We've just had a 12 month developmental review today as the 10 month reviews were cancelled altogether in our area. I contacted HV's around 8 weeks ago about concerns that my son was not babbling at all, not pointing, not waving, not showing any understanding of words for objects or commands or attempting to communicate in any way and it took this long to even get an online appointment.
I'd completed a 12 month ASQ SE2 and she told me he scored 75, with the referral limit at 50 or above. We also completed a different ASQ on the phone (she didn't say which one) and said he scored black in the social, communication and problem solving areas. We're now awaiting an audiology referral and have made another HV appointment for 2 months time.
Since the appointment this morning I have not stopped crying. It's not even like she told me anything I didn't already know, it was just hard to hear someone sharing my concerns. I was also shocked that he scored so highly on the ASQ SE2 as I recognised that there was a delay but I suppose not to that extent.
I'm also worried about what will happen now as there are obviously delays in services because of the pandemic. I've been calling around private audiology clinics but all my local ones won't seen him because he's so young. I'm just concerned now that these delays in assessing/addressing the problems will put him even further behind.
Aside from the communication issues, he's a very happy little boy. He's been walking since 9.5 months and is incredibly mobile and independent and eats and sleeps very well, being on the 91st centiles for height and weight. He plays with lots of different toys but prefers cars and spinning wheels but not to an extreme. He often flaps his whole arms in quite an aggressive way, sometimes just on himself but most of the time he'll slap them against surfaces like our tv stand or sofa or he does the same motion to bang toys on things. I worry that this is a sort of sensory seeking behaviour but he also does this on me when he wants something or is tired. If I'm sitting on the floor he will come over with a big smile and slap his arms on me. He doesn't copy anything or attempt any kind of shared experience and doesn't really reach to be picked up but if I put my arms out to get him he starts arm flapping.
He does clap (but not on command) and we get very good eye contact, lots of smiles and giggles. Only in the last week has he started very occassionally saying 'ga' on its own but it's infrequent. Last night I asked him for kisses and it seemed like he understood as he'd put his mouth towards mine but today he doesn't seem to understand.
He had a rough start as the pregnancy was complicated and he was born with heart issues. He also had severe reflux for the first 7 months and was really in survival mode for that time, hardly any interaction,