What "should" kids be able to do by the time they are 15 months old?

[kay1981]

My DS doesnt say any words (but i didnt speak until i was 2.5!), and doesnt point. He hears well and understands "bring that... to mummy" and smiles at biscuit, chocolate and yogurt so he definately understands, so I was wondering what is the relavance of the pointing (what does it show) and what else should he be able to do?

At what point should you worry?

xx

i read you post and didnt want it to go un answerd. i have been going to the child developement unit (my dd is SN) and i wanted to answer your post because this is what my HV says "all babies develope at different stages pointing is a form of communication for them until they can talk but many children finds other ways to communicate" for example my dd is 2 and cant talk she tells me she is hungry by sitting under her highchair, clever girl! try not to worry and focus on what he can do peer pressure is the worst.
can you tell me all the things he can do, is he walking, does he take you to the things he wants?

When my kids were little, I had this Miriam Stoppard book, which I think was called 'Test your Child', and it told you what they should be able to do by each stage. I thought it was pretty accurate based on my kids for everything except potty training (mine were slower).

This Website Has some good links. There is loads on the web if you google.

Is he on track Physically? ie walking (or at least cruising?) if so you may find he is just concentrating on that area first and will soon catch up with other skills.

If you are worried go to the HV and ask for him to be assessed.

Please, Please stop thinking like this, you just set yourself up for a life of disappointment

They're all different , they do things differently and they are good at different things. This will be the case thoughout their life, including GCSE results and career prospects.

Be delighted with any and every development for its own sake and because you're proud of your children whatever they achieve.

If there's anything seriously wrong it will be picked up at the developmental checks, but don't worry. My DS1 never pointed at anything as a baby, didn't roll over until he could walk at 15 months and didn't talk at all until he was 2.3, although he showed good understanding, like your son.

He's now on the talented and able register at school, which I only mention to show that apparently slow progress at 15 mths doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong.

He's probably just doing things his way. My DS1 was busy just taking everything in and when he was ready to start "doing", there was no stopping him.

My 15 month year old has only just started to cruise the furniture.

I was worried and we were referred to physio and it turns out she needs special shows due to 'floppy feet'. These have helped a lot.

Peer pressure is a terrible thing.

I seem to be worrying all the time about DD developement.

Twilight would that be special shoes or do you have to take her to see Starlight Express, etc?

I agree peer pressure is awful. Most people seem to read in a book that baby should be doing X from say 9 - 22 months but they only focus on the 9 months so every child that does it after 9 months is 'late' when really they are perfectly normal. I think PerpetualWorrier's advice is very sound (it did me good!)

Yeah I know your right, I'm a born worrier though.

Thanks susieEm, your dd is very clever, its amazing how kids communicate in their own way.

He could sit quite early and crawled early too, hes been walking confidently since he was 13 months and he brings things to me and will occassionally take me open the door if he wants to go outside, for example.

He remembers the actions to nursery rhymes and anticipates what comes next, even if we've only done it once.

If you ask him a question, he answers with a grunt or babababa, he does say dadadada, but not at his daddy (if you know what I mean), but if he sees daddy, he smiles loads.

He has what I call an 'engineering' mind, he likes to find out how things work and "what happenes if I do this" and "will these go in here". He has a roll-around dinosaur and everything goes in the dinosaur, but he knows to put his hand through the middle to move the balls if they get stuck (you'll know what I mean if you got one!)

I'm sure he's fine and will develop fine. Peer pressure is someting you assocaite with teenages, I never thought about it for toddlers!

Thanks everyone very much

xxx

my twins could write short stories in the style of Antoine Ó Raifteiri

Custardo

Seriously though, children do what they should all in good time, when they are ready to do it!! ALL children are different. At 15 months I wouldn't be worrying at all, just enjoying those lovely snuggly cuddles.

sounds totally normal to me. Ds said absolutely nothing at 14 months, started pointing at 15 months, still only said about 5 words at 17 months and now at 18 months says about 50 words. Your ds might start any day now.

custardo - my 14mo ds recently composed his first concerto

Kay, I posted this thread here over a year ago. The CHAT test was helpful, a month of so later my DS had started pointing and by 18 months when the HV came to visit his pointing was fairly well established. Its true that all babies do develop differently and I had endless people telling me that and all the 'oh its because he's a boy, or because he has an older sister talking for him'. None of this put my mind at rest because as a Mum if you have a worry, you have a worry and its unlikely to disappear over night. So basically, yes some are late pointers but also if you are continuing to worry about it then mention it to HV or see how he is doing at his 18 month check

How old is he? If he's not pointing and is older than 18 months then I would ask for a referral to be honest. If he's under 18 months I would wait though. 18 months was my cut off point for ds2 and ds3 for pointing, - I thought we were going to have to get ds3 referred but he started at 17 months (which is why I say wait).

I wouldn't leave it much past 18 months as waiting lists are so long. If there isn't a problem then by the time you're seen that should be obvious, if there is a problem then by referring at 18 months you will hopefully be seen sometime between 2 and 3. An 18 month old not pointing isn't that a big a deal, some children do start later (and in the original CHAT test the idea was to review those who 'failed' at 18 months a month later) a 2.5 year not pointing does need to be seen iyswim but to be sure you're in the system with a 2 year old you need to be referred at least 6 months in advance.

oh I've just seen the title! Give him until 18 months, he's still within the 'correct' range. At 18 months you can arm yourself with the CHAT and insist on a referral anyway (I geared up my HV in advance with ds2 and ds3 and told her I would be refering at 18 months if pointing hadn't developed) you would probably struggle to get one any earlier.

But he'll probably point in the next 3 months anyway.

Maybe do what I did. Mention it to HV now to sort of prepare her. As Yurt has said he will probably start pointing soon anyway. My HV came to the house to see my DS at 18 months which was loads more helpful that taking him to the clinic. She watched him play, sat and chatted to me, then would include him. No pressure on him whatsoever, so she saw much more easily what he was like instead of sitting in a clinic with him when he would have behaved horribly no doubt and it would have been no help to either of us.