Is this normal?

[Mammyofonesofar]

I’m a first time mammy to a 15 month old DS. I am so new to this world of parenting and I’m worried my son is developmentally delayed. As far as strength goes I have no concerns, he’s cruising and has been for months but only just starting to balance now. He’s in nursery and it’s brought him on a lot.

my worry is he lacks in other skills. When you shout his name he only sometimes turns around, he waves very occasionally but it is getting more often, no pointing, no responding to queues such as “come here” and only a few words (mama/dada/gaga/boo) and boo is the only one he has any meaning attached to. People have commented that he likes alone time and that he’s in his own world sometimes. My heart is breaking thinking something is wrong and maybe I’ve caused it by not being supportive enough.

has anyone had anything similar and if so how did it turn out?

please be kind in responses, I’m not in a resilient frame of mind

Mine didn't get any words until 17 months, then she only got about 5 forehand and stayed like that until very recently - and is now 21.5 months and on the cusp of the word explosion we think, as things are starting to take off over the past few weeks, with some more words and mini sentences (ready, steady, go etc, nothing complex). They develop at different paces, I wasn't going to worry until 18 months but she got in there with a few words at 17 months. It's a bit late on average, but she's very physical indeed and seems to have preferred working on that more until recently.

Did he have a 12 month check with the HV @Mammyofonesofar?

Thank you so much for the peace of mind.
we had our one year check plus a one at 13 months because I was worried he wasn’t gaining weight so they checked his development then too. I just worry incase I’m doing something drastically wrong and causing him delays

Did he have his hearing checked?
My son had very little words at this age I was really concerned and he was on waiting lists for years to have his speech checked. He was around 4 before his speech started coming on. He's 7 now and doesn't stop talking! I don't think he pointed or waved very much either. And he enjoyed alone time he still does at times but will also demand attention when he wants it.
These could all be signs of autism but they can also be personality traits. Some children prefer alone time others prefer someone interacting with them all the time. They also seem to develop their language skills at different times. I was told that sometimes children develop their language skills slower when the adults of the house respond to their needs very quickly, the advice I got was to try and encourage my son to ask for what he needs rather than just getting it for him. This just frustrated him so I didn't stick to it. I did however repeat things to him very clearly. If I thought he wanted a drink then I would say drink, I tried repeating the word as many times as possible, I made games out of words as he got older to try and help his speech. If any of that made a difference I honestly do not know maybe his speech would have just improved when it did regardless. He just seemed to say words when he was ready.

Ok @Mammyofonesofar so glad that he had his 12 month check.

Did the HV ask you to fill in the Ages & Stages and did she score it for you?

If you're worried the 16 Month Ages & Stages is here. He is at the very beginning of the age range for that assessment but a normal score would usually be grey in a couple of areas and white in the others. If he's scoring Blavk in any area, say communication then he'd need a hearing test and a referral to SLT

Thank you so much!! I like stuff like the questionnaires they reassure me a lot

Thank you for your reply. When he whines I always ask what do you want, even though I know he can’t answer. I’ll try your suggestion of repeating words thank you very much!