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a random question about development

kcisthebombdotcomkcisthebombdotcom member
in Special Needs

i'm sure no one's going to be able to answer this but i'm going to give it a shot. having two children with developmental delays has made me interested in child development.

my daughter was seen by a neurodevelopmental pedi last week. one of her theories on my daughter's severe language/social delays was due to the fact that joint attention was a newly emerging skill for her. she said that joint attention had to develop first then social/language development followed. i've definitely noticed a huge developmental explosion recently which has coincided with the development of joint attention--more gesturing/word approximations to request items vs just whining, increased social awareness/mimicking other children, following instructions, mimicking sounds when requested, etc.

i know kids with autism generally have significant impairments in joint attention which is why i suspected it for a while with my daughter. i've also learned from this board many kids who go on to have asd diagnoses don't have language delays in early childhood. how do kids develop such language skills in the absence of this seemingly pivotal skill in development?

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Re: a random question about development

  • kcisthebombdotcomkcisthebombdotcom member
    image-auntie-:

    I don't know. Most of the kids I know who didn't have a language delay- those with Aspergers rather than autism or PDD-Nos do have joint attention especially with their preferred people.

    DS has two word phrases at 6 months. I wasn't watching for joint attention as a milestone, but I do recall him pointing at some pigeons on the letters that make up the Bloomingdale's sign at the local mall. He was not quite 9 months old. He pointed, said "birds" and then swung around to see if I saw them. I said "I don't see birds" and he pointed at them again and wasn't happy until I confirmed that they were on the sign. He was great at pointing out speed traps as a LO, too.

    Not related, but most kids with Aspergers specifically have very strong rote memories. I've been told that memory is mostly dependent on language as a scafold for organization and that most people have memories that start about the time of their language explosion. LOL, I remember DS telling me, when he was about 3, that when he "was a tiny baby, I cried and cried and mama tried to help". It was a pretty accurate description of his early colicky start.

    that is so fascinating.

    is it common in children with severe delays in an area to have highly advanced skills in another area? i've noticed this with both of my children who experienced delays. with my youngest, i have pictures of him climbing up a pretty large slide at the playground unassisted at 15 months old. he's always hit gross motor milestones crazy early--he walked at 8 months old. with my daughter, she dresses/undresses well and has been taking off her diaper/pants for quite some time, much to my dismay since she often pees on the floor when i turn my back on her. lol. at 18 months old she mastered holding a crayon appropriately between her middle/index finger without instruction/didnt learn it from her sibling. at two she colors in the lines of a picture and can draw a few shapes when requested.

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  • preggersINschool25preggersINschool25 member
    I would say my son has severe delays. His delays cover pretty much every area and I don't see where he excels in anything. However, I do not believe he is autistic. Although it is too soon to say for sure.


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  • kcisthebombdotcomkcisthebombdotcom member
    image-auntie-:

    Asynchronous development is pretty common to some degree. One kid might be great with gross motor but delayed around speech, or be advanced cognitively by delayed socially. It's only when the disconnect is large that it's considered a big deal.

    The two examples you give would be my sister's two kids. DN#1 was straight up average- I mean like she ready the book- on most milestones excepting speech and fine motor. At 18 months she could not only hold a pencil properly, she could cut meat with a knife and fork. At 32, she doesn't cut any better than her peers, LOL, and she was vegan except when traveling last I checked. Her sister walked really early; she was tiny and a fair bald baby -17 lb at a year, so it was a very odd thing to see.

    True savant skills, where a person has a specific gift in the presence of profound delays, is very unusual. I've met a couple of autists who could memorize the entire metropolitan public transit schedule of say Los Angelos or tell you the day of the week on which you were born if given the date but it's pretty rare.

    i didn't think those kinds of skills were on the savant level as none of those skills seem that exceptional-- just kind of ahead of the curve. i do wonder if my dd's knack for drawing at a young age is an indicator she'll be artsy as dh has a few artists on his side of the family. my side of the family has good athletic abilities which sadly skipped me, lol and i wonder if that will be true for ds in the future as well.

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