Do you think it is possible to recognize autism in young infants? What do you do is a baby is not quite 5 months old...just watch until she gets closer to a year or so and see if more behaviors emerge? I am just curious because I am concerned a little about my niece....she seems to have 2 major stims. One could perhaps be dismissed as normal development....spitting. She spits all the time...not just raspberries but spitting with good distance. Also, she is CONSTANTLY slapping/flapping her left arm. She must hit her leg with that left arm a good 200 times a day I would say. Also she goes through periods where she is zoned out and does not respond to her name or touch. She is bright and def. growing...she weighs 15 pounds. My sister is starting to be a little concerned because of the arm slapping stimmie thing and because she also has a bad temper for such a young baby. She headbutts my sister. Also she is picky about eating and my sister has a few other small concerns. Anyway, I told my sister just keep an eye on her and if anything gets worse or the things continue make sure the ped. knows and then when she is older, if it came to that, she could get an early evaluation.
There is research currently being done to find identifiable characteristics of autism in children under a year old. (I bet NORWAYMOM could even find a link to the video about this). The most reliable indicator appears to be responding to name- when a caregiver calls the name of the child, does the child turn to look?
Honestly, I would not put any serious concern into the flapping and spitting behaviors. All people stim somewhat, and lots of people have sensory issues and sensory behaviors who do not have autism.
(OOPS, sorry for the name mistake earlier!)
Given that you have a child with autism, I would think the likelihood of your sister having a child with autism would be at least slightly increased.
I would sincerely doubt that you would find ANY doctor to diagnose at this age - or even do any kind of intervention. If there are developmental milestones that the baby is not reaching (like rolling over, sitting up, babbling, etc.) your sister definitely should mention those. If the milestones haven't been met yet a few months later - then intervention should start to happen.
Um, picky about eating at 5 months old? I didn't even start either of my kids on any baby food until they were 6 months old, and I think a lot of babies have a hard time when they are first starting on solid foods! I think some of these issues could go away - but it's good to keep an eye on them.
In the meantime, five months is way too young to know for sure (in my opinion). It's great you and your sister are watching closely - but don't forget to enjoy her babyhood as well!
It'd say it's possible to spot some red flags and identify delays, but not possible to say whether it's autism or not.
Consider the Newsweek article I posted a week or so ago. It was about a study at Kennedy Krieger, looking at baby siblings of autistics. They tried to see if it's possible to diagnose autism as early as 14 months.
Thirty of the 107 kids ended up with an autism label, but only half of those were diagnosable at age 14 months. Diagnosing so early was not easy, and required that Dr. Landa re-trained her eyes to see how autism looks at age 14 months. Dr. Landa has devoted her entire professional career to diagnosing autism, so what hope does the less-experienced professional have, let alone the average parent or pediatrician?
"I had to learn to retrain my eyes when I started to see the 14-month-olds. I thought autism at 14 months was going to look like autism at 36 months, the age at which people normally diagnose it. It's the same flavor--the social system is disrupted, the communication system is disrupted. But it's different in that it's not as pervasively disrupted. What I mean is that at 14 months, you can get kids with autism to give you a beautiful response to peekaboo. But you can't get the child to engage with you around more novel, new activities. At 14 months, you see more flickers of interaction. They were doing some looking at people and smiling."
Here's the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588967/site/newsweek/page/0/
I also recommend the online milestone checklists at the CDC:
Good luck with everything.
Thanks! I would no way think a dx would be able to come before 18 months...and she may end up as NT as they come....but I def. see some possible red flags (and my sister seems to think the baby's general disposition changed after her vaccs at 2-3 months old). I guess what I am really wondering is: if a child (at any age really) has autistic behaviors (be it from autism or otherwise) is it harmful to treat those behaviors like you would sutistic behaviors (i.e. do a little ABA approach or work on decreasing stims, etc.)?Yeah, like I said...I would never dream of a dx. or even getting too worried about my niece potentially having an ASD....I just thought maybe it is something to keep an eye on. ESPECIALLY since right now my sister is chronically ill with several health issues (one of which is a heart problem) and they suspect she has a neurological problem....potentially MSAD....which can shorten one's life.....my sister has a lot of sensory problems....so I am even more watchful of my niece (btw they live with us for the last 7 months since my sister has been too sick to be left alone) just because we are not 100% sure of my sis' neurological/NS dx and if it could be hereditary.
Looking back when Sarah was born she was so quiet and content and it should of alarmed me but I just thought she was an angel and had this feeling about her that she was so different from any baby I had ever been around but never in a million years did I think autism. Her lack of language and eye contact, appearing deaf is what alarmed us but denial was a big thing..we got her diagnoses close to 3 years old.
Wow, you've got a lot going on Anna - I'm sorry you're going through so much.
Shelley - my dd was very calm and mellow as a baby - rarely cried unless she was wet, hungry or tired. This was a life-saver for us because ds was terrified she would cry a lot. However, she was very smiley and would make lots of eye contact. We had never seen a baby who cried so little - but my parents tell me that is exactly how I was as a baby. And, that they could put me to be anywhere and then wake me when it was time to go and I had a smile on my fact - well, she wasn't to THAT extreme (she inherited her dad's tendency to sleep lightly). But, I have always had minor concerns about dd - especially when I read how a lot of kids on the spectrum were "angel babies".
fred - OMG! Your kids got kicked out of the nursery when they weren't even a day old! It was (I'm sure) not funny at the time - but just the thought of that makes me laugh. I hope I'm not offending you by saying that - but it just makes me giggle!
After he was born, we kept ds with us in our room on purpose - it was my insistence. A co-worker of my dh's was in the next room - she delivered a few hours before I did (she wasn't due for 5 more weeks). Anyway, they gave us guff for years because ds was up a lot in the night screaming his little head off and I'm guessing he kept them awake as well.
Snoopywoman
Thank you! I deal with everything as best I can...and that has to be good enough. It is tough...but I make it through. When college is back in session, I will be more of a wreck though
Thanks for always giving me such encouraging words....everyone here!
I don't know that there is any ABA that can be done at 5 months - I would doubt it. But if there are physical issues, they can do things through PT and OT...
Yes, Fred, that is what happened to me with Ali. From day one, she was the most "difficult" tempermented baby I or my mother had ever seen. By 6 months old, I knew something was "different" or not right, when she began headbanging so very much. Her ped. dismissed my concerns too. Even with dx's in place, at Ali's 4 year old check up when I was asking about new therapy or who to go to she stated, "well her behaviors sound like autistic symptoms but she is bright and verbal and can be affectionate at times so I wouldn't think she is autistic....more likely, ADHD...but really we do not like to diagnose children younger than 5 or 6...I think she will be okay...but you can always take her back to the clinic where she got her last diagnosis and they can refer you for therapy or re-evaluate her."When we were in the hospital after delivering the girls, we has the nurse take them to the nursery so that DW could get some rest. About 2:30am, the door to the room swings open and in rolls a bassinet with the girls screaming at the top of their lungs, and the door quickly slams behind them - they had been kicked out of the nursery. True story, believe it or not.Our story was the exact OPPOSITE - Payne was sooooo mellow. Put him in his swing and he'd swing for hours. He'd wake up to eat...give him some formula and let him rest on your chest and he'd go right back to sleep. Our dd has some defenite delays & hypotonia by 6 mos, that's whenWanna hear something weird? When Adam was just under a month old I was talking to my sister on the phone and I said to her, "Gosh..I just hope he's not Autistic" I have NO IDEA why I said this. We have a friend that has two children on the spectrum but at the time just one of her children were diagnosed but it wasn't something I thought of daily. My sister thinks that deep down I sensed something different about him. I did feel Adam was different but I couldnt' put my finger on what was different about him.
Karrie
I knew there was something odd or different about Payne, but I kept bringing it up to the pediatrician and he kept saying he's just a little on the slower end of the developmental chart...he's fine. I only have 1 child so I didn't know any better. Hind sight is 20/20.I wouldn't try to eliminate undesired behaviors with a baby, but try to promote positive things through a Floortime/RDI type approach and simply lots of love and attention. I'd also get a proper hearing check and leave no stone unturned about any possible source of physical pain (like reflux).
We had no indications that anything was amiss with C until around 18 months when R started saying words and C didn't. Until that point, they had met all of their milestones in within a few weeks of each other. Even looking back with all of the knowledge I have now, I still don't see a thing before 18 months.I agree with everyone that it's way to soon to diagnose autism, but that your