Anonymous wrote:OP here. What does "pointing" mean? She definitely waves her arms in excitement, reaches with her whole hand for things, and lunges (including to people she wants to hold her) but she doesn't use her index finger per se. She gets really excited when she sees something she wants to eat for instance and will stop being excited (which is her waving hands and kicking feet in high chair) when we locate the item she wants.
In terms of word regression: the words she had were not at all consistent, but in that direction. Does that make sense? At one point it started off that she sounded like she was GOING to be saying "mamamama" and really mean it (because she said it near me) but it wasn't clear that she entirely got what it meant. She also had some versions of her brother's name but again it wasn't consistent. She still sometimes says "dah" for the dog.
Like I said, her babbling seems pretty advanced. She makes eye contact, clearly has attachment to certain people and fears of strangers, smiles, cuddles, imitates noises and expressions, has fun playing, responds to us (and voices). On the other hand she doesnt always follow our pointing, and I have thought shes a pretty even personality in the sense that she isnt super animated in her expressions like her older brother was.Shes also been pretty whiny lately and its unclear why although I suspect teething.
Anyway I am definitely visiting the doc and asking for an evaluation if for no other reason than my own anxiety. But given the wisdom here and the fact that sometimes parents who have "been there" have much better pointers on what to ask and look for.
Thanks
Anonymous wrote:A 1 year old who is not talking is not a concern, BUT a kid who knew a few words and then lost them: that is a serious concern. It is an abnormal pattern of progression of speech and it is a red flag for ASD. This is what happened with my child and he ended up being diagnosed with ASD. I was told again and again that the main concern wasn't that he did not have a lot of words, but that he lost words that he had known in the past. Not pointing is also a red flag. But really the main issue here is loss of speech. The sooner you start speech therapy, the better. I would start now if I were you.
Anonymous wrote:Thanks, 2202. OP here. that's my concern.
She's definitely somehow indicating what she wants, but more with her eyes than anything else. she reaches toward people, for instance, when she wants to go from one person to another.
how is loss of speech defined?