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Pointing as a baby

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Star. William used to point. He would point his finger right at you with a very blank expression on his face. One of the first phrases he said was 'ET phone home'... :D because that's what we used to say to him when he pointed. It was an odd point, he wasn't pointing at anything, just pointing for the sake of it. I think he was about 10 months old when he did this.

 

Lauren

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Not at all. Cry, yes but no pointing. I think that started after he started leading to things he wanted but even today and he is 5 a helicopter was hovering above where we live and he didn't even notice it but when asked what the noise was he replied a plane, he didn't even look and it doesn't happen that frequently. If he doesn't need it he doesn't want to know.

Edited by bugbug

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No No pointing here as a baby but excelent eye sight he use to spot things from far away and if he knew what it was and could say it he would just shout it out and shout it out etc......

 

He sometimes does point now (4.5) but very rarely he does take hold of your face and say look mummy at whatever it is he's seen.

 

Lisa x

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The small chap is nearly 3 1/2, he does now point at things in a book or on the computer screen as he likes you to label them. But This is a new thing, he certainly didn't point as a baby and this 'joint attention' thingy of them looking where you point, that still is a bit of a lost cause with him!

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My oldest son (Age 5 HFA) started pointing when he was about 3 1/2, before that he just used to take me to things - in contrast my other son who is 15 months came out of the womb pointing and gestures and shows me everything!

 

My eldest points quite a lot now and is keen to show me things so you would never know. He just kind of caught up with it and now it is a natural thing to him.

 

I never really appreciated how different my first child was (I had no comparisons), he used to wave with the palm of his hand towards his face too. Now I have another child, I can draw comparisons and see the differences - the gesturing, the way he copies everything verbally and non-verbally, the way he waves at everyone, says hello etc etc.

 

Oh bless them, I'm gonna have to go upstairs and give them both a big kiss now ... my boys!

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Adam didn't point until he was nearly 22 mths.

 

I was reading something recently descrbing two different types of pointing. Can't remember the correct terminology but one type of pointing is to indicate a need like wanting a drink whereas the other type is to point something of interest or share experiences out to you. Autsitic children struggle to do the second type of pointing. Certainly when Adam started to point he was and predominantly still is to indicate something he needed. My younger son is 19mths has no proper words yet but he often points (and grunts :D ) to show me something like a bird in a tree or a plane flying over. I don't think Adam has ever pointed to share things in such a way

 

Lx

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Tom (Ds1) never pointed. He still doesn't. Sometimes he'll grab my finger and use it to jab at things and sometimes he'll put his hand on things on the tv screen but he never looks at you when he does it.

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The shared attention aspect of pointing is what usually seems to be missing in autistic spectrum toddlers.

 

I don't remember whether or not Com pointed himself but I do remember that he could not follow a pointing finger.

 

We know that Com cannot see a face so that sort of explains why when we look and point he would not understand how to track our eyes along the finger to see what we are looking at (at 13 he still has difficulty with this but he does understand th purpose now). We noticed this at about 6 months and were concerned enough to talk to the doctor about it at 18 months and to take him to the optician at 2. It was not picked up as important but now we know it was very significant and a direct indicator of his visual problems. I would suggest that the ability to understand the purpose of someone else pointing and to use that to share attention is the first thing to develop and that if that doesn't develop for some reason a child would be unlikely to develop pointing for themselves. If a child does not attend to the face, and specifically the eyes, of others then they may be unlikely to be able to track to see what the finger is pointing at so they would not see the importance of pointing themselves

 

Zemanski

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Hi,

 

Kai did not point at things. Even now (he is 7) when he tries to show me something, he'll keep saying "over there", when i say "show me where", he'll just say "OVER THERE MUMMY!" and doesn't point to it.

 

Loulou x

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My son didnt point either.

 

He used to grab my hand and direct it to what he wanted.

 

Now i think about it i dont think he actually points to stuff now hes 12 either he just says "over there"

 

Ill be observing him now to see.You tend not to notice these things because you live with it everyday.

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My son started off pointing, waving, clapping and dancing ok then lost it at about 2 1/2. With waving for example, he used to seem to try when asked ("Wave goodbye to Grandma" etc,) but actually not be able to do it which was very odd. For some reason he has started to re-learn these things and I have actually seen him practising them on his own in the mirror (He is 3 1/2 now). and now he waves at everyone and says goodbye and hello. He points at things too, but he sometimes says point when he does it...so maybe this is because I have drummed it into him!! we have done a lot of hand over hand pointing and stuff with him. His is clapping again now too but it is different - less spontaneous and more concentration involved.

 

Not sure if it these things comes naturally to him now though or if he has decided it is expected of him.

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