Why isn’t he talking? It can’t just be autism

When Lottie Berry’s non-speaking autistic son Joshua didn’t follow the normal pathway for speech progression, she started to question why.Yes, he was autistic, but that didn’t explain why he couldn’t talk. Lottie talks about how she bravely pushed for a diagnosis for his speech disorder on the NHS and secured an adapted speech assessment, which resulted in a diagnosis of Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS).Josh now has intensive speech therapy sessions for CAS on the NHS that have helped unlock his voice alongside his trusty speech device Monty (Proloquo2Go).Lottie says, “I had given up hope that he was ever going to talk with his mouth - I just didn’t think it was ever going to happen…the fact he can now say mummy (and other words) with his mouth is the best thing ever for him and me.”Lottie Berry is the Founder of Tap Type Talk, an autism, apraxia, and AAC advocacy platform.