My daughter's pediatrician expressed some concerns regarding the results of the M-CHAT at her 18 month visit. The concern was that she wasn't pointing, wasn't really waving, and didn't nod yes/no. And even though she had many words (knew most animals/sounds and repeated words) she didn't consider them "meaningful" words. In my discussion with her, I expressed that she was a late clapper so I had just assumed she would be a late pointer and wasn't concerned about it. She had other ways of getting our attention so I felt she just didn't feel the need to point. My husband and I felt the same way in regards to her speech- receptive language was great so we figured she would speak more when she was ready.

Her doctor still felt like she needed to be evaluated and even mentioned autism- although she backed off of that a bit and said she may just have some mild delays.

We agreed to the evaluation which was done in our home. My daughter is very curious and social and was very interested in the toys and activities they had her do. I observed and didn't think it was an entirely fair evaluation. For example, they would show her a toy and she would be engaged in it and then they would call her name and ask her to get something across the room. My daughter just wanted to continue playing with the toy they gave her which I found to be typical of a toddler. So despite my claims that her receptive language was great, she scored way below average in that aspect. It also takes my daughter a while to feel comfortable and speak in front of new people. So even though she was saying more words by the end of the evaluation, she scored below average and was recommended for a speech evaluation.

In the weeks leading up to the speech evaluation, DD started pointing, started to name some objects when she recognized them and started to wave more. But once again, she scored below average during the evaluation and speech therapy was recommended and autism was mentioned again. The evaluator felt my daughter did not make long enough eye contact with her and felt that my daughter playing with her (the evaluators) hair clip and touching her sweater was a possibly indicator of a sensory disorder. She did stress that it was far too early to know anything for sure. And even though I told her that she sings some words to songs, can say most of the alphabet, name animals and sounds, she said that that was just memorization and they are looking for "meaningful" words. Telling us when she's hungry, thirsty, etc.

So we decided to go ahead with the speech therapy. My husband and I figured that any extra help wouldn't hurt. So she has had 2 sessions- it should have been 4 but the therapist cancelled twice. At this point, I feel like it's unnecessary. She's using meaningful words: snack, hungry, cookie, water,milk, all done, more,help,hi, bye, mommy, daddy, etc.
She can identify and name most animals, shapes, some colors, most of the alphabet, numbers 1-10 and all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She's affectionate, loves books and music and interacts with other children. So my husband and I are leaning towards stopping the therapy and just letting her progress at her own pace. She'll be 2 in June. For those that have toddlers, does it sound like she is behind in her speech? For those in EI, is this type of evaluation typical?