developmental delay?

kb3ll · May 2013

Hi everyone, my son is 18 months old almost 19 months and we are worried he is developmentally behind--I am wondering if anyone else has experienced the same or similar problems with their child and if it improved or if you have any suggestions for me to better help my son. The pediatrician has recommend we have him evaluated for speech problems (which we are) but looking further into the delays online I'm getting worried this is an autism problem....and maybe I'm getting myself worked up for nothing and maybe I'm not...when he's evaluated next Tuesday I'll have a better idea...but in the meantime any other mommy's have this or a similar problem?

Here is the information: As I stated he is 18 months almost 19 months and only says 4 words (mama, dada, doggie, yeah) he does know what they mean but only says the, when he has to. He does not point to anything or know any body parts...when trying to teach him simple things like "where is your nose?" He has no interest and doesn't acknowledge us. He plays all day, and is always very busy--making it extremely hard and frustrating to get him to focus on anything or teach him. He does communicate some needs nonverbally if he wants his sippy cup refilled he will whine and hand it to you. If he's hungry he will stand at his high chair. He does high five when asked to, sometimes hugs, if asked to "close the door" most of the time he will, he shakes his head "no" but I'm not quite sure he knows what it means and does respond to cuddling. He does not clap, wave, or respond to his name...I don't believe he has an auditory problem as when he hears his favorite show (sometimes I play it on my iPhone but don't show him the picture) he smiles and gets excited. He does look us in the eyes sometimes and always smiles back when you smile at him. Sorry that's a lot of information...but you have to be through!

ShieldMaiden · May 2013

This sounds very much like my daughter. I had her evaluated by Early Intervention at 19 months, and she definitely qualified due to only having 3 words. We're somewhat anxious about autism as well, but our therapists think it's probably just a speech delay.

They recommended we fill out the M-CHAT (https://m-chat.org/mchat.php), which is a checklist for autism in toddlers. Filling this out helped alleviate our fears somewhat.

This article on autism vs. delayed language development also had some really interesting information. https://div1perspectives.asha.org/content/15/3/101.full

Autism Speaks has a video library of typically-developing behavior and red flag behavior. https://www.autismspeaks.org/video/glossary.php

zaraceligon · May 2013

I'm sorry that you're having a hard time right now,I just want to let you know,that it's a special need board too,in case you didn't know,you can get some suggestion there too.

kb3ll · May 2013

Thank you so much--I'm going to check out those links right now and show my DH, hopefully it'll give us a little more insight before they come to evalue him so I can ask questions. Thanks again!

kb3ll · May 2013

zaraceligon:
I'm sorry that you're having a hard time right now,I just want to let you know,that it's a special need board too,in case you didn't know,you can get some suggestion there too.

Thank you! I did not know what, I'll repost there just to see if anyone else has any additional information!

kb3ll · May 2013

AA0417:
Dr. Google is not your friend. It tends to worry people more than help. My LO is busy busy busy. He has to be in just the right mood to get him to point to body parts, etc. He is about the same age as your LO. A week or two ago, he was able to correctly tell me the sounds that 5 animals make, one right after the other. Before that night, he never responded when asked about any animals' sounds. I think I finally just caught him at the right moment where he was in the mood to do it. I have only gotten him to do it about twice since then, while all the other numerous times, he just doesn't respond. He doesn't say a ton of words, and lately he hadn't been using much of the ones he does know. He does clearly understand a lot however. He doesn't always choose to listen though [he is a toddler after all]. It sounds like maybe your LO is similar in some aspects. It never hurts to have him evaluated because it is better to look and find nothing than not look at all until further down the road. It sounds like he is maybe on the lower end of normal in communication, which is not uncommon for boys [boys often focus more on the motor skills], so I would try not to worry but still listen to your gut. GL with everything!

Thank you for your reply I read it to my husband, and actually it put it both at ease, and made us a little more comfortable and gave us a sense of some normalcy. You might be right, earlier when I posted, he was having nothing to do with giving hugs or picking up his toys, and a few minutes ago before I put him to bed he put his toys away and gave hugs. But still pretty non verbal (not that it was going to magically change in a couple of hours anyway)--- but again he probably has to be in the mood to learn and want to do it. Thanks again, I'm hopeful it's just a little boy thing !

crystaleyes39 · May 2013

I have twin girls that are 17 months and I cant help but constantly compare them. My one daughter says a ton of words, animal sounds, is extremely social and interacts. While my other daughter only babbles mama, dada baba... and coos. She sounds A LOT like your son to the T. My pediatrician doesn't seem concerned and has told me every kid develops differently. I may end up having her evaluated by EI though in the next few months if it doesn't improve. I hope your eval goes well, keep us posted!

mommy0411 · May 2013

My DS is 2 and was diagnosed at 21 months with an autism spectrum disorder. He is high functioning and making good progress. Your DS sounds a lot like my DS did. My DS has 2 words at 18 months, very little eye contact, never responded to his name and many other signs.

i would definitely get EI involved immediately. You also may want to look up something called sensory processing disorder (SPD). My son is very busy as well and he has a hard time focusing on tasks because of his SPD. Once we started getting his sensory needs under control as well as developing his social skills he started adding skills and signs. If you feel like your son has a lot of the characteristics of SPD you should also request an occupational therapist to evaluate him. The OT helps work on the sensory needs and helps him attend to tasks longer.

As for communication, you may want to look into baby signs. My DS is a lot more comfortable signing then talking and it has really helped him communicate with him. Our speech therapist had us start signing with him right away. We started with more, food, and milk. Show him the signs and then do hand over hand to show him how make the signs himself every time.

Good luck! The special needs board is a great community and resource. This can be a difficult time as you figure everything out. But it will be ok!

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