Mrs Speechie P

Mrs Speechie P Hi- My name is Andi Putt and I am a pediatric speech language pathologist, autism evaluation specialist, & disabilities advocate.
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Welcome parents, & professionals!

Today I want to focus on the very real impact the spreading of misinformation has on parents, pregnancies, and babies.Wh...
09/23/2025

Today I want to focus on the very real impact the spreading of misinformation has on parents, pregnancies, and babies.

When Autism is stigmatized, and misleading information not supported by science is shared as factual- this causes real harm that cannot (and should not) be ignored.

I need to highlight these are correlated and do not show causation. But the large difference is significant and should not be ignored ❤️

We know untreated fevers and pain lead to higher risks of preterm birth, other developmental differences, and possible increases in miscarriage (up to 2Xs but evidence is mixed and theres a lot of factors). Research shows autism rates remain the same with or without Tylenol when accounting for genetics.

We also know autistic people are more likely to have chronic pain and discomfort in pregnancy, so this makes sense they would be more likely to need medication. This is a great example of how correlation does not equal causation.

As always, you should speak with your physician about your own personal medical treatment (not politicians). But please don’t feel like you should “tough it out” when that can cause actual harm OR that you caused your child’s Autism by taking care of yourself and your baby ❤️

09/23/2025

ACOG reaffirms the safety and benefits of acetaminophen use during pregnancy.
More than two decades of research have found no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in children. Acetaminophen continues to be an important and safe option for managing pain and fever in pregnancy—conditions that can pose serious risks to pregnant patients and their fetuses if left untreated. Learn more about acetaminophen use during pregnancy: https://bit.ly/4mqIzWr

Most (not all) Autistic kids do learn to speak with mouth words. However, they often learn this skill on different timef...
09/15/2025

Most (not all) Autistic kids do learn to speak with mouth words. However, they often learn this skill on different timeframes- and not speaking is often one of the first signs parents notice in their Autistic kids.

It’s actually super common for autistic kids to begin speaking between the ages of 3 and 4. But it’s also true that autistic kids as a whole don’t fit into just one box when it comes to speaking. Here are some of the most common patterns I see, but kids can also mix and match in their development.

Note: this is a super oversimplified graph that focuses solely on expressive vocabulary ( # of words kids can say)- language development is SO much more than this. However, expressive vocabulary is also what non-SLPs are best at recognizing, so this is what I used. If your child is not meeting the milestone or you or anyone else has concerns about their communication, I recommend an evaluation with a speech language pathologist who can look at all parts of language ❤️

My son Kam (who is Autistic) was advanced at an early age and is now in the average/low average range for his language skills. What about your kids? ⤵️

Throwback to an old post that is just so relevant to some of my feelings as a parent lately. ⤵️This was Kam’s first fiel...
09/12/2025

Throwback to an old post that is just so relevant to some of my feelings as a parent lately. ⤵️

This was Kam’s first field day. At the time, we didn’t know he was Autistic, but we did know he had anxiety and motor delays.

He did great with the first few activities and then we got to water and relay race games. His PE teacher had explained the games before so there were no surprises. But he chose to sit out for more than half of the activities.

It broke my heart. I wanted him to have fun and be care-free like all of the other kids were. I even had to step away because my eyes started watering (and I’m not a crier!). It was hard to watch that weight on his shoulders and I was convinced that if he just tried it he would like it, but it was a hard nope from him.

I want to say to many parents in similar situations - I totally get it. Parenting is hard and seeing your child struggle is one of the most difficult things.

I often tell parents of Autistic children- “they are happy to play alone, I know YOU want them to have friends, but they are happy as they are, and that’s what is important”. My son was happy sitting out. He laughed watching the other kids, and he was totally okay with his choice. His idea of fun was not the same as what I thought would be fun. It was me who struggled, and honestly me who made it worse for him trying to get him to participate- and who was upset and frustrated. When we got home, he told his dad all the fun things he did.

I’m not a perfect parent. As parents, we do need to recognize that what we want for our kids isn’t necessarily the same as what’s important to them. I get it, I recognized it, and I still struggled with it. Which leads me to my second point, we need to forgive ourselves because perfection is an unattainable goal. And last- a good reminder to anyone who is not a parent… You cannot judge parents for the choices - or mistakes- they make. My reactions and feelings about my child aren’t always reasonable or even logical. They are still valid because they are MY feelings and I don’t chose them- I do my best with what I have. Just like parents everywhere are doing - and should be able to do judgement free. ❤️

Our words matter! ⭐️ Read the last sentence of “phases to avoid” twice to let it sink in 🔥
09/10/2025

Our words matter!

⭐️ Read the last sentence of “phases to avoid” twice to let it sink in 🔥

✅ We know the main “cause” of autism is genetics. Twin studies show this clearly: the more genes twins share, the more l...
09/09/2025

✅ We know the main “cause” of autism is genetics.

Twin studies show this clearly: the more genes twins share, the more likely both are diagnosed, and the more similar their trait levels are.

There are a few strong environmental factors — like prenatal seizure medication (valproate), extreme prematurity, parental age, and (ironically) prenatal rubella infection. We reduce what we can (medicine choices, rubella vaccination), but the alternatives to prematurity and older parents are babies not surviving or not being born. We must stop pretending that illness, death, or no babies is somehow “better” than an autistic child.

Most other “risk factors” fade once genetics are considered, which means they’re better explained by family/genetic background, not the factor itself.
And we shouldn’t treat new correlations as meaningful until they’re tested against genetics.

Anyone talking about the “cause” of autism without acknowledging its strong, well-documented genetic basis is not giving accurate or scientific information.

Note: Autism science is complex. This post is simplified for clarity. If you’re interested, I encourage you to dive deeper into the research.

Differences PARENTS tend to notice first in Autistic kids 💜Autism is a combination of core traits (last slide) but paren...
09/08/2025

Differences PARENTS tend to notice first in Autistic kids 💜

Autism is a combination of core traits (last slide) but parents tend to notice these 6 differences first.

For me, my Autistic son had very few of these (advanced talking, selective eating) when he was young and then his differences were more clear as he got older, so this for sure is not true for all.

What signs did you first notice? ⤵️

Welp, the Wall Street Journal has announced an upcoming report from HHS that will soon release a report as Tylenol use a...
09/05/2025

Welp, the Wall Street Journal has announced an upcoming report from HHS that will soon release a report as Tylenol use and low levels of folate during pregnancy as potential causes of Autism.

🌟 The links between both of these and Autism is *NOT* new information. 🌟 And fits in nicely with one of my main guesses I shared a few days ago about about what RFK will say now that it’s September (and the HHS study is only set to *begin* this month resulting in no new info).

Since I don’t know what the HHS report will say, I can post info we have from previous studies as well as scientific information everyone should know before looking at studies.

Key take aways:
1. The info we have about both of these is really small correlations and certainly nowhere near “shocking” or high levels of being related
2. Correlation does not mean causation
3. The Tylenol correlation was found to disappear when considering genetics in a large study
4. There are multiple ways to present research results and it’s easy to make risk factors seem much bigger (and scarier since this administration is going for the fear factor) than they are.
5. Not all studies are created equal and it’s likely HHS will cherry pick either small sample sized studies or less comprehensive studies than what is readily available.

Edit: it may be saying that folic acid increases risk? Idk I guess we will find out soon…

Autism is diagnosed through patterns of differences in social communication and and “restricted, repetitive patterns of ...
09/05/2025

Autism is diagnosed through patterns of differences in social communication and and “restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior” - but most people tend to only recognize clear and stereotypical autism traits that fall under these categories.

Here are some common Autism traits that fall under these categories- but often go unrecognized as Autistic traits.

*Slide 7 is a must read now that it’s September*RFK has repeatedly said, as recently as last week, that we will know the...
09/03/2025

*Slide 7 is a must read now that it’s September*

RFK has repeatedly said, as recently as last week, that we will know the *cause of Autism* THIS month.

What you need to know:
•The research hasn’t even started yet
•It’s basically impossible to find one definitive cause of Autism even if we had years to look for this (PLUS we already have decades of research here).
•See slide 7 for top guesses of what RFK will do now that it’s September.

Don’t believe me? That’s okay! Please oh please fact check me. 1. You can learn about ADSI (RFK’s study) on the NIH website (link on slide 2). 2. Google correlation vs causation and educate yourself 3. Google “autism heritability studies” (SPARK, JAMA, & even the NIH) 4. Look up the limitations on any study you want to cite that you *think* shows a cause for autism - it will say it’s not causation. Also go ahead and look up financial disclosures of the authors. Also look at sample size and location- 15 kids from one clinic is not a good study 🤦🏼‍♀️

Let’s take a look at the how and most importantly *why* the numbers of Autism diagnosis have increased over time. Rememb...
09/02/2025

Let’s take a look at the how and most importantly *why* the numbers of Autism diagnosis have increased over time. Remember = more autism diagnosis does not equal more autistic people.

Note: the two biggest “jumps” come 1️⃣ After Autism was added to the DSM and then 2️⃣ When the diagnostic criteria increased, allowing more people access to an Autism diagnosis.

If we used the same criteria as 1970 (“extreme social withdrawal, obsessive desire for sameness, lack of speech/highly unusual speech patterns”) we would have significantly less diagnosed people. If we also only determined who was Autistic based off of teacher questionnaires or medical documentation from people who have never heard of Autism, especially at a time when disabled people were hidden from society, we’d ALSO have significantly less numbers of diagnosed people. Put those two together and that’s how early prevalence numbers were captured.

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Mrs Speechie P

Mrs Speechie P is a blog designed to share information about speech and language development to parents of children with delays and/or disabilities, Speech Language Pathologists, and Educators. I have a passion for early intervention and parent education/involvement in intervention.