Hi
I am the father of a lovely 20 Months DD . She is lovely and very affectionate . She has a good repertoire of independent words ( up to 80 ) and most of time she uses them in the right context . She has good joint attention in that she always looks where we are pointing and always makes good eye contact with everyone . She was a bit of a late pointer . She started pointing at 16 months and done it consistently for a few months but now she does it only a couple of times a day . She can’t answer yes or no questions or “where is the cat or daddy “ she doesn’t point .
She does point to show interest though and always looks at us when she does .
She is a very good sleeper and can self settle for both naps and the night time and eats okay ( a bit fussy but nothing worrying ) . She doesn’t have many tantrums and usually don’t last more than a few minutes .
As for language , she seems to repeats a lot of words ( echolalia ) but have been told that it is an essential part of the language process . For example she tends to say “ it is okay, all good “ when she is anxious or falls over .
She is drawn to other kids but only does parallel play .
Is not answering questions like “where is something “ or yes or no questions always a concern for a speech delay or ASD ?
Please any advice / experiences would be much appreciated.