Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 5/23/2010

Question
Hi there,

I'm hoping you can help me. I know it's very early but I have some serious concerns about my daughters development. She has always been ahead in terms of physical development - sitting up unassisted at 5.5 months, (commando) crawling at 6.5 months, walking unassisted 10.5 months. In addition to this she is a very happy baby, she laughs if I make a silly face or play peek-a-boo, she loves to cuddle and is affectionate, she loves to be tickled and interacts and rolls around laughing when we do. She is sociable and loves to be around other babies and children. She also eats well and drinks from a sippy cup by herself so no problems there.

However I've become increasingly concerned about her communication. She doesn't nod (or say) or indicate no or yes, she will usually respond to her name but sometimes she's so engrossed in what she's doing I repeat her name over and over to get her attention, she does babble but it's more grunty and grumbly "brrr rrruurrr ruurrr" kind of sounds that "ma-ba-ra-na-na" sounds. She was saying mama dada babbling (not in context I don't think) but I haven't heard her say this since my radars been up over the last few days. When she's playing by herself she will often make purr/burr type noises. Occasionally she can follow instructions / answer questions like where is the ball, or where is daddy? But alot of the time it's like she's not hearing you, and you wonder if it's a fluke that she has got it right when she does! She does use gestures sometimes - she will wave by bye or hello but inconsistently and we have to work for it! She has started pointing to things she is interested in like the birds at the park, and will wonder round with her finger pointed at them, but doesn't seem to engage us in the point (more like she's pointing it out to herself). She doesn't clap - she will sometimes bash her hands together and laugh in excitement if we're clapping and making a big deal out of something, but if try and prompt her to clap - nothing. She shares and loves to give and receive and will often bring something to me to look at, and try to 'feed' me some of her food at dinner. She won't imitate if I pull a face etc, she will copy some noises I make (like aaaaaahhhhhh -BOO!) type noises in her own way (copy the same inflection). Generally I feel that she doesn't understand me and she seems to spend a lot of time in her own little world.

I don't want to be an overly concerned mother, but whenever I check development milestones for 11 month old etc she really does seem to be lagging behind and generally the communication just isn't there. I know that some of the concerns I have are red flags for autism and I'm wondering where I should go from here. I know that early intervention would be her best hope.

Many thanks, Amy

Answer
Hi Amy
You do bring up some concerns. If you want, I can do a short consultation with you to fill out a rather comprehensive checklist to see if she is developing her communication milestones. I would need approximately one hour of your time. There is a small fee associated with it, but I would keep it low for you. It's hard for me to really give you a definitive answer just from your letter, but I do think it warrants further attention. The fact that you feel she is not understanding you very well is a concern. If you want to do the phone consult with me, feel free to email me at info@valerieherskowitz.com and I will get right back to you