Autism??

[mikeanddonna]

I am a father having some concerns about my soon to be 2 year old son not talking and not eating foods.  He can say mama and dada well but will not really say to much more.  I can kind of get him to say Spongebob (BobBob or MM-Bob is what he says)  and cookie (Cooka) he says but that is all.  When ever he wants something he points at it and I try to make him say the word but he then just starts screaming.  I try my hardest to sit with him and try and say words but he dont have the patience.  Does my son have autism?  He has just started lately having big temper tantrums for the whole day.  Very rarely he stays calm.  What can I do about this.  And one more thing, he cannot go without his pacifier anywhere or else he screams and dont stop, how can I stop this?

[MSwiderski]

   As a Speech Therapist, the fact that your son is not talking at the age of 2 is a certainly a concern.  However, that being said... many children, especially boys develop speech at a slower rate.  There are many factors that you must also look at:  does he make eye contact, does he make early developing speech sounds (m, p, b, w, h), can he imitate movements or sounds, etc.  Just from your comments, I would guess that the temper tantrums are out of frustration in not being able to communicate his wants and needs adequately.  He has learned to point to get what he wants and now that you are "upping the ante" so to speak by requiring verbalizations, he is acting out his frustration in the form of tantrum.  

Not speaking and having tantrums does not equal Autism.  

I hope that he has a regular pediatrician and that you feel comfortable bringing these issues to him/her. I don't know where you live, but in NY State; we have Early Intervention through the County that you live in.  If your pediatrician makes a referral to the program (Child Find), your child could be eligible for a free evaluation and potentially Speech Intervention, or even OT, PT, Psychological, etc.
  
PLEASE talk with your pediatrician about the speech issues. The earlier the better.  Research proves that with delayed speech and language, we must act early for the best outcome.  These are the formative years, and the brain actually looses it’s ability to learn certain forms of speech and language in later years.  

In the mean time, I would suggest sign language as an alternative to verbal speech.  Again, research has proven that sign language promotes the development of verbal communication in "normally developing" children and even children with Downs Syndrome, Autism and developmentally delayed, because it alleviates the frustration of learning to communicate through verbal speech.  Children of your son's age naturally use their bodies to communicate, so teaching a few signs will help him to make his needs and wants known without the frustration.  You can buy a book of early signs in any book store or even Goggle it.  Many websites have videos of how to sign for free.  In addition, there are countless children’s videos out there now that teach sign language.  I would also recommend the video called “Baby Babble”.  It teaches all of the early developing speech sounds that a 2 year old should be able to make as well as a handful of signs.

I taught my own kids sign from birth and by 9 months they could ask for "more", "juice", "milk", etc.