My son is almost 13 month old and is not clapping or waving. He does "high five" from time to time and he responds to his name but not all the time. What worries me the most however is his lack of interest to other people. If there is a new person in a room he would not look at them for a long time and sometimes not at all. He seems to avoid eye contact with strangers but not with me, his dad or his sister. Although he does not walk i have no worry with his motor skills - he crawls. Have you experienced that kind of lack of focus/interest in strangers in a 12/13 month old boy? Should i worry? Thank you for letting me know.
I am having both eyes and ears checked at the moment. His eyes seem fine but the earing may be a problem but it could be because he had a runny noise every time we have gone to see the earing specialist. He does not point either / wave or clap. He has waved in the past (a couple of times) but i have not seen him doing again. I have seen one pediatrician already who has picked up on the earing and the lack of interest towards him. He would laugh though if you really insist and make funny noise for instance but it would take a lot for someone to finally get his attention. I am taking steps to make sure that i catch anything early but i just wanted to check if any mothers out there had experienced something similar before and maybe i am over-reacting and over-stressing. Thank you so much for the responses.
He is only i year let him grow a little older if this still presist contact a dr to see if he has a fisical problem good luck A. raisedw4 and now have7 grandchildren no hills
Speak to your pediatrician for a referal. Clapping is a motor skill, waving is a motor skill, but more importantly, they are skills of shared interest and reciprocity. Walking is not the only motor skill you should think about, there is a difference between gross and fine motor, some children will have no trouble with one, but trouble with the other. I would not be looking at this as a lack of foucs, because that may suggest a visual problem, but that is not what you are asking about, unless you think that there may be a visual issue, which would be one thing to rule out. What you are asking if children should look at and be interested in human interaction outside of their nuclear family at the age of 13 months, and if you put it that way, the answer is yes. Have your pediatrician help you sort it out, your son is young, but that can be a gift if there is a issue as the earliest intervention is best. Never wait with development.
M.
A great place for information and what to do IF there is something going on with your son is http://www.talkaboutcuringautism.org/learning/aboutautism... even if it is something other than autism as well. A huge suggestion is to run, don't walk, and get Dr. Robert Sears book, The Vaccine Book, and not to do any further vaccines until you do some research on them.
Start with the ones that he is to get at the one year mark. It is ok and highly recommended that you delay most of them anyways. He could be a late bloomer, boys are, but he could also have a compromised immune system and the last thing you want to do is make it worse.
What does your gut tell you? Listen to it, breathe, do some more research.
Don't worry, but don't sit back and ignore nagging feelings. Call your local Regional Center and ask for an evaluation. They won't give any formal diagnosis, but if they suspect any problems then they will work with your son in a very playful way. If they don't suspect any problems, then you will have been reassured by people whose job is to specifically look for delays.
I have seen babies/toddlers not be interested in other adults, but a real test is their reaction to other kids. Do they laught or smile around other kids? Get excited in any way and want to interact? Especially small kids like other toddlers or preschoolers. They will at least find these other children amusing and try to watch them play.
Please have him referred especially since at this age the regional centers will 'test' and provide therapy for free until three. I just knew something was not right with my son since birth but the pediatrician kept saying that I had a perfectly healthy and normal child. Of course I wanted to hear that. It was not until he was 2 1/2 that I had him seen and that was still with the doctor saying that 'boys talk later than girls'. He qualified for two hours of speech and two hours of OT a week!
Your son could be completely fine but I think it is worth the time to make sure. If you call your school district and ask them for the regional center in your area they should know the number. The two agencies communicate with each other because at three the children get 'transferred' to the school district for services.
Good luck!
I would not worry but get it checked out. My son had issues similar to these when he was younger. I would talk to your Pediatrician and ask for a referral to have him assessed developmentally. That is what we did. He ended up being behind and was placed with the Regional Center for our county. They did therapy with him and he is caught up. The early start programs they have are great to catch the kids up. So don't worry and dont read about autism and such it will just scare you like it did me. Good luck!
Yeah, mention it to you ped. My son was a late bloomer in a few areas, and his speech is still behind a bit (he is almost 3).....but he has come SO FAR. I was SO WORRIED about everything. I did get EI for him starting at 18mo. He only qualified for speech, but he was still a bit behind in cognitive, social, and motor skills (but not far enough behind to qualify). Now.....he is WAY ahead in cognitive, and right where he should be in social and motor skills. He is still getting speech therapy, but he can talk....he is just difficult to understand and needs to work on articulation.
My advice.....STOP worring, and START DOING something. The only way he is going to learn is to be taught. Work with him on waving, clapping, interaction. Sing songs make him clap his hands, make him wave bye bye to anybody (at the store, family etc), try to play games that make him focus on you/family members coming into the room or leaving. You will have to be super animated and cheesey.....but chances are that he will start to be more interested in people. One thing that I learned about EI is that they will work with your child, but they really try to teach YOU how to help your kids. It is great that they empower you.....but it can also be really stressful for you.
As far as autism, I really think you should wait and see. Like I said, I was super worried about my son when he was about 1-1.5 years old..... I was convinced he had autism. My ped, all the EI people, etc told me NO and to wait. I am SO GLAD that I did. He just was a late bloomer..... For my son, I think the speech therapy he got helped his speech AND his confidence, and once he became more confident in himself he started really taking off in his cognitive skills and social skills.
So...all in all......Regardless of what is going on.....stop worring and start working with him more. Contact EI if you want...they can help you with MORE ideas for helping your son. Good Luck.
He may just be afraid of strangers. Many kids are. My 13 month old grand nephew cries and screams around strangers.......or the vacuum cleaner.
Late bloomer does not mean something is wrong or that intervention is needed. My son barely spoke until after the age of 3. Then he went to town!
Could be normal. Could be he is just not interested in anyone but you guys.
Keep an eye on him and try to document his behaviors.
Have you had his hearing and eyesight checked? You can do this on your own. Stand behind him and call his name. Call his name from another room.
Does he have a favorite toy or know how to point to sister?
Place them far away from him and have him "point to ball" or "show me sister".
Did you have his 12 month check up? What has the doctor said?
I agree with Martha to mention it to your Pediatrician. You can call today or wait until his 15 month appointment, but I'd certainly bring-it-up.
Most issues with conditions such as autism spectrum disorders are indentifiable around 18 months. We were concerned around 13 months with our son because he'd line cars up perfectly. Both my husband and I have self-diagnosed OCD. We've mentioned it to our pediatrician who has monitored it.
Here's what the American Academy of Pediatrics has on their parenting website about cognitive and emotional developmental milestones for a 1 year-old:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddle...
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddle...
