Expert: James Michael Roan - 1/25/2008

Question
Hi.  My son is 13.5 months old.  He only babbles sometimes Dadada and vavava and a few others like that, but mostly just a sound that is like guleeguleegulee.  He is not waving, pointing or clapping.  He IS however,  stacking blocks four high, playing with us, playing peekaboo, LOVES other kids, just started daycare and is taking his first steps.  He has mimicked us from time to time, and is VERY social and responsive (smiling, anticipating tickles, and laughing).  My mother in law says that my husband was a slow baby, that he did everything late.  My pediatrician has made an appt for my son at a neurologist.  I am so frightened that he has Autism.  What should I expect from the appt or from this process in general.  Can my sweet angel boy live a normal life like other kids/adults?

Answer
Hi Heather;

He sounds pretty social, so the gesturing, pointing, etc. will probably come on. There are several other reasons for slower than expected development in speech that range from slow normal development to expressive language delay. None of them are serious.

As far as what to expect from the neurologist, it is hard to say. They will ask about communicative and social milestones, so be thinking about those and perhaps make a list of words, if any he has, quantity and quality of eye contact, his ability to jointly engage in interactive games (e.g., peek-a-boo), how often he responds to his name being called when you first enter a room where he is playing, etc. Forgive the run-on sentences!

I have provided a list of red flags for autism at various ages. Remember, autism is primarily a social delay that "can" affect communication development.

I think he will be just fine, as in NO autism, and is probably just a little behind communicatively.

6-12 Month Markers:

•   Infrequent eye contact
•   Failure to orient to name
•   Does not smile in response to smiles from others
•   Social and emotional passivity
•   Fixation on objects

By 12 Months:

•   Poor or no eye contact
•   Failure to orient to name
•   Poor imitation
•   No babbling by 12 months
•   No gesturing by 12 months

By 16 Months:

•   No single words by 16 months
•   No pointing to objects or events of interest in an effort to share

By 24 Months:

•   No spontaneous two-word phrases
•   Loss of any language or social skills at any age

Let me know how the appointment went and what the neurologist had to say.


Kind regards,
James