8m old is delayed - should I get evaluation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your list isn't raising a lot of red flags for me. He's a little late to roll over, but otherwise seems to be doing fine. Many 8 month olds aren't crawling or pulling to stand.

Having said that, I think you should have him evaluated. There really aren't any negative outcomes from an early evaluation. Any of the following could happen:

1) He's got some mild delays that meet qualifications and he gets some therapy that helps him learn and grow.

2) He's got some mild delays that aren't enough to qualify, and you are asked to reevaluate in a few months at which point he's either caught up or #1 happens.

3) They put your mind at ease that he's doing great, and you're more able to enjoy him with less worries.

Yes, this!

[Anonymous]

Agreed with others--have it checked out, but don't stress. I would also try to figure out if he *can* roll over, or if he can't actually do this. My 7.5-month-old rolled over a handful of times (once a week or less) between 5.5 and 7.5 months and only started actually rolling over (to play, to get from belly to back, etc.) in the past week. Before that, although we knew he could do it since he'd done it on occasion, he'd still just cry and fuss if he didn't want to be on back or belly until you flipped him. My older child did not roll at all until 7-8 months. He crawled and walked on the later end (11 months/14 months) but is a completely normal preschooler now. (He is also hugely talkative despite the fact that he never cooed and did not babble significantly; second kid does coo and babble and I honestly had no idea how much they were supposed to be doing that until he showed up! Kid #1 did sign beginning at 8 months, though, and then jumped from there pretty directly to talking, albeit cryptically at the beginning, around 15 months. Just to say that there's a huge range of normal, as others have noted, and I wouldn't start worrying too much quite yet.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your list isn't raising a lot of red flags for me. He's a little late to roll over, but otherwise seems to be doing fine. Many 8 month olds aren't crawling or pulling to stand.

Having said that, I think you should have him evaluated. There really aren't any negative outcomes from an early evaluation. Any of the following could happen:

1) He's got some mild delays that meet qualifications and he gets some therapy that helps him learn and grow.

2) He's got some mild delays that aren't enough to qualify, and you are asked to reevaluate in a few months at which point he's either caught up or #1 happens.

3) They put your mind at ease that he's doing great, and you're more able to enjoy him with less worries.

Yes, this!

I tend to agree in general, but caution that getting him evaluated by early intervention is not a "nothing to lose" proposition if you tend to worry - in my area, the initial case evaluators who come out don't know as much and are looking for reasons to flag your kid (that's actually doing you a favor because once you qualify for the program you are eligible for quite a bit of assistance). I didn't understand this and they flagged all sorts of stuff that freaked me out majorly, but that was a non-issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My baby didn't do any of those things at 8 months. And my ped wasn't worried about it. He crawled at 9 months. And that's when he really started rolling too. Could stand at 11 months. Walked at 13. He's a little behind his peers in some regards but well within the range of normal. Deep breath. Your child will be fine. Kudos to you for being proactive; just don't let the comparison steal the joy of parenting.

Ditto. IMHO a little early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your list isn't raising a lot of red flags for me. He's a little late to roll over, but otherwise seems to be doing fine. Many 8 month olds aren't crawling or pulling to stand.

Having said that, I think you should have him evaluated. There really aren't any negative outcomes from an early evaluation. Any of the following could happen:

1) He's got some mild delays that meet qualifications and he gets some therapy that helps him learn and grow.

2) He's got some mild delays that aren't enough to qualify, and you are asked to reevaluate in a few months at which point he's either caught up or #1 happens.

3) They put your mind at ease that he's doing great, and you're more able to enjoy him with less worries.

+1

Also, I found that my own evaluation of what my baby could and couldn't do was a little different than the experts' evals. I didn't have much baby experience and didn't think he was babbling like he should have been, but they heard it right away and said it was totally typical. I found this interesting.

But I was really happy we got the eval. My baby was young and had one very minor delay, but because he was so young, just a small delay made him qualify (because it was something like a 25% delay). He caught up very quickly, but the services and education were nice despite that. We live in MoCo, so it's probably different than the DC services, but I'm sure it's generally similar. The people were all super nice and helpful.