16 month old not pointing, waving or talking - worried

[catski]

So, I've been reading that pointing/waving are pretty important developmental milestones and can be red flag for autism. My son does neither at 16 months.

He also doesn't say anything yet (there's a lot of babble coming from him but nothing that resembles a word, or even an attempt of a word. He says "babmm" a lot - no idea what that mean, if anything!). However, we live in sweden and his father is swedish so he has two language systems to work out.

He walked fairly early - 10 months - and now walks, runs and climbs everywhere. He seems a very active, physical little boy. He seems interested in other children. He turns round most of the time when you call his name (but sometimes doesn't). He likes to come for cuddles. He seems a pretty laid back type - doesn't have any real meltdowns, isn't really phased by changes in his routine.

However, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of purposeful communication from him. I tried the pointing at something and seeing if he followed the point this morning - nada. He doesn't really bring me anything to show me (although very occasionally seems to do so) and I can't detect anything in the way of pretend play yet. Is the pointing/waving something you have to teach them, or should it come automatically? We're not really a family of pointers/wavers although I do point at pictures in books when we read them (he very much likes books).

Should I be worried? I'm thinking about making an appointment with the hv on monday, but maybe I should wait until 18 months if he is still the same???? I am so worried. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm no real expert in this but that sounds to me like a great sign! He obviously understands you well, is responding normally, and using a normal way of showing you what you're asking. My DS is just over 16 months and starting pointing a few weeks ago (as I said before I was also really worried) but has only been able to point to things in books over the last week or so. It would suggest to me that your DS may be later than average but is still well within the 'normal' range.

I also wouldn't worry that this is just a result of you 'coaching' him - I think if he wasn't inherently able to do it at all, he just simply wouldn't do it.

Great news. It's all swings and roundabouts. Dd does point, very forcefully , but has only just started clapping. I used to worry myself sick about it!!

It is a good sign, isn't it, even if we're not completely there yet? I mean, he's not pro-actively pointing (only doing it when asked where something is in the book), but he's still communicating with us, and showing shared interest isn't he?

Yup, I've been very familiar with that awful sick feeling in the last couple of weeks.

Pointing is pointing. And you'll rue the day you wished for it when you've spent the best part of an hour trying to figure out what they are pointing at and wanting you to get for them!!

It sounds very positive and taking into account what you said earlier about play (with tombliboos?) it sounds okay for 16 months and it's certainly good that he knows all the words that he can point to.

I have twins, a boy and a girl, 12 months old, i am quite concerned about my little boy, he does not wave or point at things, and does not seem as advanced as his sister, i know i should not compare the two, as they are both so different, but as having 2 autistic children within my family, i am very concerned as these are red flags for autism, can anyone shed any light !!

12 months is still young so don't jump to conclusions. Does he respond to his name and raise his arms to be lifted up?

12 months is too young to judge by things like waving and pointing.

The only factor that distinguishes children at this age is response to name - but that's from a research study- it's not going to be a reliable indicator at an individual level.

ds1 always raised his arms to be lifted btw.

Yes he does respond to his name, and does put his arms up to be lifted out, he seems fine in all other areas, just does not point and wave at things !!

He's too young to worry. It really is entirely normal not to point or wave at 12 months.

Hi, I have a similar question to this, I'm not too worried but there is always this niggling thing at the back of my mind, my DD is 16month and still does not really respond to her name, she only says dad+mam sometimes but likes to babble a bit+tries the 2words socks+fish from her book, but people do comment on the fact that she doesn't respond to her name and she is in her own little World most of time, she ignores other people when they speak to her or call her, she is a bit funny about textures of things like food aswel, she doesn't point or show me things or fetch things if I ask her she has no idea wot I'm saying+doesnt really pay attention, she will sit+play with me things like lego blocks.
She does put arms up to be lifted, only to me+DP tho as quite clingy at month and she is quite affectionate. She used to wave a lot as a baby but doesn't much at all now, esp when I ask her to (when saying goodbye to somebody) she won't wave back.
Is this just normal development or something to be worried about? She is my first child so not sure, its mainly just the lack of response that worries me as I know 'responding to her name' is smthn she should be dng by now

Hi

I just wanted to say that my DS was exactly like this. By 18 months he wasn't pointing, loved spinning, got very upset by strange textures, didn't interact with other children, disliked loud noises,only had a few words, wouldn't always react to his name etc... which prompted our HV to mention autism to me.

Queue massive panic and paranoia on my part, obsessive MCHAT testing (think he failed pretty much the whole thing at that point) amd begging my DR to make a diagnosis one way or the other.

Anyway, he is nearly 3 now and is an absolutely normal little boy. He now has the widest vocabulary of his friends, wonderfully affectionate, lots of friends at preschool, spot on developmentally - no concerns whatsoever.

I know how easy it is to jump to conclusions but I'd just say try not to worry yet. They all develop so differently and boys especially can take a bit longer to start to socialise/interact properly.

CJJ005 16 months is still pretty young, but try the M-CHAT test (link above).

Tbh normal development would include things like sharing, showing, pointing things out to you etc. But not doing so at 16 months doesn't always mean anything more than late development (as ready2pop has illustrated), and your DD is showing many signs of 'normal' behaviour otherwise.

I do sympathise though as it is very, very hard when your dc is so young and so much can change, but there is this niggling thing in the back of your mind. All you can do at this point is watch and wait really. However, if you still have the concerns in a few months I would probably take her to GP or HV and ask for further investigation. If (and it's a big if) there is anything delayed in her development, the best thing you can do is act early.

I actually posted on this thread two years ago (was FattipuffsandTHinnifers then). Had similar concerns about ds at the same age (see my earlier posts). Did nothing for another year - fooled myself into thinking it was just slightly atypical/late development. He is now 3.8 and was dx with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) last year. He was (and still is in some ways) normal in many other ways so it was hard to spot. Don't say this to alarm you, but just to say please don't bury your fears if they're real. I have a 15 month DD now, and the differences between her now and my DS at that age are striking.

Hello - I thought I'd update this thread, six years on, as I often get PMs from users in a similar situation now to what I was then, and asking for an update on my son.

I think it's going to be quite a long update so will do it in chunks as am using my phone and don't want to lose a massive post!

My son was given a diagnosis of 'autism syndrome' at 19 months old.

The background to this is that we were living in Sweden at the time, and the reason he was assessed so quickly was that we lived in the same city as the Children's Neuropsychiatry Clinic, who were conducting a long term study on the impact of early intervention on children with autism.

After the diagnosis we were passed on to the health service 'rehabilitation' unit, who are responsible in Sweden for implementing intervention for children with autism. They are a completely separate entity to the CNP Clinic.

This is where things started to get really awful.

I enrolled my son into a nursery (as recommended by the CNP Clinic) and the rehabilitation team would go to observe him to see what strategies they should put into place for intervention.

They ummed and ahhed for weeks, and the weeks turned into months. The long and short of it was that they couldn't recommend any intervention because his behaviour was not having an impact on his day to day life. There were none of the features one might expect from a child with autism such as sensory difficulties, being locked in own world, difficulty in following instructions, difficulty in dealing with change. He was an easy boy to parent, and still is!

It's so good to get updates!

In the meantime I was going insane with worry and frustration. Here we a two your old child, diagnosed with autism and a golden opportunity to act NOW to improve his condition. I read up on the plasticity of the brain and how the early years are crucial in shaping our brain.

I did a Floortime course online, I bought the Hanon books (there is no Hanon programme in Sweden), had his urine tested for gluten/casein peptides at the Sunderland ARU, and implemented a gluten and casein free diet when the urine test came back positive.

It was truly, absolutely awful. I felt like I was my son's speech therapist, occupational therapist and nutritionist. It was a full time job and mentally exhausting.

After a year of this, and still no real intervention from rehabilitation, I insisted my son be reassessed. By this age he was pointing and there were definite signs of some joint attention.

He had another ADOS at the CNP clinic and they deemed him to no longer meet the criteria for autism and diagnosis was removed.

They said something along the lines of "he's not brilliant at things connected to the triad if impairments, but he's good enough".

I reintroduced gluten and casein into his diet. Did not see any notable difference in his behaviour before, during, or after the gfcf diet.

I remember that he had a few words at just before two years old, and specifically remember that he did not say 'mummy' or wave until he was over two.

He's now bilingual and I have since moved back to the UK with him where he started reception at age 5.

I have never said anything to any of his teachers about his former diagnosis, and none of them have ever brought the question of autism up, or anything like it. I guess the closest thing his Y4 teacher has said is that he's emotionally quite young for his age. He's an Aoril baby though and not the only one in his class like that.

He has some best friends at school and his Y4 teacher described him as 'quietly popular'. He's always been a pretty laid back dude and still is.

He is phenomenal at maths. Loves numbers and could count before he could speak. He is also very good at reading - he pretty much taught himself to read when he was around 3 or 4. Things that freaked me out at the time but I'm more laid back about them now :)

He's never been much into imaginative play but is happy to play along if others suggest it.

I still see occasional things that I think would be a red flag, but the long and short if it is that if he does have autism it has absolutely no negative impact on his day to day life.

wow, great update. My DD staterted very much out like your DS and we now have not only a dx of ASD but also severe learning difficulties. brilliant that he made so much progress.

Hello my daughter is 16 months and not talking any words or pointing but always babbles don’t know if I should be concerned??

Hey there. I know this was posted abt 15 years back. My kid is 16 month old and is showing similar signs as yours. May I know how’s your kid doing now?… about pointing, communicating, spinning head etc? How did the 18 month checkup go? if u remember:)

hi suvoice, how is your lo doing now? My son is 15 months and I have the same concerns