Please help, is 13 month old developmentally behind?

[daisysun]

My DS is 14 months next week and I'm starting to worry about his development. Every other baby his age seems to be doing a lot more than him. I know every baby is different and they develop in there own time but when do you know when to actually start worrying.

The things I'm worried about are:

• he doesn't associate words with things. For example, he says the words mama and dada but has no idea I'm mama he just says the words. All the other babies in our group are all saying words and are associating those words to the items such as cat, dog and clock etc and even making animal noises but DS isn't doing anything like that.
• he still isn't waving, clapping or pointing
• he isn't walking yet but I'm not so worried about that because he does try and he cruises non stop
• he doesn't really play. If we do peek a boo for example he thinks it's funny but never tries to copy the actions. He just laughs and then crawls onto the next thing

Am I worrying over nothing? My friends baby is 16 months and is already counting to 10! Is there anything I can do to help his development? I point at animals and objects all the time in life and in books etc and say what they are, will he just pick it up one day? Is there a chance something maybe wrong? He still seems so baby like compared to others his age :(

He's so little I'd really not worry. Just keep talking to him and enjoying him. He's looking at you and laughing at what you do and saying mamma and dadda and might just be concentrating on trying to get walking at the moment.

He's not behind, he sounds just fine. A 16 month old isn't 'counting to ten'. That is quite simply not possible. They're reciting the numbers as if they would a nursery rhyme or familiar song but they would have absolutely no understanding of what counting would mean, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Would he understand simple sentences like "where's your shoes?" If yes then he understands the word shoes iyswim. It's not unusual not to have a first word at his age but the ability to respond to a sentence like that would hopefully mean that his hearing was fine. As for counting to 10- is the child reciting 1 to 10 or would they understand a request that they give you 4 bricks which is a much higher level of understanding of numbers. If it's the former that could be parents repeating it a lot of exposure to music, videos, tv that involves someone counting 1 to 10.

Playing - children his age parallel play. That means if you had 2 kids the same age they'd sit side by side and do their own thing. Playing together is a skill that happens at age 3+ with kids who have older siblings more likely to achieve it first because they've practiced it more. As he gets older and his speech improves he will be able to say what he fancies doing or suggest that someone plays with him.

He sounds perfectly fine btw.

My baby started walking around 14 month mark.
His physical milestones were great but his verbal was always behind. He started babbling around 12 months, he's 15 months now and still no words, doesn't respond to his name if he's with a toy or watching TV,
Doesn't really understand simple direction like give me the toy, doesn't play appropriately, won't stack or build despite showing
Doesn't point or wave. I'm 100% certain he's on the spectrum.

My son is doing exactly everything you have just described about your little one so I am completely certain he also is on the spectrum how would love to know more about your day to day with your little one and what activities you do that has helped 💙💙💙

I try to engage him a lot in play, but he seems to just want to play alone. He loves rolling objects right now and will roll balls, his bottles, stacking cups etc. But not back and forth to play with us. Still doesn't stack anything, just loves musical push toys.. He likes picture books so we do those..

I'm so worried and crying all the time.. Still doesn't copy gestures after waving hi and bye so many times at him

Always has to hold onto an object in both hands, same thing preferably.. Receptive language pretty bad, name response pretty bad

@daisysun How is your son doing now?

@Worrywart12 How is your son doing now?

Hi, my son is 19 months and just got diagnosed with autism. He still hasn't said a word, response to name is hit and miss...

We started early intervention...

I'm beyond devastated and in a bad place

@Worrywart12 sorry to hear that you’re having a hard time at the moment. Hopefully the early diagnosis will give him the right support.
Can I ask you what he was like at 12 months - clapping/waving/pointing and eating and sleep? X

Clapping here and there, no waving no pointing. Sleeping was fine at this point but feeding was a big issue. Still mostly on mashed soft foods and baby snacks that dissolve...

He also was very tactile always touching and scratching surfaces..

He had no other stims, now also he barely has any.. But he does tense up his body quite a bit..

Just to let you know, I'm part of so many autism toddler groups and have come to realize, that my autistic son is different from other autistic kids, so not everything I say will be the same for other kids and vice versa.... If you're at all worried, please keep an eye

@Worrywart12 how is your son now?

Hi! My son is 3 yrs and he's doing great....

He can communicate with short 3 word sentences... Mostly, he keeps repeating numbers and alphabets. He knows is tables upto 12. He knows Greek and Russian alphabets too.

He can request for cookies or milk or food or sleep with words.... His tolerance is still low. Like if I ask him to put toy in box, some days he's great. Some days, he starts throwing a tantrum...

He can literally bring everything from memory.. He's terribly smart.... Just needs a lot of push in right direction. He's ok in crowds and likes to travel... Still walks to tippy toes a lot...

Doesn't play with his baby brother much at all...

There's literally so much about him... He's fantastic and I love him to bits..

@daisysun hi how is your son now?x

@Hannahmc12 how did your little one come on?