Slight worries about 13 month old

[Raeleigh24]

Hello all new to MT.

long post sorry

wondered if anyone has similar experiences or worries about certain behaviours. I’m going to right a list of the things I’m slightly worried about and the things that make me not so worried about DS. He is 13 months in a couple of days.

things that worry me slightly are

occasional hand flapping (usually when excited)
or when waiting for his food while in his high chair or when he sees people he likes etc
and then sometimes when he’s frustrated/tired.

used to absolutely love spinning things ( not so much anymore but still does it )

only started crawling at 12 months

still doesn’t pull his self up on furniture and to be honest he will crawl about the living room playing with toys but he actually not fussed about going any further than that!

not pointing yet either . He will point to things in books and if I ask where is mummies nose/eyes etc he will point to them using index finger.

things that make me not worry so much.

good eye contact.
good babbling ( now has many words - ball bubbles duck mama dada door rummrumm and meow )
waves hello/bye
claps
puts arms in air for gone/don’t know
does finger movement for inncy winccy spider.
if I ask where something is he will look directly at it .
same if I ask to shut the door etc he will .
likes music/dancing
plays well with toys
loves peek a boo type games.
fairly happy baby.

we are waiting for 14 month review with HV as for some reason never got 12 month one.

Sounds fairly typical, with lots of interaction. The kid I knew with ASD had no pointing at all, eye contact was unbroken or not at all, speech repetition.

I wanted to add - try not to worry and enjoy your time together.

@Ughhelp thanks for your reply!

yeah my DS loves interaction he plays back and forth ball games , he does repeat his speech a tad as in ball ball bubbles ball but I mean he is only 13 months and he’s now learning new words .

That’s all great and most seem to learn words that way. For speech repetition, the child with ASD would hear something and repeat it over and over but not in context. At the same time they had minimal (probably no words at that age) used with context.

I think he sounds like he's doing very well. He's perhaps focusing more on speech (he sounds advanced with that), but his gross motor skills sound okay. If you hold his hands, can he take his own weight standing?

Some babies are pointing by 12 months, but I think it's the minority – for most it seems to come around 12-15 months, so you'll hopefully see it in the next couple of months, but it's not 'late' until 18 months, which is an eternity for a baby.

A little bit of flapping when happy/excited (or just because he feels like it) is very common in babies and toddlers. They need a way to physically express those emotions. Similarly, a phase of liking spinning things wouldn't bother me (a spinning top is a classic toy for a reason!) – I'd only start to wonder if it was really dominating his play, and over a long period of time.

@skkyelark

thanks for the reply very reassuring!

yes I did wonder if he is focusing more on speech than other things and I did also wonder if the hand flapping was sometimes a way of trying to express something that he can’t say possibly?

as for gross motor he has already been referred to physio ( waiting for appointment ) because HV was worried that he wasn’t crawling at 11 months but then he started a week after his 1st birthday he seems fine with crawling but it seems he’s just not overly fussed about it and iv watched him try pull his self up to stand and he just can’t do it . He will take a few steps if I hold his hands ( still wobbly though)

The spinning has calmed down a bit now ( I went out and brought him lots of spinning things as that’s what he liked ) but he’s more moved on to stacking blocks now but still love a good spin every so often definitely doesn’t dominate his play so that’s positive

ahhh yes 18 months is still a long time away!

thank you