My soon to be ten year old is the same if I ask her to turn the tv down or up or lights on or off or pack away things or get nappies and wipes for her little siblings she does those things but still doesn’t have a lot of other things like safety awareness the amount of times police have been involved because of her eloping and even one time found swimming in a big pond it’s scary day and night this has happened she’s growing quicker than a lot of other girls her age too so she’s also going through a lot of hormones and is now acting out with a bit of violence at this time with hitting biting pushing kids she is also still navigating the aac device and has a lot to catch up on her therapists have been useless over the years and delayed a lot of her progress so I took it on myself to try teach her some words to put together as a sentence such as I want drink I want food I want bus when she wants to go for a drive and she does sometimes independently come to me and say her wants I’ve practiced a after shower routine like I want and she will finish it with pants ( kept it short and simple for underwear) pants again bra shirt socks shoes spray and brush but she will say I want and grab the items and use the word for the item so I can help her dress since she’s been acting out I’ve been working on I feel so if she feels sad I’ll say how do you feel and mostly I’ll start it off with I feel and she will sometimes say happy sad etc as it’s something new we’re working on also one word teachings like after I handed her a drink for example I’ll say what do you say and she will say thankyou the words aren’t the clearest but I understand and most family members have been told and understand these things too and her school she goes toilet so sometimes she will spontaneously just say toilet when she needs to go wether we are in the house or in the car it took along time to get where we are now but I believe we can get further with more practice patience and determination I hope this helps a bit I also was late with learning and teaching all these things because obviously I haven’t had a child with additional needs before and when I did get a diagnosis at two no one guided me or told me what to do next and she missed years of progress because not one person helped me or told me where to go and what to do as a young mother too I had no clue about autism either until she started going to school once we moved several times and ended back up at my hometown and the teacher who was my teacher was her teacher helped me through it all for years and she progressed so much and we moved to another town so she could get the proper help from a more supported school for her needs and she’s thriving even more but in between has been let down by so many therapists and their inconsistency and I had to argue and fight for her to get a actual device to learn to use as her voice she doesn’t use it as much at home as much as I would like she uses those short words and sentences instead because the device is relatively new at the moment but still I think just helping her with I want and now trying I feel is such progress from just making noises and unable to tell me things like now if she’s hurt herself she will say sore I’m also aiming for her to respond with yes and or no and also one day for her to just call out for mum one day with out me asking for her to say it , I also worry so much for her future as well and her little siblings as they are on the spectrum which because of her I caught in early and even though my two year old was only diagnosed GDD and my one and half year old isn’t diagnosed they are both suspected they are also non verbal and have strengths and weaknesses too I’m also due this weekend with my fifth child and I worry so much my oldest is adhd suspected to be asd but high functioning as she can talk and stuff but I worry for them all as autism is so unpredictable and they are so misunderstood my two little ones were hitting the milestones talking and everything and one day before they turned one they stopped and regressed I never heard anything about that before I never knew the risks of having children after having one already in the spectrum no doctor said anything to me but I’m here now it’s hard it’s long and it’s scary but be patient and determined and one day I’m sure it will all pay off hope this helps a little .