Should I be worried? Autism

[dancing P]

Hi

My DD is 17 months old and is so bright and clever but she isn't saying any words really, she says mama, monkey, giraffe, tar and bye. She also knows and makes animal noises. But I hear if they are not saying 10 words by 18 month to worry! We also go to Playgroup and isn't interested in other children she plays by her self or with me, if they run and scream she will run as well but that's it. Also if she hears a dog barks she gets really upset
Is this something I should be worried about?

 

[nicki01]

I don't think you need to worry about anything, my eldest is autistic and has only been talking for the past year and is only at a 2 word level now at 4
My 2nd is 18 months and can only say shoe and here you go. I'm not worried
Your LO is still so young and has lots of time to start talking yet, the hv should do a 2 yr check and you can raise any concerns then, I personally think what she can say already is brilliant and will only progress now she has started.

I think its also quite normal for them to still play by themselves, they are too little to understand sharing and taking turns etc, my LO has just started to copy but that's mainly me, other children she only pays attention too if they are noisy as she thinks she is missing out or if they have something she wants and then she will try and take it

 

[AP]

Animal noises are counted as words too! My youngest (who doesn't have autism, her big sis does) has poor speech til she turned three and it came fast. 18 months is still quite young and there's nothing that would really concern me in your post.

 

[minties]

17 months is VERY young! Neither of mine had many words at that age - actually my son had none until 2 years old. Sophie was deemed very bright and with advanced language skills at 23 months at her 2 year checkup.

 

[AngelUK]

Our speech therapist told us that they look for 5 words by 18 months. One of my twins had no words at 20 months and 5 by 22. We were waiting for a place in a speech therapy group after he had been assessed as speech delayed, when he had a language explosion at 2 and 2 months later had completely caught up and was reassessed and discharged. He never had therapy.
I really think you have nothing at all to worry about. In fact your child is ahead if anything. And though my twins have been playing with each other from before they were 1, it was not frequent and even now, parallel playing is still the norm, unless one snatches the other's toy

 

[_jellybean_]

I wouldn't worry. We were concerned about my son's speech, but at two, he had a language explosion. Your lo is still very young.

 

[sequeena]

She sounds like she's doing very well

 

[Tor]

Your daughter sounds fine to me she is still so young and with those words and animal noises she sounds like she is doing great, I don't think my second son said any words beyond mummy, daddy, nanny at that age and at 20 months he was saying loads and now he's just turned 2 comes out with all sorts of little sentences and funny things .

My oldest is severely autistic and he didn't say anything at all at 17 months, he also had no understanding "wheres the ball" etc and didn't respond to his name. I think at that age no talking is fine it would be if she had no understanding, poor eye contact, not interacting with yourself that would worry me.

 

[dancing P]

Thank U all for your reassurance!! Xxx