My LO wasn't getting her belly off the floor or crawling at 9mo. She was mobile, but it was all rolling and scooting. Our ped wasn't concerned, but when we hit 10mo, still didn't have her belly off the ground, and was reluctant to bear weight on her feet, I called Early Intervention. They did a full evaluation, where she was evaluated as having stronger-than-expected verbal, social, and fine motor skills while experiencing atypical and delayed gross motor skill development. My service coordinator told me this was very unusual - a delay in just one area. The deciding factor in qualifying us for services was the resistance to weight bearing. We started twice monthly OT.

(She rolled both directions by 4mo and sat independently at just under 7mo, which is when she seemed to start falling 'behind' on the gross motor skill acquisition timelines.)

She crawled at exactly 11mo. She started pulling up at almost exactly 13mo. She is gradually starting to be happier bearing weight. Her fine motor skills are out of control impressive and, at 13mo, she has used multi-word phrases repeatedly. She has strong social engagement. Right now, it's just the weight bearing/walking thing.

We do have a history of later walkers (15, 18mo) in my family, but we also have a few people who had more serious issues (balance and hearing problems, mostly).

We have also worked to rule out other problems like low tone, core strength issues, blood circulation, etc. Our next visit will be with an orthopedic specialist, as she is nearly 14mo, 75th percentile for height, and wearing a size 3-6mo shoe. (I know, I know. But the OT actually recommended shoes to give her a wider base for standing.)

If you have concerns, get the evaluation. They are not going to waste resources providing your child with an unnecessary service.

OP: if you're in DC, evaluation through Strong Start is a pretty easy process. If they think your child needs it, they will help you get free OT and PT that will come to you (or your daycare). You can "self refer" for a screening and if you have any worries about your child's development, I don't see the downside of getting a screening.

My child was evaluated (general eval) at 9 months, and he started OT and PT therapy at 10 months. He walked at about 17 months, started pulling up at 12 months. He was in OT from age 1 - age 8, Pt from age 1 - age 6.

Low Muscle Tone

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp here. I posted about my low tone kiddo who has other issues now. Strabismis (2 eye surgeries so far) apraxia (large speech delays), motor planning issues, likely ID as well.

The difference is when low tone gets to the point of hypotonia. You can have low tone and not have neurological issues. Plenty of folks do. However- it can also be an indicator of larger issues.

Correct. Most people don't seem to realize these are not standalone issues. Everything is interrelated. My first child walked at 10 months and had great gross motor skills but had strabismus which we treated with surgery at 2 only to discover by 4 she had speech and fine motor difficulties. If your child is an uncommonly late walker it is usually a symptom of something larger going on that may crop in different ways throughout their childhood.

But 16 months is not "uncommonly late." It is within the range of normal. Often it's just a kid on the lower end of normal for coordination etc.

I didn't say 16 months was uncommonly late. I said if your kid IS an uncommonly late walker, there's usually an assortment of things going on and that is just one symptom, not a standalone issue.