Can't Seem to Teach 8 Month Old to Clap His Hands

Hi V.!
My son, now three, was the same way. I couldn't teach him anything. He was so... stubborn. He is a very strong-willed child I was told and he'll do it when he's ready. Sure enough. I would work him him on something and get frustrated so I would stop and a day to two later he would just do it like he had been all along. ERR!!!
My aunt had me freaked out about Autism too. She has an Autistic son and had given me all the signs to watch for and I started seeing too many things and talked to our peditrician. She said boys are very different from girls (we have a daughter 14 months older) and that with our son being so strong-willed everything was going to happen on his time and when he is ready, not a mintue sooner. At three he is a little better, but it's mostly come down to warming up to certain people.
My advice is really to relax and enjoy your little guy. He'll get all those things. Every baby is different and every Mom has a different story to tell.
Take care.

My daughter is almost 13 months old and clapped around 8 months or so, but didn't wave by until around 11 1/2 months. I have about 5 friends with babies around the same age and none of them clapped by 6 months and most of them didn't wave until around 11 months. Some kids seem to do the motor skills stuff sooner and some talk and do tricks sooner. My daughter also crawled on all fours around 9 months (not early). My daughter is just barely walking now, but she has a really good vocabulary for her age. She has other friends that walked at 8 months, but still don't talk at all, so every kid is different.

Hi V.,

My little girl turned 9 months last Saturday and she just figured out clapping this week. Now she does it all of the time although if my husband and/ or I jump in and clap with her, she stops to watch us- apparently we are pretty entertaining. :-) So that being said, you're son will figure it out whenever he does and from there you'll have a clapping machine until he figures out the next fun "thing".

~ J.

Hello V.,

Children all do develop differently and I would not worry too much about not clapping his hands yet. If you notice that he is behind in other development as well then talk to your pediatician and/or contact your local regional development center. http://www.dds.ca.gov/EarlyStart/docs/ReasonsForConcern_E...
Our grandson has auditory and sensory processing disorder and we have received a lot of help through or local regional center. There is no cost to the parents/caregivers.
If there is a delay that needs attention, early intervention is the key and there is a lot of help out there.

J.