When would you personally contact a gp?

[namechange900079]

Could some of you please answer a hypothetical scenario for me?

Please imagine you have a toddler/child who does not talk at all. No babbles, no mama/dada.
They can understand instructions such as stop, no, please get your shoes, shall we have a bath. No worries about hearing. Can make animal sounds. Walks well but didn't start until late.

Important background information:
At a nine month review you were told to come back at 12 months if there was no language development. At 12 months the health visitor was closed and still is due to covid. HV is not an option right now.

Very important information: Child has a physical deformity where part of them did not develop properly in the womb. Not related to the mouth area. The condition can be related to mental disability. Child was due to have gentic testing to determine this but it was also cancelled because of covid.

So with all that in mind, and the health visitor not an option, when would YOU PERSONALLY contact a gp?
18 months, 2 years, more/less?

Thank you

I would contact them or the HV now, assuming dc is now 12mo.

I was told 6 words by 18 months, DS had 5 words and wasn't referred for speech therapy. Words were anything in context, such as pointing to a cow in a book and saying 'moo'. DS made sounds as a baby but never really babbled, then mostly single words until he turned two.

I would contact them now to get in the system and referrals started if needed.

They won't refer to SALT till 2yo here - my DD had nothing at 1yo, we're still waiting to be seen.

Thank you for the responses so far. I'm assuming they won't make any referrals if we go too early, but obviously I don't want to leave it any later than necessary

12 months, and I'd be willing to be persistent ie see another GP if I felt that I wasn't being taken seriously. I would also scrabble around for a private assessment if I could afford to explore that option without going Into debt. I think the way we treat speech and language delays in the UK is bloody shocking to be Frank and it left far, far too late, to the detriment of children for a long time. The amount of children in dd's reception class who are unable to form words is significant - and this then impacts on their ability to rewd

Hi, I'm a GP but not an expert on child development by any means. I would 100% refer you if you were concerned. I think parent's instinct is really important. Plus I would be anticipating waiting lists etc. So I would probably say that if things got betrer, we can cancel the referral but it's harder to get a quick appointment at a later date. Hope everything is OK with your little one.

I would see Gp and request referral to community paediatrician. This is a really good website in the meantime www.afasic.org.uk/

Honestly, just go.

No one on here can guess what is the right thing to do as we don't know your child properly etc

Just go