Hello,
I have posted on this forum but under different topics, but I will provide a little bit of background on my son Joseph. He is now 23 months old, very happy, affectionate, and a problem solver. He had zero words when he was 20-21 months but since has acquired around 10 words, such as animal sounds, alphabet recognition, etc., but mama and dada are NOT one of them. He has advanced quite a bit on his receptive language as well. I can list about 20 words/phrases he can understand and acts accordingly; he probably had about 2-3 in this area when he was 21 months.
At 21 months his response to his name was 'bad', meaning he would rarely respond to his name, however, at 23 months his response has changed from 'bad' (responded about 20% of the time) to 'mediocre' (responds about 40% of the time). But I am not sure what responding to name means. For instance, Joseph always runs upstairs when we say "Joseph, I am here, comeon up". He also won't do something if you say "Joseph, noo". I have tried different things such as saying his sister's name followed by the word "no" and he does not respond to that. So, the word "no" has to be associated with his name. Same goes for the words "come here".
On the other hand, at times he will be walking by you in the living room and you can call him all you want and he will just walk by without a reaction. You can also call him 10 times when he is engaged in an activity, or sometimes not, and he won't react at all. At other times you can call him 10 times in a row and he will look towards you every time (sometimes in the eye and sometimes in your direction) clearly responding to his name. Other times you have to call him around 5 times and only then he will turn around and look at you. It is becoming extremely difficult to gauge his response. My wife was quite distraught the other day when we were in the supermarket and she came behind him when he was staring at space and said his name 5-times but to no avail. I touched him and got his attention and then she called his name and he turned around. The big question now is -- what constitutes as 'responding to name'? Does Joseph as described above "respond to his name"? I don't if I should check of that box on any checklists or forms.
Joseph has enrolled in the EIP but that is a slow process so we have a private SLP come in. She has seen him 3 times now and he responds to her every time she calls his name, plays with her and engages in games. The SLP doesn't think he is on the ASD spectrum because she believes autistic kids are not as interactive as my son and besides the language delay he does not show any other red flags. He also plays with a variety of toys and puzzles the right way, highly interactive, affectionate, high levels of concentration, excellent gross & fine motor skills, no repetitive behaviors or attachment to activities, no major tantrums, loves to be held and tickled. However, the responding to name and speech delay is an issue that is bothering my wife and I.
We have asked for a hearing test and apparently there is a 5-6 month wait here in Canada. So it has been two months since we were referred and we are yet to get an appointment. I am not certain it is hearing because like many other parents I have also witnessed Joseph reacting and recognizing his favorite music or reacting to other sounds.
Furthermore, his eye-contact could be better. The SLP and EIP did not find any issues with that but I have found his eye contact to be very good with us but not so much with strangers.
It is puzzling to me at this point. And him not saying mama or dada yet really breaks our hearts. We are confident it is not ASD but at times we start wondering about the possibility. It is very worrisome. It is as though different versions of Joseph show up on different days when it comes to responding to his name -- to a point that I am nervous about going home and finding out which one it is today. I am wondering if anyone has any experiences to share or any thoughts on this. I would appreciate it.