what does this sound like to you?

[stuntmonkey]

My daughter is just under 18 months old.  She is speaking no words with meaning.  She does not point and does not show much joint attention.  She does not consistently respond to her name but she does respond to it sometimes, mostly when she is not distracted by something else.  

She has good eye contact and plays interactive games with us if we initiate them.  She reads our expressions well and smiles when we smile, laughs when we laugh, gets upset when we say no sternly, etc.  She uses some gestures (arms up to be picked up, pushing things away she doesn't want, reaching for what she wants).  

She appears to understand a very limited amount of words but not nearly as many as she should.  I often think she reads our gesures and facial expressions instead of understanding our words.  She has just started imitating us by clapping her hands to "If You're Happy And You Know It," and she really enjoys that interaction and our approval when she does it, but other than that, she doesn't imitate us.  She is a good social responder but not a social initator.

She is still banging her toys together as her main form of playing.  She is constantly on the go, enjoys short cuddles, but long cuddles make her ruch around and try to get down because she wants to start moving again.  She will sit and let me read her several books after her bath as part of her bedtime routine, but she doesn't sit still for books other times during the day.  It is hard to get her attention when she is engrossed in something else.  

Her sleeping and eating are both good.  No issues there.  She excessively mouthes things, but no other stimming that I can tell.  No toe walking, flapping, etc.

Thoughts about what this might be?  Of course, I'm worried about autism or pdd.  She is getting educational services and OT through early intervention now and  we will start speech therapy soon.  We are seeing a dev ped in August, but waiting is so hard and I'm so worried about my little girl.  

[Jason C Bourret, Ph.D., BCBA-D]

Your daughter's interest and enjoyment in socialization is a great sign. The most important thing at this point is to make sure that she's getting speech services. Whether she ends up recieving a diagnosis or not, she has a speech delay and would benefit greatly from specific intervention. The sooner the better and early intervention can really work wonders.

[nanahuckster]

I know it's hard when we think your child is not developing at the rate we think they should.  Your description of your daugher is very similar to other children that age.  I have several nieces an nephews at about that age, and they are all so different in their abilities!  Some advance quicker than others and at 18 months it's hard to know if there is a delay.  It sounds like you are getting early intervention and doing everything you can.  Unfortunately, there is no way to fast forward to August.  Good luck to you!