Question
Is there a connection between children not speaking and autism? My child is 2 and a half years old.
Answer
If a child is diagnosed with autism and this leads to not speaking, through active rehabilitation training and treatment, the child may start to speak. The age of six is a critical period for treating autism; beyond this age, the effectiveness of treatment can significantly decrease. If a child uses finger-pointing to indicate what they want, it might be because parents often correctly guess the child’s intentions, leading the child not to need to use language to express themselves. In such cases, parents should pretend not to understand the child’s intentions, forcing the child to use language to express their needs. Note: Ensure that the summary accurately summarizes the content of the Q&A, without oversimplifying or omitting key information. The summary should be a concise and clear sentence that allows readers to quickly understand the main content of the post.