Milestones

Hi, my Lo is 18 months old. I’m getting concerned about his development. Up until 12 months I wasn’t worried as he was doing everything around or a little after the average.

At 14 1/2 months he started walking and is now very confident on his feet and runs. He can feed himself and he likes to play mostly on his own. I read with him, sing songs and do short sentences etc. Making more effort to play on the floor with him.

He’s starting nursery in 5 months but I do take him to lots of play groups, little kickers, soft play, parks etc.

My concern is his understanding, language and communication skills. He doesn’t point, wave and doesn’t understand ‘where’s the ball’, ‘where’s the car’ etc. His eye contact isn’t great so when I do try to show him things and say what they are he won’t look at me.

He babbles a lot but I don’t think he will speak until he understands first. He doesn’t mimic me or do imaginary play. He has a couple of times given me a pretend sip of his drink but it’s never consistant. It’s only happened twice.

When I call his name he ignores me. I have to really try to get him to turnaround. He has a great sense of humour and will laugh at me and interact with giggling if I’m being silly or a tv programme he likes.

Very active, hardly sits still so I find it difficult to get him to concentrate. When my HV came over she said she wasn’t concerned but my gut is telling me this isn’t normal.

If it was just speech and the understanding was there I’d be a lot more relaxed but it is a combination of a few things. I just want to help him as much as I can.

I’m not concerned about hearing as he reacts to other sounds. I will still get hearing test though to be 100 percent sure.

Thanks in advance for any advice.