when will receptive language increase? I have a son who just turned two a couple of months ago and it seems that he is doing great with therapy.  He is learning some commands but still has a very hard time understanding language.  With ABA he has learned things like come here, touch your nose, turn around and some other small commands.  I was wondering though, around what age do children (with ASD) start learning language easier.  Will I always have to use reinforcements and teach him every single word or will there come a time when the receptive language begins to be understood easier?  I just feel like because he doesn't talk, I can not tell what he really understands and what he doesn't.  I just am so worn down from constantly labeling everything and always asking him to do something in order to get something.  Sometimes I feel bad because he is the only one i ask this of and I wonder if he notices that his brother and sister do not have to do anything to get their food or their juice or a toy.  Can any of you tell me when and how your child began understanding language better?  I really need the encouragement.  I am feeling pretty low right now and just need some personal stories to let me know what I can look forward to.  Are you pairing verbal with visual? sometimes that can help especially using things of interest to him.  My son could only recall words at first if he saw them --we got up to about 70 words.  And, then he needed a visual to prompt him to say the word to ask for things.   Once he got that he started labelling some things of interest on his own.  And, then he started verbally imitating without visual support and that's where his language took off.   It was a slow thoughtful process but it came step by step.   I kinda think of it like finding their thread: every kid's got something a little different about how they learn and you have too find that little loose thread and start unravelling it -- and at first it is really tough.  Hi there, my son certainly wasn't 2 when he started to understand language.  It really came in more at 6 years old....things just started to "click"...I'm not sure if it's because he became accustomed to hearing the same phrases over and over, like "give me your hand", "throw it away", "let's go for a ride", etc.  At first, I think it was because of repetition, but now he understands so much more (he's 8 years and 3 months)..his behaviors are so much better, too, because the world isn't so confusing anymore. Keep using phrases consistently that he can pair up with a visual image, such as the ones mentioned in my first paragraph....talk to him like you would any other 2 year old.....you never know when that "light" will turn on... Don't lose hope my son is 2.5 and at 2 years I couldn't foresee a future where communication would be easier but it happened and it was virtually overnight (well seemed like it). At 2yo I was labelling everything for DS and then he began to understand. It was just like he blossomed and receptive language took off. He can now understand many more requests than I ever thought possible and can communicate expressively to me through sign language in return. I hope it happens for you in just the same way. in the last year my son's receptive language has blossomed.  This happeneded with increase class time and after finally being potty trained. BTW he is seven years old We just found out that my high functioning, incredibly verbal 12 year old son has extremely low verbal cognition but average non-verbal cognition.  What an eye opener.  You would think a verbal kid would understand language better, but that is not always the case.  This means we really need to incorporate more visual cues even at his age. i was in my late teens early 20s before it got beter an i still struggle sometime someone talking to me an it might as well be in another language .but it was hard as a child an made leafring very hard
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