Concerned About 20 Month Old

[shellymbrown]

My son is 20 months old and has never said a word. He babbles, using about 3 consonants, and will sometimes make a sound when asked to say a word, such as "please". The majority of his babbling sounds as though he's talking in his throat or nose.. a lot of "ng ng ng" sounds. The only body parts he will point to when asked are his hair and his feet, and then only sometimes. He has been able to point to his hair for at least 6 months, and only recently (within the past week) added foot to his repertoire. It is very rare that he points at something he sees. I know he understands "clap", "wave" and "blow kisses" but he only does these once in awhile, and hardly ever on command. He doesn't respond to commands such as "raise your arms" when I'm dressing him, but he does know how to "ask" for something he wants, by bringing me or my husband the object and babbling with insistence. He sometimes seems as though he doesn't hear or doesn't want to engage. He has no attention span for books, and would rather turn the pages back and forth than look and listen to me describe and point to the pictures. He loves music and will babble in tune with a melody. He is at or ahead of schedule with respect to motor skills, and he engages in pretend play all the time.
He still breastfeeds. He eats solid food, but still prefers to nurse, and has been a very clingy "high needs" baby from birth.

I have an appointment to have his hearing evaluated, but I'm worrying myself to death in the meantime. Does this sound like a speech/language delay, a hearing issue, auditory processing disorder?

Thank you for any insight or advice!

Shelly

[shellymbrown]

Thanks so much. It reassures me that we're headed in the right direction.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

It's too early to know about any auditory processing disorder, but the signs are pointing toward delayed language and problematic speech, perhaps exacerbated by a hearing problem. You are doing the correct thing by pursuing the assessments. If his hearing is deemed to be OK, the next step would be to have a speech/language pathologist examine him.