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AshTBurk
member
How do I know at 11 months?
AshTBurk
member
My Addison is 11 months old. She is happy, smiley, loving, cuddly. She crawls like a bat out of hell, is cruising along furniture and appears to be getting ready to walk unassisted. She is starting to enjoy table food and sleeps/naps on a regular schedule.
However, I have many concerns about her.
She is completely unintertested in other babies/kids, when we have playdates. They approach her, but she doesn't even acknowledge they're there.She's our first baby, an only child (obviously).
Instead, she is fixated on small details. She will pick up a single strand of my (blonde) hair off the floor. Study the patterns in our wood floors. Pick up a crumb off the floor, when her toys are just feet away. Become obsessive over certain toys. She is more interested in "things" than people.
She does not respond to her name or wave hi/bye. I mean, she has done it before, but it's not a consistent thing. With the name, it's almost like she doesn't even hear us. But when I bust out singing her favorite song from some show on the Baby First channel, her face lights up with joy and she smiles and makes eye contact with me, as if to say, I like that, mom!
So she is responsive, to things she likes, but not so much in other ways. She mimics a little bit, but doesn't say any words other than mama, dada, and uh oh, but I'm not sure she knows what they mean.
I know I'm rambling. But those are my main concerns and I would love some feedback. Like I said, we are nearing her first birthday so I'm just starting to analyze if she is on track for the regular milestones or not. A lot of the things I'm noticing she's doing seem to be autism related, especially the non-responding to her name, not waving. Oh and also, she won't clap her hands or play peek-a-boo. SShe likes it when I clap her hands for her, and sing the patty-cake song and things like that, but does not make the connection to clap her own hands, not matter how persistently I try.
Any feedback would be appreciated, thank you guys so much.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: How do I know at 11 months?
Bless you, amajane. I appreciate that.
I keep asking myself if I am just obsessing, but my intution is telling me something might be wrong. It's very hard to call ... I am keeping a list of things I'm concerned about though, and will definitely bring to doctor's attention at next visit.
Nothing raises a huge red flag from what you've described. But nothing my DD1 did at that age did, either, and she got an autism dx at three. The differences were quite subtle when she was less than a year, and she wasn't delayed on language until more like 2.5 (she developed language right on time, and actually sooner than my DD2 who is typical).
I'd be slightly concerned about being more interested in things than people, and I'd keep an eye on her functional play skills. When you say she becomes obsessed with certain toys, does she actually play with them? My DD1 would take a toy in each hand and pass them back and forth, from one side of her to the other. We called her our "two things girl" because that happened every time. Another early sign for us was being an observer rather than a participant in things like group baby music classes -- we thought it was b/c she was shy, and I suppose for some kids it is, but it can also be a sign that a child doesn't have a concept of how to join in with others/social deficits.
If your intuition is telling you something is wrong, I think you're right to keep a list and keep your doctor informed. I wouldn't worry too much about the language just yet, and toddlers can quirky creatures in general. I will say from experience, though, that an evaluation by EI is worth it to set your mind at ease if you continue to see things that make you worry. I had my DD2 evaluated at 15 months because I was convinced she had autism as well -- she was slightly delayed on speech, but not enough to need services; and I haven't worried since.
And I'll also mention this -- I was freaked out about DD2's lack of eye contact, non-response to her name, treating me as a tool to get what she wanted. Turns out that this is also common in kids whose mothers are depressed, even though it looks an awful lot like red flags for autism. The issue was with me, not her, and she only acted that way with me; no wonder I felt like I was crazy, because no one else noticed anything odd. In her EI eval they said that she was actually a bit socially advanced for her age, but they did notice that she interacted with me differently. Luckily, my pedi knew enough that when the eval came back fine, to ask me how I was doing and I admitted I was struggling and went on meds, and DD2 and I got back on track.
That is just to say, from my own experience, that intuition is very good at detecting something is wrong, even if it isn't what you thought it was. You sound very anxious, and I'm just going to put it out there that your own state of mind is really important as well when it comes to some of these things.
GL!
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
You don't know at 11 months. Even if you had her evaluated by the most knowledgable professionals, they likely wouldn't know. FWIW, my son was really late to point/wave/clap/make eye contact/talk and he's not autistic. He has some sensory processing glitches but at three you would never know he was severely developmentally delayed as a 1-2 year old minus some mild issues with articulation.
Kids that are going to be late bloomers and kids who will go on to get autism (or another disorder) diagnoses look a lot alike at your DD's age. Response to name/waving is generally developing at your DD's age, but if she does it at 13 months vs 11 months it's not that big a deal. Definitely voice your concerns at your DD's 1 year well visit but try not to lose sleep over it (easier said than done, I know).