18 months old and still questioning..... | Autism PDD
HI,
My son went from being a social, speaking child, to a child that lost words, stopped looking at us, screamed for hours when he was changed from one environment to another, didn't care or notice when we (mom or dad) came or went. He could be left in his crib for hours, he never explored his environment. He rocked, made weird noises like "gngg, gunggg, and stopped trying to share attention with us.
He was a good baby before all this, hardly cried, but had social skills and language. It's when these things started to slowly dissipate that we became concerned. They first became noticeable at around 16 months, and got progressively worse. At 2 years old, at my older son's birthday, is when I knew in my gut, without any doctor or evaluator telling me, that he was autistic. He was all of a sudden petrified of the houseguests. He stayed in his room, whimpering, and rocking, and would not come out. When forced to come out, he flew into a panic, and went right back up to his room to rock and humm again. I told my close friend and my sister that night, "there's something wrong with my son" and started crying 
. I just knew it in my gut.
Your son sounds like he has some good skills. It couldn't hurt to get him evaluated. Maybe it's just a speech delay. It's great that he plays, and points, and has some imagination. I would go to see a neurologist, just to rule it out. Only then will you feel some relief, or get the help he needs.
Keep us posted
nakama
Does he turn around when you say his name ? This was the biggest miss on our part
Does he wave bye bye
Not responding to his name was our biggest tip-off at that age, in retrospect.
Sensory issues were there even when he was an infant, but I didn't recognize them until after he was diagnosed with autism at age 7. I wish I had known about the sensory-processing-disorder.com website when we were trying to "figure him out". They have great sensory checklists for infants/toddlers and up.
Ok. Before anyone says stop worrying and enjoy your son, I couldn't possibly have more fun with him than I do.
Unfortunately, there are still so many questions. It's still so frustrating that every professional he has contact with: Developmental Pediatrician, 4 Pediatricians, 2 Speech Therapists, Early Intervention, Occupational Therapist all say there' s nothing wrong besides a delay. Of course this won't be frustrating if they turn out to be correct.
My boy is 18 months old and has made great strides in his motor development. He was 5 weeks early and was behind in gross motor, but is catching up quick in that area. He seems to understand a lot of what we say. If I ask him to go get me the phone or his shoes, he'll run in the other room and come back with them. He will answer questions by shaking his head no and he's started saying "yes". He also will pretend to talk on the phone and sometimes will try and feed his bear. He's a pointing machine and he will sometimes point to things of interest and see if we are looking. These are good things right?
So what am I concerned with?
His expressive language, eye contact, lack of empathy, He has maybe 6 words and I'm not even sure they are words. He doesn't seem to initiate any words. He will answer what does a cow say, or do you want this, but doesn't just try to say things to us. Maybe just labeliing once in awhile. Is this ok? He still won't look anyone in the eye when they are holding him. He does have good eye contact when it's from a little further away. He has no attachement to objects or toys. Isn't he supposed to at this point. He has no toy preferences. He will play with cars appropriately though. He's not interested in wheels or anything. Should he have empathy at this point?
What other behaviors should I be looking for at this age? I've read all of the first signs, red flags, blah, blah, but from your personal experience- what really matters at this age?
What would be YOUR red flags at 18 months?
Thanks in advance.
John
Eye contact.
Have you had vision and hearing tests? Does he have auditory processing problems, such as hyper- hypo- senstivities, EVEN mixed?
My daughter was not diagnosed till 6, by her school. I asked around among medical and educational people and found out which palce in town diagnosed the really mild cases, and will take her there.
He has had vision and hearing tests. Thanks.Does he have SPD symptoms?You mean like sensitvity to light, sound, textures and stuff? Nope.
I would expect that, for sure ... I do think though someone here has a child with ASD and has observed no SPD.They told me the exact same thing, at 18 months, at 2 years old, at 3 years old. They were 10 weeks early. And now different drs ask how all these other drs could have missed it. The eye contact would concern me. I wouldn't worry too much about a diagnosis right now, just keep getting the therapies and evaluations. The one thing about my boys though, they seemed to be in their own world. We would all be in the same room and I might as well have not been there. It was like there was an invisible wall there. They would cross it if I asked them to or made them or I crossed it myself and they didn't protest, but they didn't voluntarily show me things, or share things with me or point at anything. There was this disconnect. It didn't stay that way and they didn't have it with each other, they were always overly connected to each other, but that was the thing I noticed most that made me say something here is wrong besides a language delay. Oh this was at the 18 month age when this really became noticable.Copyright Autism-PDD.net