Hi everyone! This is my first post on here but hoping to hear from others that may have been in a similar situation.
I have quite a few concerns about my 14 month old son and I’m going down a rabbit hole with google and autism (!) I’m just so worried about him and just really unsure if he’s just behind developmentally or if something more serious is going on.
for example:
Socially:
He lacks any real social interaction with other babies / toddlers or adults. He smiles at me and his dad, but never smiles at anyone else when they smile at him. We always thought he was just a grumpy baby but as he’s getting older it’s getting more concerning now.
No gestures - he doesn’t wave, he doesn’t clap, or point. I’ve tried so hard over the last 4 months to get him to do this, we clap all time, we wave hello and goodbye to him. I point at things but he just doesn’t do it.
No words - not a massive concern at this age but he’s not even saying dada or mama. He babbles but doesn’t know that I’m mama for example.
he’s fixated on wheels! He doesn’t play with cars normally just whacks them around and then plays with the wheels. Also loves wheels on a pram.
doesn’t do any pretend play and likes to play on his own. He’ll interact with me doing somethings, for example I’ll throw a ball into his ball pit and he’ll laugh everytime I do it.
he sometimes responds to his name, but not consistently.
on the positives - he loves peekaboo, he understands things like “no” and he’s got great eye contact.
i love him more than words can say but I’m worried as he does seem to be very behind for his age.
any advice or shared experiences would be really helpful for me. Thanks so much for reading