My very quiet baby - an update

[Bornworrier]

I posted a while back about being worried sick that my baby didn't babble at all at 9 months, in fact he made no sounds at all. Many of you gave me great help and advice. Back then I was worrying about autism, dyspraxia and everything else....

He is one in a few days and to be honest not a whole lot has changed as he is still very quiet. He does however occasionally say mama and dada (not at us) and points at everything and says ba or ga when doing so. Pointing I realise is good. He points at things he wants and gets excited and points at cats, dogs and balls when he sees them.
He does not do any gibberish talking to himself when playing and the sounds I mention above are the ONLY sorts of sounds he makes. He plays quietly. He understands only a few words like drink and toothbrush. He never points at things in books.
Other 12 month olds seem to have a wider mix of noises and are much more vocal.
I can't seem to shift this feeling that something's not right (or is that just because I am a worrier?)
He is slowish with a lot of the gross motor milestones (except sitting which was at 6 months). He has only started rolling properly in the last week, does not really crawl but shuffles about, does not pull up to standing but pulls up to his knees and won't cruise (just crumples).
The question is really the same..... Do you think he is still in the realms of 'normal' (whatever the hell that is) despite being behind most others in most things.... and when can I quit this worrying? I'm tired of it and want to do something else now .

Well if he's pointing his language development sounds fine and if he is dyspraxic you a) aren't going to know about it and b) won't be able to do much about it for at least another year to year and a half. It's also not a major problem if recognised anyway. (unless its very severe and that's very rare). So there really isn't any point worrying. Not from what you've said on here anyway.

Bornworrier, I think Jimjams is right, there's no much that can be done at the moment and from what you say the baby seems fine. There's another thread about how every child is different , if it helps, once we were talking about language development somebody mentioned about a girl who could have conversations with full complex sentences at 18m but was not able to walk until she was 2yrs. DS was a very quiet baby and it worried us that there was problem because he very rarely cried, but now that tantrums are starting we can see that he is perfectly OK and does he can cry!!!

By the way a child with very severe verbal dyspraxia would almost certainly have oral dyspraxia as well so would be drooling and have problems eating.

Little bit of drooling, but most likely teeth. No eating problems whatsoever!

How about dyspraxia - does a child have to have dyspraxia with verbal dyspraxia or can they have one without the other IYSWIM?

My DS has severe verbal and oral dyspraxia. He doesn't have global motor dyspraxia (but has sensory integration problems which can often accompany verbal dyspraxia)
So yes, you can have one without the other!
Dribbling, drooling and outright refusal to eat anything vaguely thicker than a bottle of milk was a BIG sign with my DS - as well as the complete lack of cooing, gurgling etc as a baby. Babbling started when he was around 2 and a half.

So sorry that you're still having all this worry, BW. I know very little about dyspraxia so couldn't even begin to offer any advice about it. With regards to the physical stuff, I have a friend whose baby is only a couple of weeks younger than your ds and who is at pretty much the same stage. He's a large baby so seems to find it hard to manoeuvre himself to move anywhere. He also finds it difficult to bear enough weight to be able to stand. His language skills are very similar to those of your ds too. As far as I or anyone else can see he is a completely 'normal' little boy. At nearly 12 months old your ds is actually more advanced than my ds2 (18mths) when it comes to speech and pointing.

I think, as Jimjams said, it's too early to really tell yet and it really is just a case of wait and see. In the meantime we can worry together.

Yes children can have one without the other- ds2 has a speech disorder- probably verbal dyspraxia but no sign of oral dyspraxia. Like I said though unless its severe its not worth worrying about. And if it is severe you generally know- there is no doubt.

BTW ds2 (2 and a hlaf) can't say ga. The fact your son is saying consonats makes verbal dyspraxia unlikely- usually children with verbal dyspraxia can only say vowels for a long time. My son didn't make any consonant sounds until gone 18 months- and then it was only m. He still can't make any back sounds (g, k etc and loads others are missing- a lot of his speech is just vowels). Children we severe verbal dyspraxia can generally only say "ah" at age 3.

oh misread my (?) verbal dyspraxic son (Actually I think they both have it- but ds2 who only has that- ) doesn't seem to have many gross/fine motor problems, although ds1 does (especially fine), Like slightlymad's son he does have a few mild sensory integration issues, but very mild- I wouldn't even have noticed if I didn't know what to look out for.

DS2's tongue movement is pretty good although he can't raise his tongue upwards to lick his top lip.

Bornworrier, in terms of general motor dyspraxia, I don't think your son would have sat up so early if he had this type of problem. My ds2 has low muscle tone, query dyspraxia, and didn't crawl until one and walk until 17m, but he also didn't sit stably until 9-10months.

I can't remember from your other thread - has he had a hearing test?

DS1 (with some gross motor dyspraxia although not too bad) was similar to your son Saker. Crawled at 13 months walked at 17 months. Was very ropey at sitting unaided for a long time as well. He;s not particualrly bad either as he could manage stairs easily early on, and can jump, pedal a bike etc.