Shout out to AladdinMum for advice. DD pointing fully established at 21 months. Does it matter it was late (autism symptom related)

[LongTallSal]

@AladdinMum (or anyone else who knows ) I wonder if you could help me with this question if you see it and you have time. I’ve seen the brilliant advice you have given out in the past on similar queries.

All types of pointing, distal, proximal to share to request has now been fully established over the last few months. Though I would say the pointing to request came last which I’m aware is not the normal order.
However it’s late according to milestones/ red flags to look for for asd.

I wonder now that it is here whether that can be taken off the list of possible asd indicators or if it doesn’t work like that.

I don’t want to bombard you with what my daughter can and can’t do as like you always say , asd is a social communication disorder, not a lining up blocks, obsessing over insects disorder so I won’t go in to all her little quirks, but I think her behaviour is age appropriate.
The only other thing of note is that she doesn’t consistently respond to her name but has no issue with hearing. I would say she responds about 50% of the time maybe a little less and this is across all settings and scenarios.
Hoping you can help.

Just another bit of info in case it is important, DD was NOT premature.
She's had a and continues I have a language explosion in the last 4 weeks and has just started at nursery.

That is great news! It is not unusual for pointing to request to come last, intuitively you'd think it would come first but I have seen pointing to share come before pointing to request (including in my own children), I am have seen no research in trying to look into its significance.

Though while distal pointing is considered late after 18M I have seen many cases of children pointing as late as 22M and develop normally so pointing after 18M doesn't automatically mean autism but it does increase the chances with every month after 18M - though on average children with autism tend to start pointing after 2.5Y. I imagine she is also now passing the MCHAT which would be very positive as you really need to see a pass before 24M. It is always prudent to keep an eye on her development due to the late pointing but it all sounds very positive for now and as she grows older and develops further all autism worries should hopefully subside :)

By the way, in the ADOS (a popular autism diagnosis test), a 50% name response would be considered as "good name response".

@AladdinMum Thank you so much for taking time out for this. That explains things clearly for me.

Yes she now is 'low risk' on MChat and the risk would be even lower on the test if I choose 'yes' for responding to name. The only other thing I can't confidently choose yes for is ' if you turn your head to look at something does your child turn to look also'. I can't say I've noticed that's something she's done but even with a no to that and a no to name we are still now in the test low risk category which is a huge improvement.

I continue to watch her like a hawk anyway. Thanks again.

I'm an SEN teacher, specialising in ASD & behaviour. I'm sure you know that 21 months is too young for an ASD diagnosis so you would realistically be looking for potential red flags, but then then this is still pretty early.
I don't know what the other things your DD does are, which you've alluded to, so I couldn't possibly comment on anything else though. But late pointing and a 50% response rate to name calling aren't concerning with respect to a 21 month year old and potential ASD.

@OpheliasCrayon ok, that’s interesting and reassuring to know thanks.
Do you know why lots of literature goes on about the importance of 18months being late to point with regard to red flags for autism?
The other stuff I alluded to and really isn’t worth mentioning was occasional tip toe walking but it that was more a flash in the pan and sometimes doing a strange screwing eyes shut whilst looking up at the ceiling. I don’t even know if they would be considered as ‘soft markers’ of autism though so not so worried about them and think it might just be a toddler trying out new skills and sensations.

[quote LongTallSal]@OpheliasCrayon ok, that’s interesting and reassuring to know thanks.
Do you know why lots of literature goes on about the importance of 18months being late to point with regard to red flags for autism?
The other stuff I alluded to and really isn’t worth mentioning was occasional tip toe walking but it that was more a flash in the pan and sometimes doing a strange screwing eyes shut whilst looking up at the ceiling. I don’t even know if they would be considered as ‘soft markers’ of autism though so not so worried about them and think it might just be a toddler trying out new skills and sensations.[/quote]
Well I don't think it's the pointing per se that's the issue, more that pointing is linked to, as you've said, making requests, noticing and tracking objects that are far away.... It's harder for very young children to do those things and for us to notice, unless they point and then we see.
So the actual pointing isn't an issue, it's what the pointing is related to.
So, is your DD able to show what she wants to you? If she can, then it doesn't matter that she isn't pointing - if she is able to make her needs known then that's fine however she does. I honestly don't think my eldest who's now 5 has ever pointed to anything, but we've always known what she wanted.
Is your DD aware of the things around her? Does she enjoy seeing the environment change around her? If so it doesn't matter that she didn't point to show this.
As it goes your DD has established all of these things by 21 months, which is still too young for an ASD diagnosis, so with the absence of any major red flags then in as much as I could possibly advise online for a child I've never met (so severely limited in what I can say!) I don't think you have anything to be concerned about at this point.

Thank you for this. Both your replies have been very helpful to me and given me a bit of breathing space in my anxiety with regards to this stage of her development .

It's tricky to know what's expected and what isn't, isn't it?
My first did things at very much her own pace and decided that she wasn't having any of the milestones she would just do whatever when she fancied and my second was very prem so we were told to just ignore all the milestones entirely!

Honestly though, as I said within the limitations of not having ever seen you or your DD, there doesn't sound to be anything to be worried about.

Of course if anything changes, then I feel you will be aware of this and will speak to the right people, but she can make her needs known, and has developed lots of language recently so all this sounds great for her age.