at what age do children start to speak? and what about autistic children? (sorry if that sounded ableist, i just really wanna know)
according to google, most kids can speak about 20 words by 18 months, and 50 by age two (where they can start to string together simple sentences). most can speak in full sentences between two-three years old.
most autistic children either have delayed speech, or hyperverbal ability (though not all, it’s just a common occurrence). the old diagnostic requirement for Kanner’s Syndrome (aka classical autism) was that a kid didn’t speak, or had very delayed speech, at least by age three. (the youngest a baby can be said to have a speech delay is if they know less than 10 words by 18months). so delayed speech is pretty common for autistic people, although not a dx requirement any more.
kids who spoke properly before 3 used to be diagnosed with asperger’s. this doesnt mean they were hyperverbal children though. hyperverbal kids tend to have a big vocabulary and large use of speech from an early age. this is also common with autistic people. i was speaking in full simple sentences by apx 18 months, which is typical for 2-3 year olds. talking to other autistic people, i know that others started talking earlier than i did. hyperverbal kids, from what ive gathered, tend to start talking between 12-20 months. i havent looked for official sources on that, just talked to people
