22 month old not talking & understanding

[Boymama2705]

Hi,
My little one is 22 months & has no words yet. Babbles/chats away in gibberish all the time but no specific words. Or animal noises.
I am also unsure of his understanding, if I told him to go get the ball or get your cup he wouldn't know what I was on about.
He has no sensory issues, no repetitive issues, sleeps well, doesn't struggle with routine changes etc and has great eye contact/answers to his name (most of the time).
However I spoke to his nursery this morning and they advised he doesn't really engage with his peers and prefers to play on his own or be with staff. I've been in tears since I dropped him off. Can anyone offer any advice/ personal experience?
Thanks x

@Boymama2705 May I ask how your son is doing now?

Hi , hope you are well?

Can I ask how is doing your son now?
My son exactly the same and we have been referred to child development center for ASD .b

Hi all, sorry I haven’t posted in a wee while but here’s a little update…
So my little boy turned 3 yesterday. We are currently under assessment of the child development clinic and have been to 2 appointments so far. She advised he is showing some traits of autism however is not showing others so she was a bit on the fence and also took into account he is still quite young. We have filled in some questionnaires and returned them and have a call at the end of July to discuss how he scored. Dependant on that he will either go down the asd assessment route or continue down ten speech therapy route (as she wasn’t sure that it was his speech and communication delay that was causing other issues).
He now has a few words, around 8, that he uses in context and knows the meaning of (ie car, bath, night night etc) however still doesn’t say mummy or daddy.
His understanding has come on a lot, he is a completely different child since the end of last year however is still very behind his peers I would say.
He still plays alone a lot at nursery but they are working with him and this seems to be progressing a little. Still super affectionate and such a happy boy.
Had started pointing to things to show interest and to show what he wants but doesn’t do it a lot.
He doesn’t play with toys great, he loves collecting little stones out in the garden 😂 but he got a new Bluey toy yesterday and has playing with that great so that’s nice to see.
At christmas, he wasn’t interested in any of the toys (probably because he didn’t understand what was going on) but yesterday he came down the stairs and at first was excited when he seen everything then got a little overwhelmed.

All in all, he is still progressing, just in his own time. Personally, I do think he will get a diagnosis but who knows what this next meeting will bring. I feel like I am in a better place and starting to accept things a bit better so I will try update on here as best I can, as I know how worrying a time it is when they are young. I’ve been worried about him since he was 16 months old.

Hi @Boymama2705 any update on your little man?

Hi @RachJ14
so we had our planned call with paediatrician yesterday to discuss how he scored on the questionnaires. The one we returned he scored low and unlikely to have autism however the one that the nursery returned scored high and autism was very likely. She advised this is common as children are more comfortable around their family and we know them best so maybe don’t see things as problems etc.
so now we are going to be referred down the autism assessment route, which can take another 18 months. She advised if he scored high on both we would have been “fast tracked”, which makes little sense to me but anyway. Even though I knew that would be the case yesterday I’ve still been upset, guess it’s hard hearing it.

@Boymama2705 sorry to hear you were upset - did they advise you where the differences were between your assessment and nursery? Also is the nursery assessment based on general observations over time, or time limited? I only ask as once we got an assessment form nursery showing my son was really behind where he should be and then when I quizzed as I was surprised at the results I found out they had someone carry it out who had only just joined the room and my son didn’t know that well, and they did it just before he was going down for a nap - and was totally uninterested. His key worker carried it out again a few days later in the morning and it all scored fine 🫠

Has there been any further developments in his language since June?

ASD is a spectrum, and just means they view and experience the world in their own unique way. It’s amazing you have advocated for him and he will be able to have the assessment and get any support he needs (if needed) so he can thrive - you are a great mum ❤️

I think my little one would be the exact same with results in terms of being more happy and confident at home! Pretty sure if nursery done a questionnaire on his behalf, he would tell them to fuck off (if he could talk 😂)

We are in a similar position to your original post that our 21 month old is behind in speech and gestures, a little understanding but not a great deal compared to peers of a similar age! And the awful googling rabbit hole I’ve been in is making me unwell.

Sending lots of love to you though! It’s a stressful process and the unknown is the scary part. Good on your for advocating all this time for your little man, to get him the support if he does end up needing it! As someone mentions above, autism is a spectrum and just makes people more amazing & unique! 🤍 I know a complete stranger on the internet saying this won’t make you feel any less upset now (also ok to be upset it’s totally normal) But you’ve got this!

@FromWalesAndBackAgain@RachJ14 I didn’t ask for a comparison but we are going to see the paediatrician in a couple of months in the clinic and I’m going to ask then, I didn’t want to get into it all too much yesterday on the phone.
im a terrible worrier, always have been, and I can’t help but spiral about what the future is going to look like for him. Silly I know, as he is still very young.
Thanks girls, appreciate the support 🥰 it’s nice to hear as sometimes you feel like you are failing as a mama!
Rach, your little one is still young, lots of time for them to come on! Sending you big hug! 🤍

I’m the exact same as you, an awful worrier to the point where I worry about things that aren’t even really a worry at the moment! If I have nothing to worry about I’ll find something to worry about! Even worse now I’m a mum!

I’ve heard so many people recently from forums and real life say there child had a massive speech and social explosion from 3.5/4 yrs so it does happen- more than you would think 🤍

@Boymama2705 thank you, we are hoping we see some development in the next little while for him! Some days I feel progress if good, then other days I’m in a state of worry!

@RachJ14 my son is almost 3.5 and has had huge explosions in development and is now having full conversations with him, when at two years old it was really hard to get him to respond to anything unless he was really interested in it/he initiated it. I’m a huge worrier too, and now that worry has gone it’s been replaced by the fact he has started hitting (mirroring behaviour at preschool 🫠🫠) so I now have all the books on hitting and working on him with this. Think I need to find some way to save my sanity at some point as I have another boy on the way too 😂🫠❤️

@FromWalesAndBackAgain i really pray for a day when my little one is like this with his speech! So many people say that it does eventually come! He’s delayed in gestures as well so that’s a big worry at the moment, but he is making progress 🤞
Its not easy being a mum, constant worry! Bless you though, hitting is tough but I think they all go through that phase!
Congats on your second little bub 🤍