Does this sound familiar?

[Lesleyann24]

Hi,
I have a 16 m/o DD. Since she was born she has always been very content i guess is the best way to describe it! She never cried as a baby for anything! I would even have to wake her for feeds. Me and DH just put it down to having a really good baby! Then came the milestones, so DD avoided eye contact when feeding ext and if she did look at you it was more like she was looking through you, she did not smile until she was 4/5 months old, she has never babbled and even now rarely babbles the most she does is blow raspberries. When she wakes up in her cot even when she was younger she would just lay there until we went and got her she would make no attempt to get your attention. She only started crawling at 15 months with lots of intense work! She does not say mumma dadda or anything, if you point at something and ask her to look she will only look at your finger, if you ask here where mummy/daddy ext is she wont look for that person, i dont think she relates or connects words with meanings. She never tries to bring me anything or get my attention, she is very happy to play by herself but she is also very social! She loves hugs and kisses in fact everything she picks up she 'kisses'. I also have a 3 m/o and i have notcied significant differances between there development. DH refuses to acknowledge anything is wrong with DD1 however in my heart i feel there is. I have taken her back and fourth from the HV and GP to be told so many times shes obly young all babies develop differently ext its only now that we are getting referred to a paediatrician.
Any advice or help or if any of this sounds familiar i would really appreciate some input.

[zen1]

Hello Lesleyann

You have done all the right things raising your concerns with your GP and the HV and it's good you now have a referral to a paediatrician. A developmental paediatrician would probably be the best professional to evaluate your DD. Has your daughter had a hearing test at all? I'm guessing that would be quite a simple thing for your HV to arrange and you may be able to have that done before your paediatrician's appointment comes through.

With regard to your worries about your DD not connecting words with meanings, it maybe worth asking your HV or PCT about drop-in speech and language sessions for toddlers in your area. Most areas have them and you get the opportunity to talk about your concerns and if they think your DD requires further assessment, they will refer her for an appointment.

It is hard when your instinct is telling you that your child may be delayed in their development, but everyone else is giving you the brush-off. I think the most useful advice I was given is to keep pushing until you get some answers - you know your child best. It may be that there is nothing wrong, but you have raised enough concerns to warrant further investigations. Your DD is still very young, which means that if any problems are identified, early intervention will be beneficial to her. Good luck and keep posting. This board is very friendly

[senvet]

Hi lesleyann
As I have said before, if I had a pound for every DH who found it hard to entertain the possibility of there being a diagnosis for their dc, then I would be morbidly obese.

We so often use then language 'something wrong', but of course the only issue is if a child is in a minority, particualrly a minority which makes the mainstream world - I say bog-standard world - difficult to navigate. That is a failure of the majority, mainstream, bog-standard folk.

If the majority of children had dyslexia, then no-one would be fussing about spelling, or reversing letters or tidy handwriting. And those who felt passionately about having words a particular way would be going to classes to be taught to be less stressed about other people's writing.

In your shoes,I would press on with assessments. DHs have a pretty good track record of coming round in the end.

Good Luck

[Lesleyann24]

Hi Zen1 yes she has had a hearing test and her hearing is fine, although she is funny with sounds some noises usually loud or high pitched like a whistle make her really upset.
Ultimately i just want answers so that i can help her as much as possible. Everywhere i have read has said early intervention is best however it has just seemed like such a battle to get a referral and get someone to take notice :-(

[senvet]

You are on a board of people who understand that situation incredible well, and will be here to support you every step of the way.
the honking and flapping is them willing you on.

[kyz1981]

My son was showing loads of red flags at 15 months. He had lots of issues with sensory problems and no language both receptive and speech and as much as I knew best I was treated as neurotic mum by HV and GP.

I went and got a sensory integration assessment privately then took that to the GP and got referred to the consultant. SALT in our area were beyond useless at this age and pretty much refused to see him saying that it was to early to expect him to talk, (I was not worried about the lack of speech but the lack of language) but they still did not see DS until he was seen by the CDC team. However we were referred to the child development team at 20 months which was very young in our area and has been very helpful.

If you feel like there is something not right then please push as I have a another DC after my DS and the difference in how they developed was startling.

One thing you can do is get the book more than words, you may be able to get it on loan from the library, but this book really helped when my DS had very little understanding of language.


Good Luck.

[Lesleyann24]

Thank you!

Im definatly going to keep pushing for her i hust hope someone will take notice!
The differance between DD1 and my 3 month old is also startling!
Scarlett my 16 month old had an eye appointment today and has been diagnosed with Duanes syndrome so we have finally got answers there, although to get this appointment we had to go privately as all i kept hearing is shes so young and everything is still developing!
Thats the same as me im not worried about the lack if words she know but the lack of language and association with language, thank you i will have a look for this book today and hopefully it can help my DD as well!