Hi all, just found this website and been having a read through. I am new to this but looking for a bit of guidance from those people with a bit more experience at this type of thing than me!!
I have a little boy, absolutely gorgeous, full of life etc etc. He is 2 the end of October but still not speaking. I am trying to convince myself he is just lazy but the more I read I seem to be convincing myself there is something wrong.
He knows everything, you only have to show him something once and he remembers and can get whatever you ask him. He does not mix a lot with children, purely my fault but does not seem to have too many problems when mixing with others, can be naughty and does have a temper but that down to hereditary just like his Dad! He can go all day without having any sleep as a matter of fact over the weekend he literally only had 11 hours sleep and seemed to keep going longer than me! His eating is really poor, does have not have much variety and will eat only when he is bothered but my main concern is his lack of speech, not even Mummy or Daddy. He will say hi ya but for some reason only when he pretends he is on the phone so from looking on the web I come up with autism. I do not think it is a severe form but may be mild ... what does anybody thing or am I simply being paranoid and forgetting he is only 23 months. I have ordered a Baby Bumblebee DVD to see if that can help but as I say he knows everythingit is just a matter os saying them.

Hi; Your post doesn't really give enough information. While the speech delay is concerning sometimes kids just develop speech later. It sounds like he may have good receptive skills which is a really positive thing. He could just be expressively delayed and it will develop when he's ready. As far as the picky eating, it depends on what you're talking about. How is he picky; is it with textures or is it that he just wants what he wants? Does he gag or over examine his food? And as far as socialization, he is young and most times at this age the kids parallel play.

Here are some things you should be looking for:

Does he point or wave bye bye?
Does he make eye contact and maintain it?
Does he answer when you call his name?
Does he imitate in games like peek a boo or itsy spider?
Did/Does he Babble?
Does he play with toys that are age appropriate correctly?

If you can't answer yes to these questions then he is possibly showing signs of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. In my opinion a no to any question above coupled with the speech delay is reason to have him evaluated.

I hope this helps. Good Luck

Don't wait, get him evaluated. For peace of mind at least. Then if there is something delayed, you can start treatment/therapy! The earlier the better....:)

I agree with the others. There are some definite red flag indicators of autism. There is an excellent book, Could It Be Autism, which talks about "first signs," red flags, etc. It is very interesting reading. Good luck to you and your son. He seems to be very smart and high functioning. You are taking good first steps by buying special videos to help him speak.

Thank you for all your reassurances. I have to say in answer to jeffreys Mum the answer is yes to them all, his only real downfall is his lack of speech but he will gabble to himself and knows the difference between waving hi ya and bye bye to people.
I am going to see how he gets on over the next few weeks, he is 2 the end of October so if nothing progresses I will get him referred to a speech therapist, I think like everybody says more as peace of mind. Somebody also mentioned deafness. Whilst I am 99.9% certain there is nothing wrong with his hearing, apparently there can be problems defining between high and low frequency sounds so this is something else that can hopefully be eliminated.
Thank you all again and the same best wishes is sent to all.