Hi all, first time posting here. LO is 25 months old and has no words at all. He doesn't copy sounds most of the time (very occasionally he'll copy mama, dada, & nana after I say banana). He started pointing only around 22 months.
We think his understanding is OK even though he only follows instruction when he wants to. He "knows" lots of words in that he can point to the right picture when asked (but sometimes he'll ignore the ask). He loves studying his sound books and learned some hundreds of words from those books, all the animal names, vehicles, colours and numbers etc. But he doesn't say anything, at all.
We just went to his first SALT appointment a few days ago. ASD was suspected. He's very smiley, happy, and has good eye contact. He likes to play peekaboo and hide n seek with the adults. But he does have some repetitive behaviour and often seems to be in his own world. We're told that for now we can only focus on improving his underlying social skills as he's not speaking at all.
There are two things in particular I find quite bizarre and the person at SALT also didn't say what to make of it:
- He babbles a lot but only "quietly", like he doesn't use his vocal cord. He does use it when yelling or making a "urh" sound (together with pointing) when trying to get your attention, so he should have the physical ability. When he's unhappy he yells loudly and when he's happy he babbles very quietly, almost like whispering. He likes to end every "phrase" with "da", something like "na-mh-da, bu-dsi-da". If I repeat what he says the "conversation" can continue for a little while. The "mama" "dada" "nana" sound he occasionally makes also doesn't involve using his vocal cord.
- He doesn't nod or shake his head to indicate yes or no. We've been trying to teach him this recently and I notice that sometimes he wants to nod but doesn't know how. he'll literally put his hands on the sides of his head to try to move it.
I wonder if anyone has seen anything similar or has any idea what this could mean. thanks.