I have a dcb who has been with me for some time. I would like some advice regarding his development. He is now 28 months (so going on 2 1/2) and still mostly non-verbal. Parents say he has about 90 words that they have counted...I understand maybe about 20, but even those are not clear, it's only because I am with him all the time. He does not put two words together. He cannot or will not point to all of his body parts (I can get him to do one or two sometimes...other times nothing). He sometimes follows simple directions (pick up the truck), but often not. The other kids come running when I say it's snacktime...I have to go and bring him almost every time. He doesn't do much imaginary play (he will bring me playfood occassionally to feed me, but that's about it). While the other kids are making pizza and cake with playdough, he is sticking it in his hair or picking at it. He has a physical aversion to things like wipes on his bottom (he flinches physically when I wipe him and cries) or grass on his feet. He is mostly happy and behaviourally pretty good (except that he swats at me if I remove him from something I don't want him doing and he hates holding hands and will pull away). He plays mostly on his own, but does interact a lot with me and with other kids with full eye contact and laughter and lots of smiles...it just has to be a physical type game like peekaboo or chase. While I did manage to get parents on board (with much encouragement) with getting him on the waitlist for First Words, they keep telling me they are not concerned because he is learning so many new words now. It is true...he is learning new words...but they are not at all clear and he is not using any verbs, just nouns (at least from what I have heard him say). It is hard for me to know what to say when his parents say this as I am actually quite concerned...but don't want to upset them or label him when I am not qualified to do so. It is just that, to me he behaves about a year younger than he is overall...and I dont really know how to relay that to his parents or if I even should. They seem not to understand it isn't just about the number of words he can say (and even there he is way behind). Any ideas? What would you think about this development?