Advice about my toddler!

[Sammyantha01]

My DD is 2.5 and goes to a childminder a few days a week. The childminder has said that she doesn’t answer to her name and doesn’t listen to instructions the way other children do. It sends me into a panic and then she says it might be nothing to worry about. Can I have some thoughts please???

Have you had her hearing tested? I'd start here, even if you think it's not an issue. My son has moderate hearing loss and nobody realised - it helped a lot once we knew.

My DS had a similar thing and they referred us to a child psychologist who told me that he may be on the autism spectrum but not at any level to which he'd need any kind of help or interventions. He's now 20, at uni, independent and has had no issues at all growing up. I think he just didn't particularly want to listen to the staff at his pre school or was too busy playing to be bothered with them. You could speak to her Gp or another health professional if you're worried but if you've not noticed anything unusual with your interactions with her then I wouldn't be too concerned.

I will ring them tomorrow, thank you

Thank you. This is good to think about, glad your son is enjoying Uni!!

Have you not noticed this before??

Is the child minder calling your daughter by the same name that you use? I mean do you shorten her name, or use a nickname and the CM calls her by her given name?

I only ask because my mum was told the same thing by my reception teacher - she was using a slightly different form of my name and at 4 I didn't realise she was talking to me as it wasn't my name!

Yes but not as drastically as she makes out. she does sometimes run off or does something she isnt supposed to, but isn’t that a generic toddler trait??

A couple of my neice/nephews have had glue ear, so not picked up in the newborn hearing tests. One just needed a good jet wash out and the other had grommets. So definitely get hearing checked out.