Whole hand point & other behaviours

[fourrabbits]

My DS 18mo is gesturing when he wants something (food, toy) with leaning towards it / putting his whole hand out in a reach. He points to things in a book after being asked but I've noticed the whole hand gesture is most common.

Other behaviours are:

• Very picky eater / limited diet
• Extremely shy / overwhelmed in new places/people. Takes a while to warm up, clings to me first.
• Won't really go up to other children - will watch them in the park and smile, but wont approach/is scared when they come close. But apparently OK at nursery to sit next to them.
• Says a few words (mama, dada, up, duck, car) and will mimic / wave byebye, shake head, nod. Noticed words are on request (e.g. here's the car, will repeat 'car') rather than spontaneous.
• Eye contact is patchy - will look at me if I'm singing to him etc, but not very long.

Is this all a clear sign of ASD? Or a social communication delay? Or just a will grow out of it?

Is there anything I can do to help his development along?

[Gingerthecat]

Does he look at an object then look at you to see if your looking ? Or if watching tv if he finds something funny does he look at you to see your reaction?
does he bring things over to you not to help him but just to share/show , show you random items?

I don’t know much about ASD but from what iv read lack of pointing can be a red flag after 18 months old , along with some of the other forms of joint attention apparently

[fourrabbits]

@Gingerthecat

Does he look at an object then look at you to see if your looking ? Or if watching tv if he finds something funny does he look at you to see your reaction?
does he bring things over to you not to help him but just to share/show , show you random items?

I don’t know much about ASD but from what iv read lack of pointing can be a red flag after 18 months old , along with some of the other forms of joint attention apparently

Sometimes he will look at things then look back at me.
Doesn't really show us random items but does show us books, toy kitchen food.

It is the lack of index point that I'm thinking about. He clearly gestures to something e.g. the cupboard but then wont specifically point at what he wants. When i point each item in turn he will nod/shake his head.

Any other experiences of this?