism but I would address it with her pediatrician. It sounds like there could be some developmental issues with her but not necessarily. My nephew is 13 years old was behind on developing as a baby. He was behind because he stayed sick and in the hospital all the time. His pediatricians told my sister that he would catch up as he got older and healthier. He did catch up somewhat but never talked a whole lot. Finally when he was 4 years old she talked to his pediatrician about him not talking because she was very concerned. She found out that he couldn't hear well enough to make words out. She took him to an ent specialist and found that he had chronic fluid that would pool behind his ears that would dull his hearing sense. They put tubes in his ears and he began to hear very well and began to talk. He never developed ear infections from the fluid and because he was behind from being sick all the time they didn't catch it. Have you had her hearing tested? I would start there to see if that uncovers some type of problem. It could be that she just needs a little speech therapy to resolve the problem but I wouldn't worry about autism.

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My son is 3 years and attends speech therapy and occupational therapy. We were referred to our state's Early Intervention team by our pediatrician during his second year checkup. He had been saying momma and dadda, but stopped when he had frequent earaches and fluid in the ears... We waited until 30 months to call and wish that we never did. He made no progress with the therapists coming to the house and when he was three they made him go before a public school board and decided after about an hour that he was severly autistic and needed a full day blended classroom immediately!
We cried and did not agree and found our own speech therapist and occupational therapist to help him out with some oral sensory issues.. We only pay a small copay. It turns out that he does not have autism.. They are deciding now if he has apraxia, because he got mad and ran around screaming when asked to imitate or maybe he just is a late talker. He is finally imitating dad quite a bit around the house..
A good idea is to go to one of your area college research departments and see if they are doing any studies on speech delays. Here at Vanderbilt, my son is going to partipate in a biweekly group study and will get two session free a week and get to spend time with other kids going through the same thing. Please do not let anyone diagnose or label your child too soon - we would not accept a diagnosis from anyone who had not worked with him one on one for three months. The behaviors of a child with a speech delay and a child with autism mirror each other during this period - wanting to be alone, lack of confidence, annoyance with people putting pressure of them to talk..
Hope this helps.
SarahJH www.HappyWorkAtHomeMoms.com

You may want to have her ears checked. My son just turned 25 mths and I had him tested about 5 mths ago because he wasnt speaking either. He had been carring fluid on his ears since birth. He passed the hearing test with flying colors but the fluid muffled and stunted his growth with his speech. Since we have had tubes placed in his ears, he is in speech therapy and has weekly therapy through TEIS (TN Early Intervention Services). He has slowly progressed to using many words - though still not clear - and just recently has been using 2 words together. He still points and grunts as many 2 yr olds do but you can see he really wants to get his point across.

Just another option for you to check out. But I would not wait until she is 3 to get her tested for speech delay or any other delay. TEIS will come out free to test her and your doctor can refer you to a hearing specialist for the hearing evaluation. I have learned the hard way through my 2 older boys who have learning disabilities (one with Aspergers - a high functioning form of autism) that its better to be proactive and find out nothing is wrong then to wait and hope that everything is alright when you could have prevented or fixed the problem (if there is one) before it gets too bad.

I am very willing to fight for my children and their health. You are her mother and mothers tend to feel when something isnt just right.... go with that feeling and get the answers you need. Better to know then to wait and get all those feelings of worry.

Good luck and God Bless

I have not read other readers responses. Definately check in to First Steps and have your child evaluated for speech and hearing. Early intervention is wonderful.

this doesnt sound like autisum. sounds more like speech delay. talk to her ped. they will have advice

Your daughter may just be a "slow" talker. I have two friends whose children didn't have much of a vocabulary until they were 3+. My son also went through the "point and grunt" phase. At first, we would go ahead and give it to him and tell him what it was, but we gradually stopped doing that and waiting until he said the correct word before letting him have it. As long as your pediatrician isn't worried, you probably shouldn't worry. If it persists past 3, you might want to think about getting her tested or setting her up with a speech pathologist for a while. (Reading to a child will also help increase vocabulary.)

My name is S. and I would love to hear any updates on your daughter as my son is the SAME way. ____@____.com

You cannot develop austim. Just talk to her and name everything you give her. Sometimes ask her to repeat it. Let her watch a few programs on nickjr. Read to her Dr suess early books are good to start there are others. Search the web there is lots of information there as well.

What did the ped say at her 2 yr well child? If you know what she is asking for when she grunts and you get her what she wants then she is getting no encouragement to speak , try prompting her to ask properly. Also you say you are worried that she is developing Autism , kids can't develop it , they are born with it , and what usually happens in more severe cases is that the child learns to speak , then they lose the ability to speak around 2 yrs old and go back to babble/baby talk , is this the case for your daughter? I would say it is more than likely that she has gotten a bit lazy as she get's given what she wants anyway without having to make the effort of asking for it.

I would say your daughters just being lazy. You need to encourage her to say what shes asking for and get her to say it before you give it to her. Kids can go through a backwards phasse but encourage her to get out of it but making her use her vocabulary

I gave this answer to another Mom concerned about delayed speech but my son was just over 3 before he put together a sentence--a 2 word sentence. I had taken him to the doctor before that time and the doctor told me not to worry if he unless he was 3. It's hard to test hearing he said in children of that age, of course that was 19 years ago. But after he spoke that little sentence, Daddy home, he started talking a lot.

So continue to talk to her, don't stress and as I tell all Mom's, no one knows your child like you do and if taking them to a doctor gives you a better peace of mind, then by all means do it.

My niece had the same problem and it turned out that my sister was just doing everything for her daughter, so child had no need to talk. So the speech therapist instructed her to demand a response. IE: my sister purposely left the straw out of her drink, when it wasnt there, my sister acted dumb to what was wrong as my niece threw a fit, but eventually she said "straw" and when giving a Popsicle or such my sister gave a choice so that she had to say "red" and so on. my niece is talking a lot more now. hope this helps!