ASD and not pointing and waving. When did your DC learn?

[laurabatty]

Hi all, was just wondering when your DC started to point and wave and did they start to do it spontaneously or did it take lots of hard work to get them to do it.

Our DS (2) has been diagnosed with GDD with possible autism - the latter suspected due to lack of pointing and waving amongst other things. He has, however, since the diagnosis, started to point and is waving pretty much each time when leaving someone/ something. It's all a bit confusing and wondered if anyone could help us shed some light on what might be happening. Thanks!

When he points, is it to share something with you?

My dc with ASD used to sometimes point at things (although one used his middle finger rather than his index finger) but it was purely for their own benefit. In contrast, my children without ASD would point, get my attention so that I was looking too, and then point again at whatever it was.

Hi coppertop, it varies - sometimes he just points when something catches his interest and other times he points and looks at us to share something with us (and is increasingly doing this). Just weeks ago he wasn't pointing at all.

My son is two and just been diagnosed with autism. He does wave but we worked very hard to get him to the point and he still needs lots of prompting.

He doesn't point at all or attempt to get our attention when things are interesting to him. He also doesn't respond to us pointing things out to him.

He has started to lift his arms to be picked up recently (from 20 months old) and pull our clothing if he wants us to come with him (since he was two).

He only attempts to get our attention if he needs us to do something for him - open the door/lift him in to his booster seat/fix a toy. He wouldn't attempt to gain our attention just to share something he is interested in.

He was originally diagnosed with general developmental delay as well (I assume that is what GDD is) but it has become clearer he is actually autistic and was diagnosed two weeks ago.

Hopefully that is helpful, autism is different in all children but your son definitely sounds like he has more communication than my little boy.

BTW - Congratulations on the waving/pointing I know how it feels when they suddenly pick up a skill other children have had for ages. I was over the moon the first time my little boy waved.

My DS never points anything out to share with me. He only waves if I tell him to 'wave at Nana' etc. He's 12 and has a DX of HF ASD. It sounds encouraging.

My DD (nearly 4) doesn't have a diagnosis but has severe speech delay and autistic traits. She points for her own benefit, no joint interest really and waves but will have at anything or nothing. She also will say bye bye sometimes appropriately but other times just randomly.

Dd3 has a dx of ASD she rarely points and never waves. If i say wave to so and so she will literally just move her fingers at the side of her body.

I cant remembet her ever pointing at something to get my attention and if i point to something she cant follow the point, she just looks at the end of my finger. She is 9.

As someone has said though ASD varies massively from person to person.

Good luck.

Hi Laura i think it is very encouraging that your DS is starting to point and wave at age 2. My ds is 11 and to date has never pointed or waved ever! My ds has severe autism and GDD. Think your wee man is doing superb hope he continues, keep up the hard work

Hi Laura, my dd 3.3, does not wave goodbye at all, but she will say goodbye. She has very recently started to point and say to me "look" - but she she doesn't look at me after to see if i'm looking at what she's pointed out - no joint attention.
Good luck to you & your ds, he sounds lovely.

Had to teach DS to point. It is very useful for working out what he wants but he essentially uses pointing to say what he wants - very rarely to "share" something he has seen, like a NT child would.

He waves when he wants someone to go away, or he wants to leave a situation, rather than because someone is leaving.

He's a very functional communicator!

Ds1 (10 now) has as and only started an awkward jabby point about 4 and that wasn't usually to share-does it ok now, but still a bit vague and we didn't do much to encourage iirc -just happy when it started happening.
Not pointing was probably the earliest sign we had, but I didn't know it was a sign. I can remember friends ds pointing at the moon when he was just 1 and thinking same age ds doesn't do that, but I had no idea it was significant.

Yes ds, like others here, did the face pulling/pushing to look, thing instead and we did a lot of persuading him to stop that. He will still push my face if he's really keen to show/tell me something.

DD (4, autism) started pointing (to request and to share) just before her 2nd birthday. not sure when she started to wave/say bye bye. I think it was 2-ish and needed prompting. if I don't prompt her, she will still often not say/wave bye bye or hello. and I still notice that she has trouble following a point.