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No way would I let this go. Sure...it could be nothing but there is a greater chance that there is something to be concerned about and the earlier, the better. Get to the nearest big city with a developmental pediatrician to start with and go from there...at least, that's what I would do.
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"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
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OP, this is an anonymous board. You are clearly ducking some truth, although I can't understand why, this is anonymous. No one here knows you. "I am the parent" is ducking helpful information.
I think people really could help you if you would just show your cards. It's not clear if you adopted this child as a toddler, if you married into this family that has this child, if you got this child from China, if you are a lesbian couple and got together after she had this child, etc.
No one is judging you. It's impossible to understand the situation if you aren't clear.
title pretty much says it all. Girl is a couple of months from 3, she does not have a single word and does not point, she does make eye contact, laughs and smiles, and babbles in none words.
She also will not touch anything that isn't cereal or chips. She drinks water and milk, and we try to get her healthy goods, greens, and vitamins in by blending, 'smoothies' which she does drink.
Doctor says she is fine, with no signs of autism or other developmental disorders. This just concerns me because it seems to be a unique situation with both food and speech. Any thoughs or words of wisdom?
What kind of doctor is saying she is fine? The pediatrician?
She should be evaluated by a team including a developmental pediatrician and a psychologist and a speech therapist, and an occupational therapist.
You say she does not point. Does she share toys or show you things for you to comment on? If not, this is quite worrisome.
The eating may be a texture issue - crunchy things wake up the mouth. She may have some sensory processing going on in relation to food.
Has she been in early intervention? Unfortunately, she is aging out of that so you cannot start with it at 3.
Does her babbling sound like speech but without words?
I second or third an evaluation with a good developmental pediatrician.
If you are near Billings, there is one there.
have you done any noise tests on your own? Sneaking up behind her and clap,make any noise,etc to see if she responds?
I don't know how highly you regard the pediatrician but I think a second opinion is in order. My nephew has autism and there were some pretty clear signs-to me by age 2 but his parents didn't want to acknowledge it and didn't until age 5. 3 critical years when he could have been in therapy.
Hearing loss is often not detected by doctors in children. Keep getting her tested and do thing like loud banging pots behind her. Something is wrong. Start teaching her a few ASL signs so she can start to communicate. Babies and children learn this easily. This is prime language aquisition time don't waste it waiting for doctors to get their act together.
Eating is a test of wills and it looks like hers is stronger. She may also be "hearing" the crunch, and doesn't hear that with other foods.
I had a couple nephews and two friends that their kids were not diagnosed until they were three or four, and had water in their ears, needed tubes. When that was done they improved immediately. But the doctors poo pooed it for four years! One boy was like yours, very happy, direct eye contact, etc. I've been around the Deaf community for decades and it is just alarming how poorly the doctors are at diagnosing degrees of hearing problems.
children start using words by 2, at least a dozen or more words. Early Intervention screening is worth a try. It is your child, and important for development.
I would suggest, in the meantime, to get appropriate toys for the child. I used a package of toys, containing plastic shapes of fruits , vegetables, and other food items, the other kit has household/kitchen items. the 2 kits alone help the child learn 60 new words very easily. you will need to dedicate some time, and go over the learning of words with the child, and be consistent.
as for food choice, serve the child what every one else eats, and praise them for at least trying to eat it. a 2 item diet is very unhealthy, and will lead to under weight and malnourished. just keep on introducing food, and make a game out of it. the taste buds are ripe for trying different flavors. have the child be part of the cooking process, if you can safely. forgive table manners, as long as the child eats.
we suffered with our child, with a week long diarrhea, and a hospital stay, for spoiling our kids, and over thinking his diet. It was a huge scare, as our pediatrician was of little help. Every one eats the same meal, including e young child. we just had to make the food easier to eat.
we also suffered with a false diagnosis of autism, but it was just our child being late to development, and us speaking to him in 2 languages. We surrounded him with words, numbers, objects, anything to stimulate the mind. He is very articulate now.
My middle son spoke very late. At 2.5 his pediatrician recommended a hearing test workup, he was fine. Since it wasn't a hearing issue, his pediatrician then referred us to a speech clinic. By 3.5 I wondered what in the world I had ever gotten so concerned over, my son was speaking up a storm.
So it's not unheard of for a child to speak late,but a pediatrician should still encourage outside evaluations.
My son was a very late talker. He was babbling no words at 3. So no, it is not very likely that there is something wrong. If his Dr say he is fine he probably is. But do get another opinion for sure. By the time my son was 4 he was all caught up with his peers, just 1 year later.
My daughter was/is a very early talker. She is developing just like they are suppose to at her age, maybe even a little faster from opinions I received from her daycare teachers. She says things like "mom, hold on a minute , don't talk right now, I need to say something important!" lol.. And she is 3.5.
OP, try not to worry. Get another opinion and go with that.
Last edited by glass_of_merlot; 09-29-2017 at 11:30 PM..
All of my sons were late talkers but all the girls started early.
Which is one reason my youngest wasn't evaluated until almost the age of 3; I was literally one of the last to admit something was wrong.
I find it bizarre, that this doctor doesn't at least write for a referral ... they know they are too limited by "billable minutes" to accurately observe; if a parent has a concern, they should refer.
My sons well baby was almost over the day I awkwardly blurted out "Do you, um... Think he acts ... Autistic?". The doc turned around & sat back down, telling me " act as you would if I were not here" & started quietly watching & taking notes. In less than a minute, my son was up on his toes, head down, arms flapping ... & the docs eyebrows went way up. Obviously I had written referral in hand before we walked out that day.
Please, call your public school district & ask for a screening. They can do it without a referral or even a diagnosis & by law they must screen your child within a certain amount of days from the day you called. Do not wait until you get "settled", start the ball rolling now. They will do the hearing & vision assessments for free & have the ability to do so with non-verbal children.
Don't try the "she'll eat if she gets hungry enough ..." approach. It's likely a sensory issue vs one of "taste" or"being picky" & these children will become malnourished if you don't work with it vs against.
Thank you again for the responses and advice everyone. If it seems I am hiding something, just ask and I'll lay it out.
I am the married biological father of this girl. I am an older father. We had her within the marriage with no complications and perfect health aside from minor jaundice at birth. I have a second daughter who is 3months old. She is in perfect health as well. At appearance, both girls are without problems.
My dodgy nature again isn't willful. Again it is probably one part my writing style, and one part my profession. I am a little bit high profile in the court system that I work with. The respondent above that mentioned Billings will likely have heard my name on the news. No dark secrets, just professional habits.
To answer one or two more questions; the Doctor we interact with is her Pediatrician. She is the same one for both our children. The hospital is here in our tiny town, nearly 200 miles from the nearest 'big city'. there is only one Pediatrician for all the children here. She seems like a good Doctor, but as also mentioned on this board, probably not as specialized in developmental concerns as we probably need.
Again, I am taking a job in Seattle, so we should be near some more specialized Doctors here soon.
as for the hearing test. She jumps at loud sounds, smiles and reacts to praise, and comes running from anywhere in the house when her bath starts up. This however, does not clarify if she can hear specific sounds, such as the details of spoken words. Her Doctor again, stated her hearing is just fine.
To the last respondent above, she does bring stuff to us, and picks up stuff we instruct her to pick up. She seems to understand statements such as, nap time, bath, brush teeth.
Thank you all again for your responses!
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