14 month old DS no words or actions yet?

[RattleAndRoll]

Should I be worried?

DS is coming up to 14 months. He doesn't say any words yet. He babbles and makes lots of sounds. Sometimes he says sounds that would pass as mum or yes but they're never in context. So I don't think these are on purpose. He understands words like no(and stops what he's doing), kiss(leans in to kiss me), dummy(looks around for one), step(looks down and lifts foot). He understands that if I open the front door he's not allowed to go out, he puts his arms up to be picked up (we live in a flat so I carry him down the stairs). He understands if I have a plate of his that he is going to be eating and needs to go in his highchair, so goes to it.

He doesn't yet point, showing no signs of doing so anytime soon. He has recently started showing signs of waving/clapping ie sometimes, not often, you wave to him he'll raise a hand but not really do anything else. Sometimes when he's excited his hands go together but not in a rhythmic clapping way just random hits.

I wasn't at all worried until I just read on here that a baby the same age says lots of words and says poo poo when they need to poo. He's not even talking yet, let alone verging on potty training and understanding when he needs to go to the toilet. So now I am worried.

We didn't go to playgroups until the last couple of months so I'm wondering if this has slowed his development down as I wasn't singing nursery rhymes and actions with him, we just played. Then around 1 year I started with wind the bobbin and if you're happy and you know it etc. and then started going to groups (only 2 a week).

Should I be worried?

My youngest didn't talk until he was two, no words at all, but we weren't worried as he was communicating in other ways, pointing, imitating etc.
The OP has said there are other things apart from the speech that are concerning her, so for that reason she needs to seek more advice, for the reasons zzzzz has said.
Telling her there is nothing to worry about, when she is clearly concerned, is dismissive and minimising.
Of course there's a chance that everything is fine and he'll catch up etc, but there is a chance there's a delay, and that should be investigated.

The reality is that you'll get divergent posts from those whose children grew up fine and those whose children had significant issues and not much in the middle.

FWIW, DD1 was 2 years and 9 months old before anyone would entertain that she has difficulties, and she's now at special school and operates at around half her chronological age!

The lack of imitation alongside words would concern me. I'd suggest a referral to SALT who can do a basic assessment.

Thank you again everyone.

I called the clinic to speak to my HV but she's on annual leave until the end of the month so explained my concerns to another HV. She's sending me out two questionnaires to fill out, the first is the same one we did at his 8month check up. (So to answer the question above, yes he had a check at 8 months (the 9-12month one) and all was well, in fact brilliant she had no concerns). The second will be more social/communicative based. Then this HV I have spoken to will have a look and if there's anything alarming she'll contact me ASAP, if not then my HV will contact me on her return. Though if I haven't heard anything by beginning of novemberc (and there's no improvement with DS) then I'll chase.

I then called our local salt place but nobody answered so left a message asking if I could chat to someone about his development and get him on the waiting list now. I guess I'll call again in a couple of days if I haven't heard anything from them.

Thank you to everyone for all replies whether they are 'don't worry' or 'be concerned'. I'm sure everything's fine, but of course there is a possibility there is a problem so as posters have said, there's no harm investigating and then if improvement is made then I can back off, but if not I've already got a head start.

A couple of days ago I really had no worries about him what so ever, and just thought lazy bugger with regards to the clapping/waving etc. and today I'm worried about what could be wrong. (And if there is, was it something I did? Was it that time he bumped his head? etc etc. Nothing I can do about it though.

What will be will be.

Thank you again.

Oh and can anybody tell me how I go about booking him in for a hearing test? I can self refer, is that right?

Or try the ENT dept at your local hospital.

I saw that thread that started you off worrying about this and I can't remember if I said it there or not but it is really unusual for a 14m old to say poo or whatever right before they do one. Much more unusual than not speaking at all IMO.

I've just spoken to hearing dept at hospital and they have to have a referral from GP, so I guess I'll wait for HV/salt and go from there?

No, he doesn't copy either sounds or actions. He just stares at me smiling or carries on whatever he's doing. The HV asked me what he does if I clap at him and I said he just smiles/giggles at me. She didn't really mention if that's ok/not ok.
Also gp said lots hissing/blowing raspberries is him practicing his sounds/words?

Neither of mine would ever mimic clapping and waving. They did like pointing at things in books (ie "where's the dog", "where's the teddy" etc) and pointing to body parts but that might have started a bit later. They didn't point to other things until well after 12m.

What sort of things does he like? Does he like you showing him things in books? Not dismissing the idea that there might be a problem just suggesting the possibility that he might not be doing those things because he's busy/more interested in doing other things. Especially if you say you had no worries before that thread the other day.

Dd1 used to watch us intently, so people thought she was one of those really clever girls who soak it all up. In reality she was trying to piece together parts of a jigsaw puzzle without knowing what picture she was trying to make.

I would try and do an email request for SALT referral. I think HVs can refer to audiology.
This is quite a good website for speech/ communication development: www.talkingpoint.org.uk/progress-checker
I think you're being brilliantly proactive about your concerns; I spent months wrestling raising mine even with my DH.
It may well be a bit of a development lag and in 6 month's time you'll look back and shrug your shoulders; but here and now I would say no speech and no gestures is a valid reason to refer.

He 'points' in books but I don't think it's actually pointing, he's trying to 'feel' something ('that's not my..' books are read a lot here so whatever book we're reading he immediately goes to a section with a finger as he thinks that's the 'touchy' bit) - does that make sense? He wouldn't point at something to show me, ie point and look at me, he literally uses one finger to feel the book. I was playing with a friends DC yesterday who is 4 months older and he points at something in a book, makes a sound (assuming it's a word) and looks at me. My DS doesn't.
I've just done that quiz for a 12 month old (it was the nearest option to his age) and it says go to HV, GP or salt.
I'm at work now til late, I've dropped DS off at his nannies and told her to go mad with words, noises, waves, claps and pointing. I'm going to keep my mobile on me incase I get a call from salt.
Thanks again.

He does sound so similar to my DS at 14mo. He started with using his index finger on books before he started pointing as communication. He's now pointing at everything and anything! Hopefully your DS will cotton on soon enough.

Apologies super long post upcoming...

didn't get a call back from salt and I tried calling a few times and still only got voicemail.

Tonight I've been googling symptoms of autism and watching YouTube videos to see actual physical behaviours and I'm relating to a lot. Please tell me if what I'm relating to isn't actually anything to worry about and is totally normal. Everything I've listed below has appeared as a symptom somewhere online.

Loud noises causing distress - he has a complete meltdown if I Hoover. Screaming, tears etc which results in me only hoovering now when he's in bathroom, having a bath, with door shut or using a quieter handheld DustBuster thing which he still doesn't like but less extreme response.

Having favourite fabrics to touch - he has a specific type of knitted blanket he has to have for naps (not just one special blanket, lots of them all look different but all made from the same type of wool) He has to either stroke them or rub them around his face at nap/bed time. I have had to spend days going round the shops trying to find a similar type of blanket when I needed to throw one out as was unravelling (need a few- one in car, one for pram, one in cot, one in wash etc) Can't be too thick, can't be fleece, can't be anything but this thin type of wool, with a bit of stretch. He also will happily walk around with one all day. Or even two, one in each hand dragging along with him wherever he goes.

Hand flapping - when I drop him off at his nan's he gets really excited to see her and when she holds him he flaps his arms and hands at her/on her chest. Does the same when he sees me when I get home from work. Now is this the start of waving? Just not getting it? Or is it flapping?

Mouthing- absolutely everything goes in his mouth. Literally everything. If there's something about that he can put in his mouth he will. He'll spit out his dummy and shove in and try to eat wether it's edible or not (including soft sponge balls at soft play - he bites chunks off and eats), if there's no dummy around he walks around with a lightweight toy in his mouth. So his mouth always has something in his mouth - dummy, food, toy or something random and non edible.

The staring/glaring/gazing & eye contact - not 100% on this - am I comfusing eye contact with glaring/ staring/gazing? I thought eye contact was fine because he stares at me, but this seems to be a bad thing and eye contact is meaning looking back at me if he's found something of interest to see if I have seen it too? I explained earlier I can feel eyes burning into the back of my head, he just stares, is it possible he's doing this glare thing? I also am sure I've noticed him doing it from the corner of his eye (especially whilst in the car?), but need to check.

Watching things fall - he's currently going through what I thought was a phase of just dropping (not throwing, dropping) things and staring at them and then picking them up again. Today in waiting room at doctors it was my car keys.

Fiddling with little objects - he loves playing with labels on blankets/bibs, beads on my bracelet, little flaps on things etc

Repetitive babbling - when he does babble it's the same sound repeated a lot of times in a row. Eg he often babbles 'ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba' with a tiny and even space between the 'ba's'. He used to do the same with 'mum' sounding babbles. But as I say never says just 'mum' or 'mumma' on its own and it context.

Answers to his name - about half the time he looks at me.

Pointing - about half the time he'll look at what I'm pointing to, rather than just looking at my hand.

Doesn't involve me in play - he has never, to my memory, brought something to me eg toy, he just plays on his own - he's happy to play on his own in his room for ages without anything from me (I can be in the room with him or out of room watching him on camera), if I try to play with him he doesn't wait a turn or let me play with something then he has a turn, doesnt share his enjoyment of whatever he's doing with me, just doesn't involve me in any way. Also has a very high interest in my iPhone - wants it and takes it away with him and presses the home button etc. apparently this is a sign?

Repetitive behaviour - first time we visited a friends house he spent a lot of the time just walking around her coffee table? He doesn't do that at home, but did it there. Just circling it.

So add all that to him never having pointed, clapped or waved. Not mimicking sounds or actions. (He used to have a 'conversation' where you say something and he 'says' something back (babbles) almost like he waited his turn to talk, but doesn't anymore) And that he has no words yet, no grunts to get my attention etc he just either babbles to himself or if he wants me for something he cries/whines or moans.

(I've probably missed loads of other things.)

I might just be reading too much into things / mind playing tricks etc but I now really think there is a problem.

What do you think?

what does his playing look like, OP?

OP, you are obviously worried and from reading there may be some red flags.

I would try to get referrals in place for 2 reasons: to find out if your DS has delayes and needs help and to put that in place if need be but also to hopefully rule out anything just for your own peace of mind. I remember the days when I started to get niggles about my DC's development. I spent a year waiting/hoping that my child would grow out of it/catch up before seeking help. all whilst being worried. I wouldn't recommend that.

I think it's important to understand that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is called a 'disorder' because of the altered pattern of development. Many, many of the behavioursite associated with ASD are normal behaviours. What becomes a 'symptom' of ASD is when those normal behaviours become abnormal because of either the age at which they persist, the repetition of them, the exclusion of other behaviour,etc.

The eye contact issue is about 'joint-attention'. In other words, does your DS pick up the clue that you're interested in something, share that interest, then communicate to you that he is interested by looking at it and you. Conversely, does he get interested in something, want you to be interested in it, so shows you it and looks at you to check that you're interested? <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.infantva.org/documents/CoPA-Nov-JointAttentionSocialRefer.pdf&ved=0CCAQFjAAahUKEwjPo_H_ucHIAhVFXBoKHcTQC5M&usg=AFQjCNERyqPJygusJs0dFLnznYKDxe6DIQ&sig2=RyJmOLi5XHEBIdDsaBnswQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">This document is helpful.

At this stage you need to just keep doing what you've done but pursue those referrals calmly.

A lot of what you describe is normal toddler behaviour -repetition is how children learn, for example.