I personally have never heard that the younger a child is when diagnosed, the more affected they will be. When it comes to treating autism, the earlier you start the better.
Best wishes to you and your son.
I knew from from birth that something was wrong and realized that the girls were delayed at about 6-9 months (though remained in denial that it could be autism for much longer). The girls are somewhat mild, so I wouldn't say that early detection correlates to more severe impairment later on.I don't think there is a correlation. First of all, there is such a lack of knowledge out there about autism (it's getting better) that most people don't know the signs that early. You are to be applauded for being such a watchful parent and getting your child in so quick!
I knew there was something different about my son fairly early on - but he is definitely on the mild end of the spectrum. He attended mainstream pre-schools without supports in addition to attending ECSE. He got OT and PT and he will be attending mainstreamed kindergarten this fall.
I think the earlier you know, the better off you are at getting help for your child and you have more time before school starts to work with them than most.
I think it would be difficult to diagnose autism at 5 months of age. What other signs besides lack of eye contact and gazing, are you seeing?
Hi All,
I apologise if this has been asked and answered before. If so, could someone please point me to the thread?
My 5 month old twin son is showing early signs of ASD (ie lack of eye contact, gazing, etc) and is going to be evaluated by a neurologist.
For those of you who knew that your child was autistic as an infant, is the diagnosis always severe? Or in some cases can knowing this early help to pull them along better?
Thanks for your input!
Regards,
Roxanne
Good question, and an easy to assumption to make! In fact, I tend to presume that in reading sometimes, even though I KNOW BETTER FROM EXPERIENCE!
T had symptoms at 10 mos, poor eye contact mostly ... and yet she is so functional that she was not dx'd until Kindergarten!
We saw signs in infancy and my son was dx with severe autism. My son is mild/ some areas I wonder if not moderate. He is five now and although we were not familiar with autism and didn't start the balls rolling until he was 2 and 1/2, looking back there were definite marked signs as an infant. I have often wondered without early intervention where he would be now and it is scary to consider because before intervention, he only grunted and you wonder how many milestones that he has made is it directly because of intervention or would he have progressed along without intervention? That is a hard question to ask or to answer.We saw NO early signs - neither did ANYONE else - and our son is severe - so I would say NO to your question.I didn't see signs until 12 months, and Jaden is severely autistic. So, i would say no.From all I read (and I read a lot lately ) there is no correlation betweenI saw signs as early as 2 months, but dismissed it as new-mom paranoia. I started to get really concerned by 9 months. At 15 months he was dx with PDD-NOS, but now at 2.5yo we (family and therapists) are all beginning to suspect he will end up with an Asperger's dx.
ITA that early intervention makes a huge difference in either overcoming issues or almost beating them to the punch. I am SURE that if we had not started a behavioral program when my DS was 1.5yo that his tantrums would be MUCH worse than they are. I was coached very well with how to deal with them right from the start, plus we have worked so hard on his communication skills and teaching him how to get his needs met, that I really think we nipped it in the bud, KWIM? Of course there are some that say even with NT kids, the 3's are worse than the 2's ... so maybe I'm still in for a run for my money!
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