Whole-hand pointing - does it "count" as pointing?

[InTheDollshouse]

DD (18 months) has only in the last fortnight started pointing at things, but she uses her whole hand rather than her index finger. So I'm not 100% sure that she is in fact pointing, but I think so. I've been really worried about the fact that she wasn't pointing, having read on here that not pointing by 18 months can be a red flag for communication disorders (is that right?) and she has no words at all yet either. So it's a relief that she does seem to be pointing now, but does it have to be index finger pointing to "count" as pointing?

drama she sounds so cute

I hope that you find more information from people with more experience.

Bump for the evening crew

Yes, that's pointing!

Now that's she's got the hang of it and is a clever girl, try and stop her

Phew! thanks!

The first time she "pointed", a couple of weeks ago, I was taking her by plane to visit family, and this v serious, pin-striped-suited business man sat next to us. When the cabin lights dimmed for landing he put his reading light on. DD got really excited and pointed at it, so he turned it off, and she pointed again, so he turned it back on... she made him turn it on and off over and over again. Poor guy just wanted to read his Financial Times!

I love that when they realise they are all powerful!

Pointing with his whole hand was the precursor for my ds. After about two months of doing that, he has only recently begun to point using his forefinger. So don't worry! She is on the right track.

dd learned to twicth her hand when asked to point. But I think NT kids do use the whole hand to start with before they go for a finger.
Communicatiom is many manythings before a child learns to speak. Some lead you by the hand to what they want, others, like my dd, eye point or let you hold up 97 million things before finally saying 'a' for it.

Hi x
I know this is a long shot x how’s your dd now ?