Im not sure if anyone here can help me and I hope that noone minds me asking these questions, but im concerned about my 17 month olds development.

The biggest worry we have with him at the moment is his lack of talking. He has only one word, Hi, which he says all the time and it is accompanied by a wave. When I say he says it all the time, its more often than not out of context and he is likely to say it to walls, his dinner etc etc

We took him to a Developmental Paediatrician who has referred us to a Speech Pathologist. The Paed isnt interested in seeing him again until he is 2 and only if things havent improved, which was reasonably comforting. The Speech Pathologist spent an hour and a half assessing him and she has given us some ideas to help to get him to talk, which we've had no success with so far, though it has only been a few days. I dont necessarily trust the diagnosis of these two people, hence the reason I am on these boards.

I am concerned with my sons lack of attentiveness to people (even the Speech Pathologist commented that he is more interested in things than in people) and also his almost lack of pointing. When I say almost, he points at things he is interested in (puppy dogs, fireworks etc) but doesnt look to see if I or his Father is looking at the same thing.. If that makes any sense. So while he is technically pointing at things, im concerned that it may not count as sharing that thing.

He doesnt answer to his name very often (maybe 20% of the time) but will always turn to look if we say "Whats this?".. His hearing is fine, it has already been checked.

He claps hands, plays peek a boo, hi -5's and copies some sounds, just no words as yet. He is very interested in turning toys that have wheels over and spinning the wheels. Initially, he would do this with the toy 90% of the time but as hes gotten older, its has reduced somewhat. He now plays appropriately with the toy most of the time, though the spinning of the wheels is still a phase.

He doesnt toe walk, hand flap or spin.

Does anyone think that I could be looking at one or more red flags here? How often is a Developmental Paediatrican and a Speech Pathologist wrong with their diagnosis?

I thank everyone in advance for their time in addressing my concerns, im only days away from giving birth to our sons sibling and the worry is just about killing me.

You are his mother and your gut instinct is telling you to look further. I would take him to a Developmental Pediatrician asap and request a full evaluation. He is showing a lot of RED FLAGS for PDD. Have you been in touch with your local Early Intervention? That is a good place to start coupled with the Developmental Ped. Evaluation. Also you should set up an Audiology appointment to have his hearing tested because once you begin this process the Doctor will direct you to do so before going further with the evaluation. 1. Call Early Intervention Today
2. Call Your Pediatrician and tell them you want a referral to
a DEVELOPMENTAL PEDIATRICIAN asap. If they suggest
Neurologist, I would request the Dev. Ped instead. They
are more in tune to the varying degrees of Autism.
3. Set up and appointment for a Hearing Evaluation

All of these appointments take time to get so I would begin this process today. Never Never question your mothers instincts. Too often people are given the wait and see approach while the child loses valuable time. The more help he gets now if it is PDD, the better he'll be in the long run.

I know your worry because I have experienced it. I do think there is reason for concern, but don't let it consume you. If it is PDD, with the right things in place you will see improvements. The earlier the intervention happens the better the prognosis for the child. He is still young and while there are some RED FLAGS it also sounds like he has some good skills too. My son who showed so many RED FLAGS at that age is doing GREAT Today. He is three and was diagnosed a year ago. He got alot of intensive therapy. Today he appears almost typical. There are a few quirky things that are still being worked on. I have high hopes that by the time he goes to kindergarden he will be indistinguishable from his peers. Your son sounds similar to mine with some good workable skills. He is young. For now all you can do is schedule the appointments I have mentioned and wait for them to happen.

So take a deep breath and enjoy the bliss of the new baby. Don't let this consume you because it will all work out okay. Good Luck
Good Luck

I'm sorry I just read the post again and saw you went to a Developmental Pediatrician. Did they do a full Evaluation? I don't understand why they would tell you to wait until 2 unless they saw some emerging skills and would have a better idea at 2. If you are not satisfied with their answers, I would ask for a second opinion.

Hi; I read your post so early that after rereading it I noticed you've done some of what I mentioned. You are on top of things and that's all you can do at this point. Did the Dev. Ped. do a full evaluation with a psycologist?
The only other thing you can do at this point is get involved with Early Intervention and have them assess him. If they find a delay they will begin services. Try to relax he has some nice skills. Keep in touch. If I can answer anything please feel free to ask. I will be sure to read more closely.
Good Luck with the new baby

Thank you so much for replying. We saw the Development Paed a couple of weeks ago and im not sure if he did a full assessment, he did spend about half an hour playing with James and talking to us. He was asking questions about his pointing and his pretend playing etc so I guess (even though noone mentioned the word) he was ruling out autism in his mind.

I am in Australia, so the system works a bit differently here and as far as I know we dont have any equivalent to Early Intervention. The process here is to be referred to a Development Paed by your local Dr and then after that, im not sure.

Once again, thanks for writing back. Im trying not to worry, it could be the pregnancy hormones putting my Mothers instinct out of whack a bit..

Do you think that his pointing but not looking to see if we are looking at what he is pointing at, is a concern or normal?? This is the thing that has really got me stressed at the moment.

I feel like my view of normal is so skewed now. I think he should be trying to draw you into what he is pointing at. Joint attention is a big piece of early communication. Please try not to stress ... I know easier said than done but you have to think about yourself and the new baby at this moment. All the other stresses will be there and waiting once you get situated with the newborn.

My son's evaluation was about 4 hours total.

Good Luck with everything

Hi
In my opinion , there are enough red flags for you to keep an eye on your sons development.
I live in scotland so the process in dx is a little different, but I had a similar experience to you.
I took my son to my health visitor at the age of 18mths and was seen by a paediatrician and a clinical pschologist. At this point they told me that there were signs that indicated that he may be Autistic, but also added that there may be other factors that were holding back his development and as he was so young they suggested that I wait three more months and bring him back to allow him a chance to overcome any other factors. I done this and after the three months they then dx him.
i also had a friend who went through the same process when she brought her son back after 3 months he had made some progress they asked her to bring him back after six months gave him speech therapy and a special needs nursery place after one year she was told that he was fine and that they were now not worried about him. He is now in mainstream school and doing fine
It is important to get the dx asap but I personally think,waiting three months won't do any great harm and It will allow you to have the baby and when you are feeling a little stonger,then get on with the task in hand.
mean time I would just work on your son's pre-lingustic skills.
i hope this is of some help.
Take care and good luck with the birth of youre next child. I hope all goes well.
Bernadette

Thanks for your response.. Im trying to take the wait and see approach and concentrate on getting baby number 2 out but I have such stressful days at home with James, so its hard to forget.

He is a lovely boy, affectionate and usually pretty easy to look after but not being able to get his attention when I need to and his habit of dragging me by my hand to what he wants is starting to take its toll. It all just adds to the worry I feel that there is something wrong with him. As well as all this, the Speech Pathologist has told us to stop him from spinning wheels whenever we see him do it, which is exhausting as well.

Thanks again.

That is one of my pet hates it's ok for the speech path. To tell you to stop him spinning but don't tell you how.
My son at that age was obsessed with opening and shutting doors. When we went on his programme they told me to try either flooding - this is where we got him to open and shut as many doors as many time as we could I opened and shut them he done it we just bombarrded him with doors until he got so sick of them. The problem I found with this was he just moved on and found a new obsession.
The other thing was to stop him STRAIGHT AWAY and lead him VERY QUICKLY on to somthing new like playdough or a book etc(somthing else he loves). This worked better for Anthony and by giving him somthing more exciting to do and breaking the routine of doors, the door obsession went away pretty quickly and stayed away. It didn't just lead on to another habit that was as equally hard to break.

Thats what ive been doing.. As soon as I notice it I will try and distract him. Its hard sometimes though as he will make things spin that arent meant to. Earlier I got his blocks out to play with and he just put one on top of another one and then spun it. So frustrating.

Ive also got a door opener/closer. He is too short to reach the handles on the regular kind of doors in the house but the sliding doors he will sit there and slide open and shut all day long.. Even if hes in the shower with us (which he loves) he will just try and open and shut the shower door the whole time. So this is another red flag?