My 17 month old says nothing, barely babbles, none of the cute baby talk.

[Julezboo]

We have an appt with Speech Therapy on Thurs (parent meeting)

But it makes me sad :( You know that cute baby babble that starts around 4 months, they lie there chatting away in gibberish and only they understand but its incredibly cute. DS has never done this.

He said mama about a handful of times in the last few months. But thats it, its not in context, cries a lot.

I know from my other two that by now he should be saying words like mama, dada, hiya etc.. or at the very least babbling.

He does make noise so I dont think its a voicebox issue. He does ALWAYS have his mouth wide open (which is worry DH)

But no words or baby talk.

He was born at 35 weeks, weighing 7lb 3, no neocatal care needed

He failed newborn hearing test, passed the next one two weeks later (both in hospital.

Dropped a significant amount of his birth weight within 14 days (went down to 5lb 8)

He is CMPI and has a few other allergies we are waiting to be confirmed.

Failed hearing test in Jan 2012, but passed with flying colours in March 2012.

DS1 has just been diagnosed with ADD and DCD. DS2 is uncer cons for possible Aspergers and ADHD.

Could the no talking thing be a sign with DS3?

I am finding it all very overwhelming atm. All my boys are very high maintainence (such an awful thing to say) the only family close is MIL, although she helps us alot with the children, its on my mind that shes 60 odd now and has her own health problems :(

My son is two and has recently been diagnosed with autism, he doesn't talk but does babble. So it could be a sign but the other signs were much more important, the speech or lack thereof was treated as a side issue.

These are the signs he has been assessed on.

No shared attention (you can't show him a picture in a book or point something out to him, he wouldn't understand).
No pointed (apparently this is important).
Lack of non verbal communication, at eighteen months he didn't wave, raise his arms to be picked up, indicate that he wanted things by reaching for them or point. He has since picked up all but pointing and reaching for things.
He made no attempts to get my attention and doesn't care at all if I pay attention to him or not. Again this has started to develop recently.
Has no interest in other children, it is like he doesn't see them.
Has only minimal interest in other adults but only if they really work on getting his attention.
Has no imaginative play.
Doesn't really play at all, just lines things up and organises them.
Has a lot of obsessions.
Licks and bites everything.
Is very fixated on his routine.
Cannot cope with being out of his routine.
Uses my hand has a tool for things like Makaton signing rather than his own hands.

There was more than this but hopefully that should give you an overall picture of things you could look for if you are worried about autism.

I know it is hard when you are seeing what other children and do and missing out of that. However the amazing feeling you get when they achieve something you didn't think they could do makes it all worthwhile. Recently William played with another child for the first time, I was so proud. Nothing could beat that feeling.

Hopefully you will get some answers soon and if necessary some help. Hopefully it is nothing though, lots of children had a language delay.

my son is 5.6 and non verbal :(

It could be glue ear. Our HV was concerned by our DS's lack of babbling at age one and he was referred for a hearing test. 2 years and several re-referrals later he was seen and had glue ear. He also would sometimes be OK on hearing tests and sometimes not, as the glue ear seemed to be related to when he had colds, so worse in the winter OK in the summer. He finally had grommets fitted at age 5, but despite having OK hearing now was diagnosed as borderline APD (auditory processing disorder), which has brought its own problems and I can't help thinking the 2 were linked. If it is glue ear the sooner you can get it checked out the better.

ok, a more positive story. no babbling at all, and no talking till 2, (and in retrospect, there were some minor hearing issues). 2 perforated eardrums from infections. BUT at just 4 has great language skills, and it turned out he was talking in sentences from 2.6 - it's just that noone could understand them because he was missing all his consonants. Still missing a couple of consonant sounds (j, ch, s etc) and slightly hard to understand if he doesn't make an effort, but absolutely clear speech and language when he is trying, and I'm positive it will click in. Just slow development, aggravated by hearing issues.

I spent a fair bit of time echoing single sounds while nappy changing, 'bebebebebe', 'mumumumumumu', etc, and it did click in slowly.

language was fine, but hearing and coordination were just a bit on the slow side. So please get the hearing checked, and minimise the number of colds he gets (bungs the ears up so they can't hear). But if he's otherwise 'normal' then don't worry too much - apparently 21 months-24months-ish is still normal for speaking?

sorry for incoherence - dead tired!

I almost don't want to post this, but ....... Ds was the same, no babbling. Eye contact happened, and smiling, but no noises, really. No attempts to communicate. He was diagnosed with asd at seven years of age.

well on the flipside my dd1 didn't babble until she was 2 and even then it was very sparse. I worried myself sick but she started speaking normally at 3 and is 14 now with no problems. Good Luck

Just wanted to add another positive story. DD wasn't very verbal at all and certanly no babbling. Then at 3 she went from saying virtually nothing to stringing together a 7 word sentence and hasn't really stopped since. She has had a few weeks of speech therapy when she started school but is a late summer baby and all the Speech Therapy and school staff said it was probably just a little bit of immaturity. She has been discharged now and is fine.

I wouldn't assume it was autism, especially with the failed hearing tests in the past.

Fingers crossed for you.

Thanks all

He has regular hearing checks as they suspected glue ear.

Colditz thank you. It has been playing on my mind. Ds1 is DCD, ADD and APD. Ds2 is going through similar investigations now. So it does play on my mind. He did say mama today though, not in context, just a random noise but it made me

@Julezboo how is your little boy