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Parenting

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15.5 months old lack of gestures and no words

5 replies

Kkssff · 05/06/2026 09:04

Hello,

I have a 15.5 month son. He claps, gives high fives, just learning to take head no and nod yes (only if we say no or yes), reaches, puts up arms for up and will do it if we say up, plays with toys normally, brings toys and books to us. He responds to his name, will come to us if we say 'come here', give us something if we say 'give to...', he gives good eye contact, very smiley and seeks out attention, smiles if we say 'cheese'. He loves being chased and tried to iniciate this. He has just started acting as if he is being chased by one of his toy dinosaurs. He sleeps very well and will eat everything.

However, he does not point at all, he does not wave (looks very confused at this) but will turn around if we say bye bye. Around 12/13 months he said mama, baba and mum and the noise ka but all has since stopped. He was late to babble and still does every now and then. He hand leads me to the hallway but never to something. He will often fake cough and fake laugh and likes people doing it back to him. He isn't great at imitating and often won't even attempt it.

I spoke to my health visitor who but him in 'black' for language and communication at our 13 to 15 month old visit. Since then I've asked for a hearing test, and speech and language therapy. The health visitor is also going to try and start him in nursery to be around more children his age to see if this helps.

I have been looking up online and am not concerned that he may have autism.
I wondered if anyone had any children similar at this age and how are they now?

OP posts:
Galectable · 09/06/2026 20:33

Yes, our son was slow to talk. He was assessed at age two and they didn't find anything wrong. He is now a fully functioning adult working in a demanding job, with a excellent social skills. He describes himself (with a laugh) as being on the spectrum. He has multiple hobbies. He also has a lovely long term partner. We worried far too much when he was younger. Everything worked out just fine. All the best!!

ExplodingSmittens · 09/06/2026 22:10

I had one who was delayed with speech. Has the HV made those referrals and has she said that she will see you again soon?

idontknow54789 · 09/06/2026 22:15

15 months is still very young. None of mine were saying words at this age - this didn’t start until after 18months and they all developed fine. My first wasn’t even walking until 17 months, again all in normal range. I’m not sure why your health visitor would put him in ‘black’ at a 13-15 month review. I’ve never heard of that!

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ExplodingSmittens · 09/06/2026 22:23

idontknow54789 · 09/06/2026 22:15

15 months is still very young. None of mine were saying words at this age - this didn’t start until after 18months and they all developed fine. My first wasn’t even walking until 17 months, again all in normal range. I’m not sure why your health visitor would put him in ‘black’ at a 13-15 month review. I’ve never heard of that!

It will be the Ages & Stages. They have different sections like Communication, fine Motor Skills and Gross Motor Skills. Each section gets a score depending on answers given. Being in the black would usually mean that he needs some intervention to catch up and a referral should be made.

If he’s scoring just in the black in this section I would expect the HV to refer for a hearing test and for SaLT, which she seems to have done.

Kkssff · 10/06/2026 20:03

ExplodingSmittens · 09/06/2026 22:10

I had one who was delayed with speech. Has the HV made those referrals and has she said that she will see you again soon?

She's going to come out at the end of July when he's bang on 17 months old.
A day after I posted this, he decided to bring mama and mmmm back into his babbling and has started pointing during meals times (and only during this time).
I'm just stressing myself.

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