“That’s normal, all kids are like that” “She said a word, Stop calling her nonverbal” So many people don’t understand Autism or what it means to be nonverbal/nonspeaking and have echolalia. So I’ll try my best to explain it in a way to help you understand. Nonverbal autism means your child may not talk at all or may talk very little, only learning a few words or phrases in their lifetime. At the age of 3, Mikko does not understand most words at all. And has only ever said about 3 words withOUT prompt. Children on the autism spectrum use echolalia because they learn language different. Typical developing children tend to begin learning language by first understanding and using single words, and then they gradually string them together to make phrases and sentences. Children on the autism spectrum often follow a different route. Their first attempts at language may be longer “chunks” of language (phrases or sentences), which they are not able to break down into smaller parts. These chunks are more grammatically complicated than they could put together themselves, and they don’t understand what the individual words mean. It’s ok not to understand something, but there are books and google to help you instead of telling a parent that they don’t know anything about their own child, as if you do. It’s dismissive and condescending. This is precisely why people are finding out they are Autistic as adults because some parents are in denial. Autism is not normal but it’s NOT wrong, it’s just different ❤️💙💛💚 {disclaimer 🚨 i didnt notice signs of Autism when she was a baby, i just noticed she was different} Autism is usually diagnosed after 18months*** #ASD #autism #nonverbal #echolalia #autismawareness #autismacceptance #neurodivergent #autistic