Concerned with 16 month old speech.

[CP2701]

The health visitor keeps saying he is worried with my little girl's lack of speech progress. He has me really worried! She is 16 months next week. She can only say mama and dad, nothing else. She doesn't point at things and she has never waved. . She can do the following:

She has been walking since 14 months.
She can clap her hands.
If I tell her to clap her hands, she does it.
If I say row your boat, she takes my hands ready for the actions of the song.
If I ask if she wants a biscuit, she runs and opens the biscuit cupboard.

We read lots of stories and do lots of nursery rhymes for repetition etc but she's not picking up. I feel she's still young and I'm happy with her development apart from this one area. She is independent, if she wants something, she climbs things to get it, instead of asking me to help. I'm not sure if this is due to a language barrier or if she's just self sufficient. If I ask her where things are like her coat or her teddy etc, she just doesn't respond.

I'm hoping it will come and there will be a light bulb moment for her! I guess I'm just looking for other positive stories.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Has the HV said why she is worried? Lots of 16 month olds say very little but if she has concerns about your DD's development, I think she should be sharing those with you.

Late talking and a couple of the things you mention could be a sign of ASD. It might be worth doing the m-chat test just to see what her risk is. Perhaps you could talk to the HV about her score?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Forgot to add, once she's 18 months there's a useful progress tracker for her speech here.

I really wouldn't do the progress checker until she is 18 months though, a lot can change in a short space of time

[CP2701]

He just said she might need a referral for speech therapy. He's now on annual leave. He said he would be expecting her to say 4 or 5 words consistently and that was when she was 13 months. She is just nowhere near that!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Do you know how long he's on Annual Leave for?

Did you manage to do the m-chat test too? What was her risk?