Language delay or asd

[HomelyK]

Hey so my boy of 16 months only began babbling at 14 months. Before this it was vowels and growling. Hes gone from no sounds to b, d, t, l, n, m, k, g sounds and s is coming. He is beginning to mix sounds and copy the correct babble sounds back to us. He says hair when touching hair snd 'ah' for cat.

His understanding has always been good. He had a really difficult first 6 months with reflux and allergies. He is doing some lovely symbolic play and tries to copy everything we do. He high fives, points, claps and just started consistently waving hello and goodbye. He loves sharing toys with other children and cuddling them.

My concerns are that he still has no clear words, he still growls in between his babbling but nowhere near as often. He still doesnt shake head for no or yes and hasnt picked up any makaton signs. He loves 'kissing' mouthing other children when excited.

Does this sound concerning or is he just doing it at his own pace?

No, not all - zero words are expected at 16M, eight words are expected at 18M (and that includes animal sounds or approximations). In addition autism is not a speech disorder, it may or may not affect speech just like many other things.

I don't agree with everything AladdinMum has said, but there isn't anything in what you have described that would make me worry about Autism.

i find iCan Talking Point very helpful re expected speech development.

Thank you for the link. I guess he falls into lower age limit from those as he says at for cat and hair when touching or brushing hair. Lets hope he begins picking up more words soon..