Pointing and speech development in 1 year old ?

[kaiki]

Okay, I am hoping someone will tell me I am being crashingly PFB and over sensitive here but wanted to get some advice on DD. She turned one in April and is still not pointing at objects, nor making any other sounds other than vowels sounds ("oooo", "aaaa" etc) - she has plenty of inflection in her voice though, and will babble the occasional "mamamamama" or "dadadadaddda".

The reason I'm concerned is that I recently read a thread which mentioned that in young babies the lack of pointing ability coupled with sluggish speech can be an early indicator of autism.

I'm loathe to google this too much so wanted to know what experiences other parents have had or are having with babies of this age - I remember reading about shared awareness and while DD is waving at people, clapping, following my point etc, she seems unable to do it for herself, and coupled with the lack of babble has made me a bit nervous.

Went out with friends today and all the babies in the group (a few months between them but all over 12 months) are producing one or two words in context, and frankly it was like a pointing free-for-all (apart from DD).

I like to think she will reach these things in her own time, so is there any need for me to be concerned ? Have a developmental check in June (standard 12 month one with HV) so was going to mention it then.

Hi, i personally think its too early to say, get out your book birth to five years that you were hopefully given after you had your little girl, its really useful for checking on development and other important things, it will probably help put your mind at rest a bit! I remember worrying about my sons speech (now 3 1/2), but after i checked it just made me aware that they all learn different skills at different stages depending on what they are interested in. You will know what stages are coming up next if you dont already know also, so you can encourage her in different ways. They learn by copying ultimately, so if you point at things and say what they are regularly she will do so too in her own time.
Good Luck with it!
sarah

Thanks for your response generaltwaddle, yes I do have the green 1 to 5 book, hadn't thought to look at that and I know you're right about the development stages being so diverse from baby to baby and I guess I am looking too far ahead for DD, am sure she will get there in her own time.

I think it was the possible link to autism and speech delay which worried me, she is otherwise a very 'switched on' baby, very focused and engaged so I do feel I may be worrying unnecessarily, and should probably just let her do things at her own pace.

Thanks for your reply though, it's difficult to be objective when you're getting no sleep and it's your first time!

Sorry, you are way over-thinking it. :)
DC were mostly late talkers and didn't point until after 12 months... nobody autistic so far.

yeah lijkk that's what I thought, just needed someone else to say it :) - I think it was the combination of the pointing/speech, sleep deprivation and reading that thread when I was feeling generally low. Added to that she is my only child and have had no previous experience with babies or young children before - it constantly surprises me and feeds my anxiety!

Is she very interested In walking and moving around at the moment? I think there is some truth on the idea that they are 'walkers' or 'talkers' at this age. Found that my daughter's speech came on amazingly once she had got walking confidently under her belt. She wasn't much of a babbler either.

At 18 months lack of speech and pointing can be a sign of autism. That is 6 months away and when you are 12 months old that is a long time, imagine 6 month old walking...
My ds2 did neither of these things (talk or point) before he was 2 years old. He is now 4.6 and will be assessed for autism in September, but that is more to put my mind at rest. Because his brother has severe aspergers (form of autism) and because ds2 did have early autistic signs. However ds1 had way more autistic signs at 4 than ds2 now does, although he had far fewer signs as a toddler. Does that make sense? Basically can be an indicator but not definite symptom of autism.

You can drive yourself mental with worrying about early milestones (so my advice is DON'T, and only worry unless your HV says something... preferably repeatedly). I'm not sure why autism is so common to look for on MN; is it the most common developmental disorder that can't be diagnosed in under 12 months? What about things like adhd or bipolar?

I wouldnt worry yet..my DD has autism and pointed for the first time this week..at 4.7

Also, she still can't follow my point

My son was "late" with pointing/talking too and now his language is great. Try to model lots of pointing for her and give her lots of choices e.g instead of giving her a biscuit (for example) hold up a biscuit and apple and say "do you want biscuit or apple?", wait for a response (even if it's just a sound or looking at object) then say "you chose apple/biscuit" so you are labelling it for her. Giving her choices also makes her work a bit harder to communicate! Also try not to ask her too many questions and label stuff for her instead e.g. look a car instead of whats that? Children have to hear words up to 200 times before they can start to say them!

Keep an eye on it but chances are she will start to develop in her own time.

Yes it is lljkk

It is SO hard not to compare your child to others, especially if they are taking a bit longer than others to reach a particular milestone. But to try to reassure you: Lack of pointing is definitely not a red flag up until they are 18 months. And a child who does it at say, 17 months, is not any more at risk than one who does it at 10 months IYSWIM. Being able to follow a point and the other gestures you mention are all very positive.

There is a M-CHAT test that can help to identify red flags for autism in toddlers. Again, it's aimed at children who are 18 months+. If you're interested, here's a link www.paains.org.uk/Autism/chat.htm I found it really useful for understanding a bit more about pointing and other indicators etc.

If you do look at link (taking into account that your child is really quite a bit younger than its target group) I hope it will help allay your fears.

thanks again for your replies and for giving me some perspective.
triskaidekaphile (you must be loving the date today ) yes, she is very active, and has been toddling about like a little drunk since eleven months - I think there is an element of truth in the talkers/walkers theory, so perhaps you're right, now she's mastered that she may give speaking a go?

LittleMissGreeen - I see what you're saying...in six months she may develop all kinds of new tricks, or not, and not to worry either way. I hope ds2's assessment gives you the news you're hoping for.

Fanjo I think my fears stemmed from this particular autism thread on MN about six months ago when they were discussing pointing and following points. It seemed to really stick in my mind for some reason - roadybar the descision making is a good idea, I will try that with her although maybe not with food. DD doesn't make choices with food, it ALL gets crammed in her mouth!

ovenchips thank you for the link, it has helped me a lot to get an idea of what kind of traits they are looking for, and I didn't realise that 18 months+ was the ground level age - for some reason I thought it was 12 months, hence my anxiety. This has all helped though, it really has. I'm going to have a cup of tea and several biscuits and try not to worry.

I hadn't realised being a mum would involve so much worrying! I've had similar concerns about my 9 month old as she has taken a long time to babble and now really only makes the occasional noise that's not an ooh or aah. So I tied myself up in knots thinking there was something terrible wrong with her, till I realised all babies do things at different stages......
It is very hard sitting with other mums of babies of the same age, hearing them babbling away happily and thinking, am I doing something wrong?
Anyway, I looked into autism and actually it's language regression later on that's a sign, not so much slowness to develop speech. Also, normal social smiling and looking directly at you are strong signs of normal development. So, try to enjoy your DD and remember, once you stop worrying about this, there'll be something else to worry about!