i am the father of a wonderful boy who is now 12.5 months old, i am worried about his communication development. i wasn't worried a month ago until i saw a baby who was 12 months old pointing randomly, so i wondered about my son who id never seen point.
I checked on line and now realise that its a BIG RED FLAG. I followed the rabbit down the hole and now im convinced he will go on to get an ASD DX at some point and it breaks my heart.
He is happy, smiley, has belly laughs whilst playing with mummy, clever has been stacking blocks for months, feeding him self with a spoon from 6 months and seemingly social boy, my wife has been mixing with many groups and the NCT group multiple times a week.
I haven't paid much attention to his development up to recently so and as i haven't never spent time with kids before have no idea of what is 'NORMAL'. I started to spend every waking hour i had with him and started to notice other things.
He doesnt respond to his name, almost never (i have seen strangers call him and he turns to them but very rarely for me or my wife but she says he does!) He doesnt respond when we say, give to mama or dada, if we gesture ie hand out and ask for something he will give it to us 50% of the time.
He mimics sounds quite regularly, clicks, raspberries, and now some words but doesnt very often mimics body language or actions. he has few gestures, barely lifts his arms but does, to be picked up, no waving, has started to point to pictures in books after a week of starting to actively pointing everywhere. Im not sure if he follows a long distance point, sometimes i feel he does and sometimes looks at my hand, some time he looks at my hand and then the object after. He looks at toys and bangs them together and then looks at us, so i feel there is at least some shared attention. Cries when he doesn't get what he wants, no attempt at communication.
After asking and opening my mouth he has fed me twice recently, at a kids party he was playing with an empty plastic cup that mummy used and was pretending drink from it and i asked if i could have some and opened my mouth and he put it to my mouth, this morning i brushed his hair and then mine and then gave him the brush and asked him to brush my hair and he did briefly.
Verbally he can be quiet and can be noisy, used to say baba, dada, gaga. mama, and other baby like sounds but the last month tends repeat the same similar sound of hi, hiya and dor, a-dor and some babbling, heard jargon once, but no mama/dada....
His eye contact can be fleeting, one day after nursery (was around for 30 minutes) he looked me in the eye once, the next day he started clapping randomly after i changed him (did clap a few times when copying mum at 7 months but then stopped) and keeping eye contact for 4/5 seconds.
He sometimes shows and shares toys when we sit with him but can happily play on his own for sometime if we dont, he does check in occasionally. If things are new or in a strange place he will interact a bit more, sometimes with eye contact, some times without.
He will play peek-a-boo and cover his face, lift it as if he is playing peek-a-boo. he also hides behind the sofa until we say 'where has baby gone' and he giggles and pops his head until he sees us and then goes back and does it 5/6 times before moving on to something else
He eats very well.
He sleeps 12 hours a night.
Plays normally with toys ie pushes cars around on there wheels apart from liking to open and close things, like doors and books but guessed that was normal at this age!
I think its the lack of response to name, i feel like the gestures might come in time but put it together and there are many red flags for ASD and many positives. im anxious about his future but dont know what to do, my mother and wife think he is fine and my wife is getting annoyed by me 'going on about it'. Ill also add i have my dad going into a care home and my brother due to go through a stem transplant due to cancer so the last year has been horrible and this boy has kept me sane, so dont know if im transferring or have actually concerns.
He has such a mixed bag, if i hadn't seen the internet then i would says he is fine but it has said that its the things he isn't doing not what he is. He is obviously progressing in some areas well but he communication feels very basic.
Im thinking of waiting until 16-18 months and see how he is then but every time we play it breaks my heart, why did they not tell you how hard it is to be a parent.
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Behaviour/development
Worried about my 12 month olds development, need to know whats normal
11 replies
AlexIsEverything · 27/07/2017 12:55
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