18 month old with no words yet, awaiting SALT assessment

[SarahScone]

re-posting here as think there’s a bit more traffic than Behaviour and Development…

18mo DS. No words. Seems to have good receptive communication eg, will follow various instructions (providing motivated to do so). Doesn’t tend to point to things in books if asked but is more likely to, for eg, ‘bring the ball to daddy in the garden’, than point out the ball in the book.
Can point to head, nose, eyes, tummy, toes, fingers and teeth (again, needs to be in the mood).
Can clap, points at things to get our attention and will do this for both things he wants (namely food), and things he wants us to see (namely tractors), high fives, waves (as it suits him), gives kisses and I’m sure other things as well.
Responds to name, good eye contact etc etc.
Goes to nursery 4 days a week. They have noted the lack of words but not flagged anything else.
ASQ is fine apart from communication. And speech and language tracker suggest referral to salt.
He doesn’t: do any real mimicking. He will copy things like a fake cough, kissing sounds, clicking in your throat, but seemingly not noises involving vocal cords. He doesn’t babble back and forth but he does babble a lot. He has a noise he makes with an upward inflection that he uses to kind of ‘chat’ to us.
And he has NO words (not mama/dada/animal sounds etc)
We have an initial appointment with SALT booked and a hearing test to rule out deafness/glue ear.
But in the meantime, anyone with similar experience care to share their story?

My almost 20-months old sounds exactly the same. I’ve been told not to worry until they’re 2, but following here to hear other people’s advice.

My DS was similar though he did also have one or two red flags on the ASQ.

Speech therapy made a huge difference though you really have to put the time and effort in at home. He was behind his peers for a long time but it did help a lot.

He’s now 7 and en route to an ADHD/ASD assessment but is adopted so there are a few things going on.

My son was similar. Babbling but not repetitive sounds like bababababa lalalala just noises and his own chat. Could follow instructions well so we didn't think it was a hearing issue. Anyway it was, he had glue ear and couldn't hear low frequencies. It meant that when he finally started talking at about 2.5 years old he would miss off syllables (e.g. say flah instead of flower as he couldn't hear the lower er). He's now nearly five and has caught up as his glue ear has decreased.