Remember that "mine" behavior is a learned behavior from copying. The child may not fully be getting what they are saying but trained. Just because expressive language is good, receptive language may not be which causes far more problems than receptive.

We had lots of speech therapy and worked on it at home. It was probably between 4-4.5 my son got it.

My NT, even quite smart, son did not get I/You until almost 4. In his case, he spoke early and we did not pay attention enough to model correct usage. He is an only child, and we always tend to refer ourselves as Mommy and Daddy and called him You. It was really hard to correct until he went to preschool and see other kids referring themselves as I/me/mine.

I think the most important thing is to always use I when you refer to yourself and not use mommy or daddy. He will eventually get it.

I read somewhere from a speech therapist that she did not think this is a ASD thing. She said it is the sign of an analytic brain.

Thanks all. He is not quite 3 yet, but advanced in expressive language, per the evaluation (although I think that's because he has an extensive vocabulary, his sentences are still pretty choppy.) I should have been more clear: by 'confusion' I don't mean he confuses he/she; he just doesn't seem to get any pronouns at all: I/you, mine/ yours/ ours; I/you/we go... I've heard before that pronoun confusion is common in toddlers, yet it our wide circle, all typical toddlers I know had pronouns down as soon as they started talking. I distinctly remember a 15-month old yelling "mine" in a tug-of-war over a toy.

Anyway, not a huge concern, but thought that with such high scores for expressive language, DS could have an easier time getting pronouns with the right technique.

My DS, kindergartener, has the same issue. He occasionally confuses he/she; used to also refer to himself in third person. It's also his IEP goal, we correct him at home all the time.

My HFA boy is almost 5 and just starting to finally get it - still only about 75% accuracy. It is an IEP goal, he worked on it with his SLP and we modeled at home. At first modeling is tricky, bc you are trying to use it properly yourself and show him what to say. We found doing it first with books and pictures was easiest. It does take a long time.

Anonymous wrote:DS, toddler with ASD and echolalia, has a good vocabulary, but still refers to himself in the third person, and does NOT seem to get pronouns. After months of working on it, prompts, etc., there's no improvement. I know pronoun confusion is common for ASD kids. For those who've BTDT - what strategy did you use to make it "click" for your DC? How did they eventually get it?

It's normal for toddlers to refer to themselves in the third person. Look at Elmo

My kid with ASD but no echolalia had issues with pronouns until he was 5 and in K. He got help with social skills at school with SLP but not sure if they worked on pronouns. FWIW, his cousins w/ASD who are similar in age and did not get social skills/speech help also did not have issues with pronouns by 5.

My kid with APD who is 9 still mixes up the pronouns. So I'm not exactly sure when it "clicks."

Anonymous wrote:DS, toddler with ASD and echolalia, has a good vocabulary, but still refers to himself in the third person, and does NOT seem to get pronouns. After months of working on it, prompts, etc., there's no improvement. I know pronoun confusion is common for ASD kids. For those who've BTDT - what strategy did you use to make it "click" for your DC? How did they eventually get it?

My NT kids had trouble with pronouns until about age 3 and 1/2. I did nothing (except model the correct use of pronouns) and it slowly straightened itself out.

Just use good modeling and go to speech therapy.

How old is he? A toddler, ASD or not, is young to really get pronouns. Plus, ASD will typically delay pronouns. I would focus your energy elsewhere for now until he's 3 1/2/4. Then start with "I"

Pronoun confusion is fairly normal for toddlers. You don't say how old this child is -- toddler is a big range. Has he been evaluated by an ST?

DS, toddler with ASD and echolalia, has a good vocabulary, but still refers to himself in the third person, and does NOT seem to get pronouns. After months of working on it, prompts, etc., there's no improvement. I know pronoun confusion is common for ASD kids. For those who've BTDT - what strategy did you use to make it "click" for your DC? How did they eventually get it?