I have a ten and a half month old baby girl and I am concerned about her development. She responds to her name, waves hello and goodbye, high-fives and claps hands. She also babbles a lot and says mama in reference to me sometimes. However, she does not respond to any questions, such as where is mommy or daddy or where is the ball? I am concerned about her not responding to simple commands. I have an older child that responded to simple commands when she was ten months old and was also able to say a few words as well. Can anyone share at what age their child responded to simple commands. Thank you!
Thanks so much for your responses.
10 Months? Don't expect too much! My dd wouldn't respond to her name at 2 years old (maybe occasionally)...but she's now the top of her class at 10 years old and perfectly normal otherwise.
There's a lot of variability at that age - don't compare one kid against another. Most of them all end up doing the same things eventually. Some grow up with some strengths, others grow up with others.
Do not compare kids!!!!!! She sounds like she is just fine. They all develop at their own pace. Relax and enjoy her.
waaaay too young for abstact AND 'simple' commands. 10 months? seriously? try more like 18 months..
Just to clarify, "where is the ball?" and "where is Mommy/Daddy?" are not simple commands. They are abstract questions.
A simple command is "Put the cup down." "Open your mouth." "Close your eyes." "Touch the picture you like." "Hand me the doll."
In my work with little ones, I have seen a huge spectrum of kids who were more receptive 'commands' earlier than others. Remember, at your child's age your little one is still learning about very simple things, like where mom and dad are, grabbing toys, crawling.... gross and very basic fine motor activities. They are learning more fundamental things like the routines of the day, predictable events, (like waving to parents who leave or recognizing a daily caregiver/familiar faces)... etc. They are just getting the basic blueprints of their world. I've seen kids verbal at 15 months and those who just start talking at 20-22-24 months. "Where is....?" type questions come with loads of repetition. YOU have to put the ball under the blanket, ask 'where is.. (name item)' and then find it yourself. Sometimes, too, older kids get this earlier because they get a LOT more undivided attention than second kids do. Not a judgment, just an observation.
A lot of what I did as a baby nanny and with my own son and preverbal kids was LOADS of narration and very little media/tv time. (which is junk at this age.) Honestly, I don't remember exactly when my son responded to 'where' and more abstract questions, but he didn't really talk much until maybe the first words around 18-20 months and then progressed from there. He was a bit of a late bloomer in some ways, but as I said, there's a huge spectrum, so I wasn't worried. Each kid is different.
What others say is right -- you are expecting too much for her age and should not compare her to her sibling who may have developed faster. I also am not sure what commands you would use for a child this age -- do you really mean that she does not stop when you say "No" to something, or does not do what you say if you say "Pick up the ball and bring it to me" or things like that? That's still some months away yet.
Please get some good books on child development from birth through preschool age so you can reset your expectations. If you pressure her by constantly trying out commands etc., she will be less likely to listen -- not more likely. The babbling is fine too; some kids do not say their first ONE word until age one or later. Having one child who was saying words before one is fine, but it's not an indication that your second child has anything wrong with her. I'd really do some research in reliable books and with your pediatrician to reset your quite high and somewhat unrealistic expectations.
http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/month-by-month/mon...
Every baby is different. Please don't compare her to her sibling. Talk to her pediatrician about your concerns to get an idea of the developmental windows.
Too early yet.
Our son did a lot of pointing and grunting till he was about 2 yrs old and then it was non stop chatter.
He's learning a language.
Read and sing to him as much as possible.
Try not to compare to other kids.
They all develop in their own time.
My first was highly verbal and spoke in complete sentences in two languages very early. My second only babbled (if she was saying words, we couldn't tell), and didn't speak in any way we could understand until she was closer to 2. They're 8 and 11 now, and you wouldn't know now how one of them far exceeded the other in language skills as a toddler - they both talk NON-STOP! Try not to worry - this is only the beginning of noticing differences between your children. One will always be better than the other in certain areas. Children are rarely equal in anything. :)
Give it time, it sounds like she is right on track (in my non-medical opinion)! My youngest sister did not walk until she was 2 years old. She is now a med student who runs marathons. Your little one hasn't even been on the planet a year, give her a little while to settle in before you start worrying about her following orders :)
To be honest, I don't remember. But if you have concerns, your best first call is always to your local Early Intervention. They can either reassure you, or they will come out to do an assessment to make sure everything is ok.
I don't think my oldest still responds to simple commands and he is 25. I kid I kid.
There are so many things that go into this equation be fair and don't worry. That 25 year old didn't talk until he was three yet learned along with his one year old sister so I had a crazy early and a crazy late. Both are as normal as my gene pool can produce.
If you haven't yet, look into Parents as Teachers. They are a very good resource so you don't go nuts questioning progress.
Every child is different.
Consider the child who was second to the high-achiever - she was labeled slow.
She won a Pulitzer prize for something - she was busy OBSERVING.
She sounds like a darling baby and I hope you enjoy her every loveliness.
Good luck,
M.
Does this child do something sooner than the other one? All kids are different. My third started crawling much later than the other two, but her pointer grasp is amazing! Watch for what this baby is doing sooner than the other. They are all unique, doing things at their own time, in their own way.
Hi, you've gotten some good ideas here, and I just wanted to share another resource for you. Every state is required to provide a free service to parents who have developmental concerns, called Child Find or Early Intervention Services (EIO). In NY, here is the link for you to find the Child Find folks closest to you.
Just read the link, and give them a call or email and they can help you with your concerns about your youngest daughter if you wish it.
http://www.health.ny.gov/community/infants_children/early...
How to Apply for Early Intervention
A municipal Early Intervention Official (EIO) designated by the chief elected official of the municipality/county administers the Early Intervention Program locally. Contact your EIO for information about your local program or to refer a child. For information about the statewide program, contact the NYS Department of Health, Bureau of Early Intervention at ###-###-#### or e-mail ____@____.com
Good luck!
Alot of children will develop "unevenly", where when they are learning new skills, they're uninterested in others. I'm not a doctor, so my recommendation is to present it at her next well visit. I do have an autistic daughter ( she's 2). She only just started clapping 2 months ago, after 6 months of intensive Early Intervention therapy. She still doesn't wave, high five, speak any words, or respond to her name with regularity, along with a ton of other issues. She can't respond to simple commands either, but that was only a concern because of all the other areas she was lagging in developmentally. I would ask her Pediatrician to do an MCHAT, even if just to ease your mind.
parentcenter.com
Sign kiddo up for all the emails so you can find out what he's supposed to be doing and when.
She sounds right on target and is doing a lot already. She's verbal with her voice AND she's signing. She's at a prime age and readiness for learning baby signing (you know this since she's waving hello and good-bye, etc). Simple commands at this age are difficult and I think you're overshooting a bit. With our eldest children we focus everything we have on them and they're very often more verbal, earlier with speech, crawling, walking, being social, learning to play with certain toys, etc. Then when a sibling comes along and there's split attention and we forget that they're individuals that grow and learn at their own pace, we compare them and worry that one isn't doing something by the same time the other one did.
As another poster said, your 10 month old is not only developing at her own pace but she's observing everything. She has an older sister as her role model.
I didn't see that as much with my 2nd daughter due to developmental delays so we had to learn quickly not to compare them especially since she had a lot of regressions (thank you, Autism, even though we didn't know it was ASD until she was a preschooler) but with my 3rd daughter she had TWO older sisters to observe. She did some things early and some things later because she wanted to perfect things in her head first. She's almost 9 and she still does this.
Plus... over children aren't trained monkeys. :-) They're tiny people that won't necessarily perform on command. She might not understand some of the words you're using yet even though she understands a lot. She's still learning the language, so cut her a break. ;-)
