Toddler 22 months not pointing or talking

[Newmomma2705]

Hi, my DD has just turned 22 months, she has been referred to a peadeatrician but due to long waiting lists and current corona I don't know how long the appointment will take to come through. We are very worried about her she is not pointing to communicate and cannot say any words only babble dada baba mama yaya ta but not in any context. She does have good eye contact, doesn't always respond to her name. She has no sensory issues at all, eats and sleeps well, doesnt react to loud sounds or changes of routine. She does enjoy her stacking blocks, but wouldn't say it was repetitive she stacks them and looks for approval from us and smiles and claps when finishes. (Yes she can clap) when I haven't been with her she smiles and claps when I come in the room. She doesn't really interact with children she basically completely ignores them (some adults as well) she goes to nursery and enjoys it she walks in and doesn't cry and the nursery teachers said they have no worries aboit eye contact just thay she doesn't play with her peers (although she will go up to them if they have food). She is playful loves being chased and loves peek a boo. does this sound like autism or a speech and language/ communication problem? Could she grow out of it or what can I do to help bring her development along? Her understanding is also a big concern as she understands no and some other things but very limited. If I asked her to get shoes, bring teddy she would have absolutely no idea but if I pass her shoes she will put them on and walk to the door. Thanks x

She has just turned 23 months. At 21 months she maybe said a few words but not in context and definitely not on demand just randomly to herself then at 22 months she just exploded into words it was the most mind blowing thing - out of nowhere! I hope this helps as I felt like you 6 weeks ago and now I’m sitting here feeling completely different!

@KTA2016 So happy for you. I guess google made me worry a lot. Since I wrote the post, he has started a lot of eye contact, started responding to name sometimes. Still far from his peers but I am sure he will be soon on track too like your little one. He turned 23 months today, hoping for his turn to surprise us now.

@everyone else, since I wrote this post, he has started very good eye contact and response to his name is good too(4 out of 10 times) but since there’s no screen for him anymore, I guess he is too bored and makes noises everytime and puts everything in mouth and fiddles with everything. Is it normal too ? Because he gets annoyed of the crowded places and doesn’t react to his name if someone apart from immediate family members.

@Fatherabir
What is the current update for your son.
My 18 month son is on the same boat.

Can u please update so that I can get some idea how my son's case could progress.
It is haunting to see my child so unresponsive.

I m also from India.

I stopped looking at google after some time started talking to him more, no screens and few occupational therapy classes, still no words. But he responds to name, understands basic commands, is very playful. One doctor told me recently “every child is different” so abiding to it and I am sure he will start speaking soon.

@Natashalee99
Hi, hope all is well. I saw your comment about your son and your niece. How’s your son doing now?

Your niece reminds a lot of my daughter and it gives me so much hope. My daughter is always lining up toys and other objects around the house but it’s mostly with things that are the same or similar. She is also very grumpy and has a lot of meltdowns.

A month and a half ago we noticed the following:
-no words
-not much eye contact
-no response to name
-no pointing
-no waving
-spinning herself a few times a day (not objects)
-occasional tip toeing
-lining up toys and other things
I started Googling the symptoms and fell in the autism rabbit hole.

I decided to take away screen time completely, as I realized she was having way too much of. I decided to replace the screen time with a lot of face-to-face interactions with her. I started playing, singing nursery rhymes, taking her to the playground everyday etc.

After a month and half she does the following:
-great eye contact
-response to name
-waves
-points to what she wants
-high fives
-gestures nursery rhymes
-no more spinning, at all.
-no toe walking

she still has no words but started babbling a lot more which she wasn’t doing much of. She still lines up toys/objects not obsessively she will just line them up and walk away. She has less meltdowns now that’s she can point to what she wants.

@Lilyyy77 sounds amazing progress. We don’t have much screen time but I try and have very little like nappy changes etc. How did your little one find going cold turkey?

We are seeing similar progress. All a worry!

@Lilyyy77

Hi,

My son has only just turned 2 and he had his 2 years check up. The health visitor said he definitely has traits of ASD. She thinks he is high functioning as he makes good eye contacts and although his understanding is limited, he still shows some understanding.

He still loves spinning objects and playing with toys in non functional way. He still looks from the corner of his eyes and occasionally spins as well. He flaps when he is excited. These were all the traits he had before he turned 2 and still got them. His eye contacts are good but of course they're not like how a normal neurotypical child would make eye contacts, its either fleeting or too intense. Response to his name is inconsistent. He responds when he wants to.

He is autistic but high functioning because he makes good eye contacts, claps on demand, brings toys over to me, doesn't mind being with other kids. Infact, he loves playing with kids and can become very clingy. His social interaction is good although it's very much based on his terms. So for example if a child wanted him to play hide and seek with him, my son would only play if he was interested in the same game. He only interacts if he is interested in playing the same game like being chased or playing with skee board but doesn't mind sitting next to other kids and prefers looking over to see what others are doing. He is a little bit aggressive and sometimes will snatch toys off kids, occasionally bites as well or scratch. He is a hard work when he wakes up from his nap and he is a lucky eater. Mealtimes are an absolute nightmare, he doesn't even hold his own milk bottle and takes ages to open his mouth. He still wont chew his food, swallows it whole. He is not very loving, if I was to kiss him he will resist it.

He is very clingy now and he wasn't like that before. Now he has a bit more awareness. He would never ever sit alone in the room without someone being there even though at one point he could sit alone and play for hours and hours regardless of whether someone was in the room or not. Now he has gained that understanding. He won't even sit alone on the sofa. He prefers sitting next to someone e.g If I got up and sat on another sofa he would do the same.

He has progressed quite a bit but his understanding is still not there. He can say lots of words but not in any context. My son still doesn't point or wave. Infact. He hand leads. I know he is autistic, I'm just glad he is not severely autistic. I just hope he gains full understanding adhd becomes verbal soon.

As for my niece, she always had a good understanding, always made eye contacts, always responded to her name and she is fully verbal now. She is definitely not autistic. She may have OCD but she isn't autistic. She goes to nursery and she loves it. She's made lots of friends.

@ToddlerMumma21
Hi would you mind sharing what is it that is worrying you about your baby?

For me it was really hard it stills is. She would have so many meltdowns in the beginning and very intense. She still does but not as bad as in the beginning. I worked from home so I relied a lot on the tv and she watched cocomelon a lot. I feel so guilty now, I cry a lot tbh. Her receptive language and expressive language are very poor.

I’m kind of treating her like a new born in a way that I’m teaching everything from scratch since I was not having much interaction with her due to work overload and house work on top of that. I quit my job and now I’m fully dedicated to her. Sometimes I feel like there’s no progress but when I look back to when we started 6 weeks ago I realize the progress. The work overload just became a routine until I realized how far behind my little girl was. I had never tried teaching her these things before until this past month and a half. It has been hard work since she was not used to me being this interactive. In the beginning she was so bothered but now she comes up to me and her dad doing hand gestures according to the song she wants us to sing to her. And when she does something she’s proud of for example: sorting shapes she looks at us and claps and wants us to clap and celebrate with her. This was nonexistent before. It was a lot of work and she had a lot of meltdowns meltdowns to teach her how sort out shapes and stack blocks. Also, the pointing is not perfect as she still points with he while hand at times but we are working on it everyday.

During my search of her symptoms I came across “Durable Human” where they explain how screen time affect children especially those before the age of 2. And how alot of them start to display autistic-like-symptoms. I’ve been following their protocol which is zero screen time and intensive face-to-face interaction and so far she has done so much progress.

she will start speech therapy soon so let’s see what the speech therapy observes and suggests.

@Natashalee99

Glad to hear he has made some progress.

I forgot to mention my daughter also used to look from the corner of her eyes and also used to do it while spinning, it wasn’t excessively but now she never does it. A lot of the autistic traits did fade away the ones that are still worrying my are the lining up toys/objects and her not talking. I sometimes think it can be autism but then I think it can also be language/speech delay due to the lack of interaction from our part. She spent a lot of the time in front a screen and not much outdoors or us playing with her. She has a hard time at the park since I would never take her. She will climb and go on the slide for like 5 minutes and then she just wants me to carry her and start having a meltdown.

My daughter has always been clingy to me and will always follow me as soon as stepped out of the living room, which is were I worked, she will sit there and watch tv as long as I was there.

She will be starting speech therapy soon I hope that helps. Let’s see what the speech therapists observes and and suggests.

Hi @Lilyyy77

My son's lack of understanding is a worrying factor for me. He is unable to follow simple instructions like go get your shoes etc.

There are a few other instructions he can follow but sometimes I have to use descriptive language and only then he is able to identify the object and bring it over to me. Let me give you an example, if I was to say to him go get your book, he would have no clue but if I said where is Mr Panda, he would then identify the book because he would remember that phrase from the book and then he would bring the book over to me. I always knew he was autistic and he started displaying the signs as young as 12 months, it then became more apparent as soon as he turned 18 months. But because he only seems to have minor form of autism so there were times when I wasn't quite sure if he was autistic or if he just preferred playing with his toys in non functional way.

My son has great vocabulary but he has no clue what he is saying, he can say his numbers, he knows his alphabet, he knows his colours but lacks understanding.

As for your daughter she doesn't sound autistic to me at all. I think it's just lack of interaction that's holding her back. My health visitor was discussing a similar child that she visited and I asked her if she thought he was autistic and she said absolutely note. It was lack of interaction that caused speech delay and other developmental delay. Please try not to get upset and just spend as much time with your daughter as possible. My niece was the same, she started pointing as soon as she turned one, she had no speech until she turned 3. However, like I mentioned before her understanding was good. She used to have alot of meltdowns too and never used to interact much with other kids. She is now grown out of all that and is perfectly normal child. May I ask how old is your daughter?

@Natashalee99

My daughter is 21 months. She lacks understanding, her receptive and expressive language are very poor. But I feel like I’m just building her vocabulary now that I’m focused on her. I never told her “go get your shoes” or “throw it in the trash” or anything like that before.

Her meltdowns are starting to worry me since she’s starting to get aggressive like trying to hit me when she’s upset.

Her pointing is not that great as she still points with her whole hand at times. And she only points if she wants something. And if she wants me to go somewhere she will hand lead.

She’s not a picky eater at all she eats just about anything: vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs and if she’s done with her plate she will want to steal your food too lol. She also sleeps good.

She likes to hug and cuddle. And if my husband wants to kiss her she will lean her head forward.

But she really doesn’t have joint attention. For example: if we are out she won’t look at us or point to show us anything she will just look at it. But at home when she’s done stacking or sorting out shapes she will look over to us and clap expecting us to clap back and celebrate with her. She will bring books over to me to read to her. So I just don’t know if she’s delayed or if it could be autism. It’s so confusing because my son didn’t talk until he was 2 1/2 but he always had joint attention. But I know all kids are different.

I don’t see her stimming. The only repetitive behavior I see is the lining up toys or objects that are the same or similar. Oh another thing that stopped was her always having to hold a toy or object on each hand for a big part of the day everyday. She did this since she was one up to 20 months. So she just stopped doing this about a month ago.

@Fatherabir do you have any update about your baby? Because mine is the same

Hi, my 21 month old daughter is non verbal just babbles. She does not respond to her name has sensory issues with food and objects. She only started walking a little the last 2 weeks. She loves to continually jump up and down and she flaps her hands when excited. Very little eye contact and prefers to play in her own little bubble... I believe she has ASD but it's a long road ahead with waiting lists etc... what are your thoughts would you agree he has autism

Hi Natasha, how is your baby now? Yet another person who's chiming in with a similar child - my son does the same with reading the first line of a book and he will bring it, but not with pointing at it.

How is your little one doing now? My boy is 22 months and does exactly the same. Even gives me kisses and leans his hard forward to let me give him a kiss. No words and no pointing

I just thought I’d update this thread for anyone following. My daughter is now 6.5 years!! She has a language disorder. Although she can speak well now she can get all her needs known and can speak in sentences well, she can answers questions, tell me what she’s done. She’s doing well :) I wouldn’t say her speech is conversational and she struggles to maintain conversation with peers due to her language still being behind. They are going to look at autism but being a girl any traits she has are very subtle. I’m not sure she would get a diagnosis but I’d rather they look. On top of this she is funny, she is so so loving, most of all she is one of the best behaved and happiest children I know. She doesn’t really struggle in life, we can take her places and she enjoys life. She is so kind and does well playing with peers. When I started this thread at 23 months I couldn’t even begin to tell you how I felt compared to how she is doing now. We celebrate every win, every new sentence, every new food, every interaction, joining in. I am so so proud of her. I have pushed and fought my way for any extra help I can get and she has an ehcp, she is academically behind but doing okay and I honestly don’t care as she is happy :) good luck with your littles! When she was younger was the hardest time of my life x

Congratulations on the progress. I am in a similar boat. Boy 2.5 year old. No words. When did your child speak first words?

@Goodkid she spoke her first word at 3 years and 1 month old. She had grommets inserted for glue ear and spoke the same week. Please get a hearing check if you haven’t already :) x

@Newmomma2705 wow that's good. Does she understands you now? What did you do to come this far? Sorry for so many questions we just need to know what you did so that we should help ours as well.

Happy to know she is doing well ☺️☺️ so was she diagnosed with ASd in the end or just a language disorder?

@Money12 she understands most of what we say now and can answer / ask questions. When she wasn’t verbal we printed off pics of things she liked, her fave TV shows, her juice cup, her blanket, her toys. We stuck Velcro to them and put them all on a board she had access to. She used to bring us what she wanted this was big step as I felt she could communicate with us then we would say the words oh juice, of course you can have juice, I’ll get your juice and just kept repeating. I also pushed for everything she went to nursery I pushed for extra funding so she had some 1:1 time to complete targets set by a speech therapist. @Mollymomma123 she’s only been diagnosed with a language disorder. They won’t assess for asd as not enough evidence, doesn’t present asd and a girl. I am still trying to get them to assess but they just reject x

Hi all my son is 20 months & has reach all his milestones when he was younger at 15 months he started repeating stuff from
ms rachel & micky mouse & was clapping his hands when i told him to. He doesnt repeat words from her anymore. I took him for his 18 month check up & he failed his mchat test he was 3 points off from passing as per his pediatrician. He understands no, he gives me high 5 when i ask and give me kisses & hugs when i ask & can eat from
a spoon on his own & jargons. He understands a lot. But he flaps his hands when excited i notice, doesnt respond to his name much, started walking tip toe sometimes, spin & eye tracks, plays with his toys the same even if its different toys & spins wheels on his toys. He does make eye contact very well. He just started daycare.

i am concerned this can be asd any comments?

Thankyou for the update, you have been on a long journey and it must have been really hard at times. It’s so helpful you have come back and updated this thread; We are in a similar situation now (19 months) I’m just wondering how old did your little one get diagnosed with glue ear and did she start speaking straight away once grommits were in? And also did the glue ear come and go and then come back again as doctors that have seen our little boy have said his ears are fine but then they will leak orange fluid occasionally when he is poorly, he’s very engaging but his speech is delayed and he’s been really quiet ever since his first ear infection at around 9 months, also did your little one make any noises when she was around this age like vowel noises or not? Did she try to speak but miss out consonants or anything before the grommits?

Hello everyone, hope all your babies are doing well, keep scrolling google and got here, my Little baby is 2.6 years old, not pointing, good eye contact, can communicate non verbal, like if he is tasty he brings you a water bottle to open for him , when he is hungry he takes you to the kitchen and look at the milk or his food bowl, not saying words just babbling, not sensitive to nothing, reponds to his name , he understands come, sit down , stop, but no idea about go bring the shoes .he loves to give hug, smile back at you, and he plays with everyone even adults, when we do doing something like dancing he dances with us.he loves to play with his brother and me at home even play with other kids at day care, he sometimes repeats words from Ms Rachel, he flops his hands when he is happy, he sleeps good at night. we have been referred to developmental pedraitics and we starting early intervention program hopefully next week, am soo worried, we don't know if is ASD yet, but am soo worried especially flopping hands when happy, anyone's child going through this and child grown out of it. Thank you.

You described my son. He is same age and does exact same thing. He is starting to try to speak. It will get better. Dont worry.