Hi all!
My step daughter turned two just this week. I do not have children of my own but have watched my younger siblings grow up (I'm 27 and they range from 17 to 3) so know the basics with children. I met my SD in February and since then I've noticed that she's, in my opinion quite far behind in her development. She had seizures when she was very young and my other half was told this could slow her down, it was thought to be epilepsy but she hasn't had a fit in well over a year, and epilepsy has now been ruled out and the seizures have been put down to something she's grown out of.
Her motor skills are fine, she runs and jumps with no issues. Points at things that she wants but if your reading a book for example she won't point out the dog when asked.
She can follow simple instructions. 'get your shoes' 'close the gate' for example but can rarely look for things if they're not where she's used to them being. She enjoys having little jobs such as putting toys away, putting things in the bin, feeding the animals and helping with household tasks like washing, sweeping etc
She's only just started to play feed her dolls etc
She can identify people/ pets and body parts by their name by pointing at them.
Generally speaking she understands everything your saying.
The things that are of concern are...
She can't undress herself
Her speech is pretty bad, things she can say clearly are very limited. Yes, no, ta, mama, nanna, cat, bye (and wave). She does say other things that we understand but nothing anybody else would. She will try and say most words if you ask her but doesn't necessarily use them when she should. For example if she wants a drink she won't say drink or juice she'll just bring you her bottle.
She will not use more than one word together even if you ask her to. Only just the one word.
She did have a dummy in her mouth pretty much constantly until around 2 months ago. Which is one thing I've been able to stop after a bit of a battle with my other half haha. Now she only has it when in bed. Since then her speech has improved.
I don't think autism is at play here as she picks up on social cues, makes eye contact and can read emotions quite well. I don't know anything about her dad's side of the family as he's not around but the mums side of the family aren't the most intelligent bunch without sounding horrible.
So basically, I'm looking for some advice on how to improve her situation and also how your toddlers were and how much they had developed by the age of two. Am I just over worrying or should we see a Dr?
Thanks