I think you should bring this up to the doc when you have the appt to see if he has autisim. It could be slight autisim. Please keep us posted as to what the doctors say.

Check out Asperger's. It is a milder form of Autism basically. Many people with Asperger's, from my experience (7 years in the developmentally disabled field), can form bonds but have issues with boundaries. Not saying this is what your son has going on, but something to check out.

An aquientance(sp?) of mine has a son that suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome (again, not implying anything, just an example). When he touches things he knows he is not supposed to touch he will slap his own hand as punishment.

My 4yo was like this when he was 2. Although I worried about autism at the time, he does not have autism or aspergers. But he does have issues when it comes to listening and he has the need to touch EVERYTHING! It drives me crazy sometimes. We tried spanking and timeouts too, but they did not work for us. So we tried this:

1) Posted house rules. There are only 3 rules to remember: Listen, Talk Nice and Play Nice. Everything else can be combined under one of these rules. Specific actions like touching things he shouldn't or screaming when being punished should be included.

2) When rules are broken, there is a consequence. Right now we take away a toy for every infraction. Toys stay gone the entire day.

3) We talk every morning about the rules and the consequences for breaking rules. Kids "forget" very easily so we make this a routine discussion.

The first day we implemented this, my child lost all toys. By day 2, only 2 toys gone. By day 3 we saw major imrovement in child's behavior. The key is to be consistent. After several months of good behavior, DH and I have eased up on enforcement and child is taking advantage. My child still isn't perfect when it comes to listening and touching things, but he has gotten much better.

As for the speech problem, my other child just turned 2 and got a similar recommendation from the dr. I have heard of many children not talking until age 3-5, so don't be too worried if your child seems to hear well and respond. But have the evaluation done just in case to rule out any problems that can become much bigger if not caught early on.

As my Dad tells the story, I too was a late talker.

Dad just told this story to my ILs. My parents and the ILs were all in town for the Kids (SS-17) HS graduation.

Rags Progression to Talking:

Dad: I thought Rags was an idiot. He would not talk beyond "DaDa, MaMa, WaWa, and some superficial pointing and grunting. This went on for more than two years.

Then one evening we were sitting at the dinner table eating spaghetti and Rags looked out the window and very clearly said "The moons comin up". His Mom and I almost fell out of our chairs.

Then for days I told everyone who would listen that Rags was a genious.

The first thing he ever said was a very clear complete sentence. The problem is that he has not shut up since.

So, hang in there. Once your kid starts talking you may very well miss the days when he would not talk.

Good luck and best regards,

I would call early intervention my self & keep on them till they make an appointment. If there are things that they can help you with so that he can be the best he can be you'll want to get that ball rolling as soon as you can.

All kids are differnt, I used to drive myself crazy listening to the mom's that would go on & on about how their kid was walking at 10 months, mine walked at 13 months. But my son was so busy climbing stairs, furniture, what have you that walking just wasn't important enough to make him want to do it. Once he started walking all the peace & quiet ended.

My son will be 3 in July and he tells knock knock jokes, can count to 20, knows his ABC's and almost has our phone # memorized. BUT he has two big brothers that he tries to be like, that & I have worked really hard on that phone # deal :)But I have to tell him over & over not to do the same things ( heck I have to tell his 10 y/o brother daily not to do the same things over & over)

Try not to worry so much & just keep on EI people. Motherhood is a much tougher job than our moms let on.

My brother didn't talk properly until he was 7. However, he had ear problems and couldn't hear correctly. He saw a speech therapist until he was in his teens. Back then, they didn't do much for checking for related ear problems, so I am sure you had already had all that checked.

I can sympathise fully with this. My daughter is 5, 6next month and she still talks like a 3year old. Her comprehension and understanding is hit and miss. She has speech therapy and not been diagnosed with anything other than slower speech and listening development.

If your boy understands simple instructions, such as look under the mat? Or put the key in the cup? Then he's probably fine, just likes the easy way. My daughter at 3 couldnt put a key in a cup if told to, but give her a puzzle and she was away. Its been difficult to not do the usual comparing with other mums kids and its hard to watch other parents enjoy full conversations with their children of the same age.

Just remember that each child have their own quirks, he could be just like 'rags' and start talking without you knowing he had it in him. My little girl is bright, bubbly, annoying, loveable and completely frustrating like any other child. I just cant talk to her in the same way. One tip i was given was to just talk to them constantly, if your filling the kettle, tell him what you're doing, they take things in constantly, more than anyone really knows. Good luck.

Another resource to consider is an occupational therapist who works with kids with auditory/sensory processing disorders, and knows how to use therapeutic listening programs. Sometimes there are aberrations in the neurological wiring whereby a kid cannot look at you and hear you or talk at the same time. Early Intervention therapists are not always aware of these specialized aspects of assessment or intervention.