Have you noticed that your child isn’t speaking as much as their peers? It may be possible that your 2-year old hasn’t said their first words yet. More and more and more people then ask….is it autism or speech delay?
Speech and language delays are far more common than you may think — they affect around 10% of preschool-aged children.
All children develop at different rates, especially in terms of communication. While most children start using basic verbal communication within their first 1-2 years of life, some children are what’s known as late talkers. Also, other developmental issues can cause speech delays in children.
The main difference between other speech delays and autism-related speech delays is that children who are just late talkers still attempt to engage and communicate in different ways. For example, they might make babbling sounds, point, and use other types of body language to get what they want.
If your child isn’t yet verbally communicating, but is actively engaging with people and communicating in these other ways, it is unlikely that their speech delay is due to autism.
Speech delay or alalia is the delay in the development of speech or delay in the use of articulators to produce speech.
Speech is a part of the language. It is the process of making sounds using the lungs, voice box, vocal cords, tongue, lips, and teeth.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an umbrella term that includes a wide range of early-appearing social communication deficits.
The estimated prevalence of autism spectrum disorder is 1 in 54 children as of 2016 in the US population. Genetics plays a significant role in the cause of autism. However, it is a heterogeneous disorder and multiple mutations, linkages, and variations have been associated with autism in the last few years.
Check out this video by renowned Speech therapist Ming Fung. Ming Fung is the founder of Agents of Speech. Agents of speech is an online platform for parents who are struggling at home with their speech delayed children. Their aim is to give the power of therapy to parents so that they feel confident to teach at home by themselves.
Click here for the video: https://www.agentsofspeech.com/blog/what-s-the-difference-between-speech-delay-and-autism-2
