My 2.5 yo has a speech delay (he uses about 5-7 words to communicate and can repeat a few more when said to him). Nursery also flagged up some behaviours they felt were concerning (limited social interaction, not participating etc.) but he doesn't display these at home which we've been told would be necessary for a referral for ASD assessment. We're waiting for an appointment for SALT but have been advised that the waiting list is very long in our area.
He communicates/interacts pretty well at home (hand leads, points, makes eye contact, laughs, smiles, shows objects, observes social interactions etc.) but he's very, very 'shy' in any other setting (not just nursery). If we take him out of the house, he literally doesn't make a sound.
Has anyone seen similar behaviour in their child? Did they go on to develop typical social skills or was there some underlying issue? I know he's still very small but I don't want to miss something which becomes a bigger problem the closer he gets to school age.