I am a speech and language therapist. AMA

[KeepSmiling89]

I like to have a browse on here during my lunch break at work and whenever I get a spare minute so please feel free to ask me any questions. Will get back to you when I can!

It sounds like selective mutism. I'd question why this diagnosis wasn't made.

Hi
I have a lovely 20 Months DD . She is lovely and very affectionate . She has a good repertoire of independent words ( up to 80 ) and most of time she uses them in the right context . She has good joint attention in that she always looks where we are pointing and always makes good eye contact with everyone . She was a bit of a late pointer . She started pointing at 16 months and done it consistently for a few months but now she does it only a couple of times a day . She can’t answer yes or no questions but can answer where is the cat or daddy “ .
She does point to show interest. She feeds her toys and us .
She is a very good sleeper and can self settle for both naps and the night time and eats okay ( a bit fussy but nothing worrying ) . She doesn’t have many tantrums and usually don’t last more than a few minutes .
As for language , she seems to repeats a lot of words ( echolalia ) but have been told that it is an essential part of the language process . For example she tends to say “ it is okay, all good “ when she is anxious or falls over or all done baby when she is done with bath time
Another issue is that she tippytoes when . She can follow commands well and simple instructions .
excited and without shoes . We have taken her to see an orthopaedic and said there’s nothing amiss .
She is drawn to other kids but only does parallel play .
Is not answering questions like “where is something “ or yes or no questions always a concern for a speech delay or ASD ?
Please any advice / experiences would be much appreciated.

Hello I'll jump on this as I'm not sure where OP is and I'm also a speech therapist 😊. 80 words is brilliant for this age, we usually hope for minimum of 50 words at 24 months and when you get to this point, children typically start putting two words together e.g. "more milk". She may also be pointing less because she's now able to use spoken language to communicate whereas pointing beforehand was probably relied upon as her language was still developing. It's also very common for children to go through a fussy phase with food around this age. Echolalia is also a normal phase of language development at this age because it helps children to process what they are learning and feels comforting, it usually phases out around 3 😊. With regards to questions, children at this age are very much on their own agenda and they aren't particularly motivated answering grown ups' questions when there's an exciting world out there for them to explore. Speech therapists in general advise against asking children lots of questions at this age and to instead focus on narrating their play and environment, e.g. "oh look it's raining outside, drip drop!" instead of "what's the wear doing Bobby?". I can appreciate why ASD goes through your mind but at your daughter's age, I feel like stereotypical traits like echolalia, not answering questions and reducing pointing are still quite usual in a 20 month old. So is parallel play, in my experience most children aren't bothered by what their friends are doing until age 3-4, and even then I see a lot of parallel play in typically developing reception aged kids. That being said, I haven't met your child in real life and I absolutely cannot advise on the toe walking - sorry! I would keep an eye on things and get in touch with the health visitor if you feel like more traits come to light and you are concerned. Maybe keep a record of your observations.