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Advice for toddler with social development delay

3 replies

Mummy2boyss · 14/12/2024 21:13

Hi everyone,

im looking for some advice on how people managed to unlock support for their toddlers with a suspected nuerodiversity. I know it will differ from location to location of where everyone lives but I am feeling like my worries are falling on deaf ears and it’s starting to keep me up at night worrying for the future.

my little boy who is my youngest turned 2 this July he is the happiest sole however is very delayed with his social development. He is still to this day non verbal he does not have 1 word in his vocabulary, he babbles plenty, he laughs lots and he makes good eye contact if you can grab his attention. He does not follow any instructions but does understand the word “no”, he loves to be sung to, spoken to and cuddled we get lots of smiles and laughter as response to all this but no words at all. He is yet to engage in any kind of role play with toys, he instead will collect them all up and move them about into various piles and enjoys kicking and chucking things too. He does not point to things or show me things that interest him. His favourite things are things that spin. He does not seem to have any problem with sensory such as smells, lights, noise or touch. I am getting so worried that possibly he might never talk and what that might mean for his future as you can imagine I wouldn’t change him for the world but I want him to have the best chance in life. The only history he has is that from age 6 months old he had severe glue ear and hearing tests at the age 1.5 years confirmed he would have spent most of his life hearing as if he was under water however his ears seemed to have now self cleared and for the last 9 months audiologists have confirmed he can hear fine now. We thought his speech delay would have been down to this however I would have thought we would start seeing some development pick up by now and tied in with how he interacts with toys I think the hearing was just an unfortunate coincidence and not the actual root cause to his delay. I raised concerns at his 2 year review with the HV and he scored low enough to have a further review after 12 weeks, 12 weeks have gone by and I’ve had nothing further from the HV even after me chasing them a few times I’ve had no further appointments or support. His nursery have finally sent a referral to speech and language however this was weeks ago and I’ve had nothing in way of an update yet, the nursery seem to not be very concerned as he “makes great eye contact” so nothing is being done urgently on their side. Has anyone got any advice please for a toddler this age that just needs support and any experiences that you wouldn’t mind sharing?

thanks for taking the time to read my post.

OP posts:
SprigatitoYouAndIKnow · 14/12/2024 21:27

I would keep chasing the health visitor and book an appointment with your gp. If you have any money to pay for SALT sessions, do that too. I know child who were like this and speaks fine by 3 and children that were autistic.

Still early, but also consider applying for an ehcp before school starts if this is more than just delay. It takes so long and better to have any necessary support from the start.

QueenBarbs · 14/12/2024 21:33

My son was exactly as you described at that age. Health Visitor referred us to community paediatrics, who then referred him speech and language therapy, hearing tests etc. He Is now 4 and improved greatly, his speech is now brilliant. Still on the neurodivergent pathway but just wanted to let you know there is still hope of becoming verbal.

KimMumsnet · 15/12/2024 21:41

Hi, OP. Just to let you know, we've moved your thread from the Neurodiverse Mumsnetters board to our SN Children board now.

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