18 months, poor understanding of language

[Teainbedonasummermorning]

I am a bit concerned as my DS is 18 months in less than two weeks and does seem to be behind in some areas, or I may just be worrying unnecessarily.

So - lots of positives. He walks, runs, climbs brilliantly and has for a long time.

He tries to feed himself (not always very well.)

He does have some words. Mama/mum, daddy, baby, Hiya, cat (ca) tractor (sometimes - dador) have heard him say tata a couple of times.

So that’s all okay. My worry is more that other children seem to have a greater understanding of what words mean even if they can’t say them. But if we’re looking at a book and I say ‘point to the duck’ (for example) he doesn’t. He doesn’t seem to know any animals or the corresponding sounds (woof, quack, cluck etc.) He DOES recognise cats and say ‘ahh’ because I have always said ahh when he strokes our cat.

Again, body parts - I’ve seen other children or a similar age lift their arm when asked ‘where is your arm’ etc or point to their heads when prompted.

He isn’t a big pointer, though. I was at a birthday party when he was twelve months and surrounded by children the same age pointing at everything and he just wasn’t. He does sometimes but not loads.

He does laugh, babble, make eye contact, shake his head and nod his head for yes and no, so he does understand some things, I’m just concerned it’s not a lot.

I'm a Teacher of the deaf and my response in situations like this is always to get hearing checked. It may not be this but it could be and it's very easy to rule it out with a referral from GP.

Pretty sure hearing is fine - he can hear a packet of biscuits being opened at twenty paces it’s definitely an understanding / comprehension issue. Either he doesn’t know what a duck is, he doesn’t understand the word duck means the bird or he doesn’t know to point. Or he does understand all the above and just doesn’t because he thinks what’s the point which is also possible!

Yes yes YES to this.

OP I thought my boy's hearing was grand too, he could hear similar things to your boy....his language wasn't coming along and turns out he was 70% hard of hearing due to glue ear!!!!

I'd 1 billion per cent get a hearing test done, even if it's just to rule it out.

But it’s only in those situations- when reading a book. He watches television (not a lot, just Mr Tumble during breakfast and Night Garden in the evening) and responds. He responds to us when we speak to him.

He has had an ear infections and has been seen by an ENT. Nothing they’ve tried has worked to date though.

Lots of people will tell you ‘oh he’ll be fine.’ If I were you I would take him to the GP or HV and ask for a referral or even go private given the state of the NHS. But how is his wider comprehension? If you say ‘where is daddy?’ does he get that? Does he know his name? Does he understand if you say ‘wave bye bye to X’ or ‘can you get your shoe?’

You really do need a hearing test - just because he can hear in some situations doesn't mean he can in all.

And if his hearing is affected, it will be hampering his ability to learn so making him less able to understand even when he can hear.

It's a really essential first step.

You could ring health visitor. He's nearly due his two year check so they might come early and see how he reaching his milestones.

This

OP, for your own peace of mind ask your health visitor to do a developmental check.

Yes for some but not all. He responds to his name (usually! Often turning with a huge grin when he is doing something he shouldn’t) he DEFINITELY knows what no means and he knows ‘where is daddy’ etc. he also says ‘daddy’ when he sees DHs car parked in the drive. He doesn’t say mum/mama as much in front of me but he says it a lot at nursery I’m told. And I’ve heard him calling mama when I collect him.

But yes it’s things like where are your shoes, drink, and so on he doesn’t respond to. I wonder if I just haven’t spent as much time as I should showing him.

He isn’t due a two year check - he’s not even quite 18 months yet.

Do people think something is wrong then? There’s definitely no point going via the GP and we can’t afford a private referral just at the moment (house move) so that would need to wait a couple of months.

That honestly sounds totally normal. He obviously picked up the AHH cat part so maybe you just need to repeat a little more about animals and sound when you see them, or cars etc. Nursery rhymes on repeat will help too, if you aren't already. But to be honest, it doesn't sound like he's behind at all so it wouldn't worry me.

@Teainbedonasummermorning Firstly, I think you sound like a great mum and as a mum myself I know what it’s like to worry about our kids.

I don’t want to armchair diagnose, so if you are really worried talk to your doctor, get a referral for a paediatrician.

However, I’ve noticed with children that they can sense when an adult is trying too hard or is testing them and they tend to become a little less responsive or cooperative. So, relax and try not to focus on testing him, just play and have fun.

It wouldn’t hurt to get his hearing checked (unless his ENT did that already). There are different kinds of hearing issues that are not necessarily about being able to hear sounds.

Thanks @Noelsjumper . It is difficult because there’s so many variables at this age. For example, my friends little girl (four days older) was only saying Da for a long time but she understood so much and had for a long time - would point to animals in books when prompted and get her shoes, wipes and so on.

I don’t know if he just finds sitting looking at books boring. Don’t get me wrong, he likes books, but then he’s off, wanting to be on the move.

As previous posts have said please get his hearing checked. My ds has a moderate hearing loss but he could still hear a packet of biscuits at 20 paces. When he was little he was very similar to how your describing your ds, his hearing loss really didn't become properly noticeable till he was nearer 3 with friends and family who were not around him everyday. The first thing that any gp will want to rule out is hearing loss, the tests are simple and not intrusive and at least you will have ticked that box.

@ImustLearn2Cook I think that’s SO true. I’ve found that with food, too, especially when you just want them to eat it, even when you don’t think you’re stressing, they know somehow.

I’ve no hope with the GP but I will bring it up on his next hospital appointment, which is on Friday.

Has he had many opportunities to see animals in real life? It might be that he needs the concrete experiences and that pictures in a book are too abstract.

Sometimes yes. He’s been to farms and he’s seen fish at garden centres / pets at home and so on. But yes, it could be he doesn’t correspond the picture with the animal. He says Da when he sees dogs and I think he is trying to say dog. Same with car actually but it’s a slightly different da sound (I know … )

I agree hearing test, but also think you should consider narrating your life. It is completely exhausting but is definitely helpful for language acquisition. Basically constant flow, ‘what is mummy doing? Mummy is taking an apple from the bowl and cutting it with a knife. Can you see the apple DS? (Show apple) What colour is the apple? Look, it is a red apple etc. ‘

How is his non verbal imitation? Does he copy simple actions such as waving or hand gestures in a nursery rhyme. At 18months you can do the mchat to rule out ASD.
www.autismspeaks.org/screen-your-child

Would definitely get his hearing checked though. If he has had repeated ear infections they can cause temporary loss of hearing too and slow his speech development. Grommets might help.

I know these things can be worrying OP, been there myself. It might well be nothing at all - lots of children speak a bit late and it's totally normal and they do all develop at their own paces. Equally it could also be an early indication of possible ASD. No-one would be able to tell you at this stage, not even a professional, they'd all just say 'We'll have to see how it develops over the next 1-2 years'. Just whatever you do please don't doubt or blame yourself. You sound like an amazing mum to even pay attention to his sounds and comprehension at this level of detail and you clearly engage with him a lot. That's all you can do, different children will then respond in totally different ways to that input depending on what their very individual developmental path happens to be like. He just is who he is

He does wave, dances, copies some gestures with nursery rhymes although again not always consistently. I do wonder if one of the problems is that I just haven’t spent much time in the house talking to him.

@lalaley - I know, and of course if there is something ‘wrong’ I can’t change that. But I will be totally honest here and say I would seriously consider stopping at one if so.

I have a relative with ASD and his life has been a continuous hard slog, mostly because he falls into that grey space between qualifying for extra support and being able to function completely independently. I know a few people like this and they almost all have sad stories. I worry so much about that for DS.

Mchat doesn’t rule out asd at 18 months, it will just give an indication about signs of asd at that point in time. Also autism speaks who you linked to are an organisation that many autistic people and parents of autistic children find very offensive

Are nursery saying anything at all? When my son was about the age of your son I did have some concerns about asd and used to google a lot, he did lots of pointing and made eye contact but there were other signs, like he would do repetative movements like when we went swimming he would like to pat the sides for example. He went to a playgroup and they picked up concerns aged about 2, he was very obsessed with numbers and could count to over 100 aged 18m and age 2 could recognise numbers in the hundreds written down. They referred to hv who thought he was just a very bright boy not being stimulated enough and recommended we move to another nursery which we did. He got in generally well there and was generally ok in reception. Where the wheels eventually came off for us was year one and then it took us around another year for diagnoses. He’s now age 12 and in a specialist autism school for children of mainstream academic ability. At 18m I don’t think you can really tell for sure however I think mothers generally and a gut instinct and know, looking back I always knew