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Speech Delay and Autism in Bilingual Toddlers; How Olga Helped Her Daughter

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Increase Talking &
Decrease Tantrums

in Young Children with

Autism &/or Speech Delays

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Olga M. is a part of our online community and has worked her way through my online courses. She first discovered Turn Autism Around during her research after her daughter was diagnosed with ASD at 22 months old during COVID. Now her daughter, Allie, is 4.5 years old and has made outstanding progress.

Does Being Bilingual Cause Speech Delay?

Allie had about 10 words prior to her first birthday, and she was raised in a trilingual family. Living in Massachusetts, they spoke English to her as well as their native languages of Russian and Georgian. Shortly after this time, Olga began to notice the words disappearing, leading to concern about a speech regression. When you have a toddler who is not speaking in a bilingual household, many will blame the lack of words on confusion in the language, but this is not the case. After her assessment, Allie was diagnosed with ASD, and Olga and her family made the choice to continue teaching her the languages, but more systematically. Olga worked with Allie at table time only in Russian at first because this was the most accessible language in her family. Now that Allie is completely conversational in Russian, Olga has worked with her in English, and she is almost fluent.

Working with a Child with a Full VB-MAPP

We take a look at Allie’s VB-MAPP and One Page Assessment, and Allie has a lot of strengths. She sleeps through the night, has zero problem behaviors, is conversational in one language and nearly fluent in another, has self-care skills, and many more things. However, a full or nearly full VB-MAPP does not mean there is not work to be done. Olga still works with Allie consistently. Currently, Allie receives only 4 hours of ABA services a week and will be graduating soon. Allie attends a typical preschool where she receives an IEP and will continue to receive services covered under the IEP through school

Tips for Conversational Learners

Olga’s next goal is to get Allie completely conversational in English. As Allie’s language skills continue to grow, there is still room to keep working. Language skills will continue to be necessary for academic reasons, social reasons, personal reasons, and more. For intermediate learners, I recommend starting with the program Language for Learning and then moving on to Language for Thinking. More advanced learners can move into Language for Writing and Reasoning. The Book program and continually checking out new books at the library are also great ways to work on language. Additionally, the topic game that I explain in the show is a really fun way to get kids talking and thinking about different topics that might not ordinarily be brought up.

Olga M. is a great example of being the captain of the ship. She has worked really hard using my courses and resources and has become a part of our community to help her daughter. Her hard work and dedication to this content really show in the success she has seen in her daughter.

Olga M. on Turn Autism Around Podcast

Olga’s daughter Allie was diagnosed with ASD when she was 22 months old. Olga found Mary’s course in the middle of the COVID pandemic, and her daughter had made significant progress. Now they are in the VB Bundle. They are a trilingual family.

You’ll Learn

  • Family Story: How to help your child with a speech delay
  • Does speech regression mean autism?
  • Does bilingual learning cause a speech delay?
  • How to use the TAA approach with a bilingual or trilingual family.
  • How to continue services with a full VB-Mapp.
  • Tips for continuing a learner’s conversational language skills.
  • Assessing strengths and weaknesses with the digital, one page assessment.
  • How the Turn Autism Around approach has helped a child work toward being conversational in two languages.
  • Tips to continue learning with conversational learners.

Resources

Free Workshop

Increase Talking &
Decrease Tantrums

in Young Children with

Autism &/or Speech Delays

Register for Free Training