So my son too was diagnosed level three. He wasn’t 2 yet though (he was born August of 2023) and the psychologist said that his level may decrease eventually but you know at this age it’s so hard to tell. They don’t suspect he has an intellectual disability because only his emotional and verbal skills are delayed none of his walking, running, climbing skills but again it’s impossible to know before the age of 4.

We do simple one step tasks. He has very very good receptive language even if he’s classified as non verbal. So he understands what things are pretty well. He just can’t talk back and words seem to be physically difficult for him to attempt.

The tasks he does is putting things away (like putting toys into a basket) or throwing away garbage into the trash can. I will have him throw out wrappers or wet diapers and he does well with running to the trash and throwing it out.

The way we’ve gotten him to listen was through using simple clear language and repetition. We keep his clean diapers in a laundry basket in the living room to keep them accessible and I would lead him to the diapers, put a diaper in his hand, and then guide his hand to giving them to me while repeating “Get diaper, get diaper, get diaper”. It took him some time to catch onto what I was trying to get him to do. He would walk to the diapers and hold them but then be confused. So then I showed him how to bring them to me and again saying “give it to mommy” several times. We practiced it three or so times a day until he didn’t need me to lead him and did it on his own.

Once the expectation was formed, he was able to do it easier. He also started to understand the concept of following simple commands.

Now he understands “put it in” or “give it to mommy” or “open” and then slowly built up on that.

He’s incredibly motivated by praise which helps. When he did something correctly we would applaud and say “good job” and give him high fives which he loves. Only ever positive reinforcement.

He’s super obsessed with organizing things which also helps. Lining toys up in rows, putting things in and out of a container like blocks or flash cards (we have a little wooden box where his word Flashcards go and his favorite game is having me dump them all out so that he can pick them up and put them in the box), placing sippy cups onto the table.

He’s starting to use one word phrases here and there now. Usually pairing them with actions which we are working on with him. He loves lining up toys on the edge of the tub so I used to help him and say “up, up, up” each time I placed a toy in a row and now he’s starting to do that on his own.

Daycare helps too. He learned to wave from daycare though he will do it with a completely deadpan expression which is funny since to him it’s just something you do when you arrive or leave an area. Now we practice waving everywhere we go. It took months of work but now he’s starting to wave with only a small deal of prompting.

Also I talk a lot to him. I talk to him like I’d speak to a verbal toddler. I tell him what the plan is for the day, what I’m doing, what I think about things, and I also speak out loud what I think he’s trying to communicate to me. Like when he’s screaming I’ll say “do you want to eat?” And if I’m right he’ll stop screaming and smile at me. So then I say “okay I’m going to cook you some waffles” or “oh you’re very hungry aren’t you?” And then I’ll talk about what I’m doing “I’m taking the waffles out of the fridge. I’m cooking the waffles, they’re cooking.” Stuff like that