I’m worried about my son | Autism PDD

That makes a lot of sense - thanks I dont see many red flags really but I would read up on this technique called
Floortime - there is a big section on it at coping.org
Its a way of playing with your child that is good for all kids - autistic or
otherwise
One of the experts in this field Dr Greenspan - says that its really not the
most important question ( whether a child has autism or not ) - the
appropriate question should be - what does my child need to get on a
healthy development path?
You are smart to want to be on top of things so early - wish I had been more
aware

Let me start this off by saying that I am a first time mother and may be overreacting, but my gut tells me that something is wrong.

I'm concerned that my 7 month old is autistic. I've actually been noticing some of these things for awhile, but only listed them all out today and they seem overwhelming. He doesn't always respond to his name, becomes completely absorbed in television, fixates on ceiling fans and lights, rubs his head back and forth against the back of his car seat and high chair, flaps his hands and arms, hums, only says one syllable - aah, doesn't imitate facial expressions or sounds, doesn't always make eye contact, is fascinated with his hands - he'll stare at them while clenching and unclenching his fingers, rolling his wrists, etc, especially when he's tired, he doesn't hold his own bottle and screeches often.

On the up side, he smiles socially and will engage us in play, he's beginning to crawl, he's pulled himself up to standing a few times, transfers objects from one hand to the other and will hold two objects - one in each hand - at the same time,
he usually likes to be held and cuddled, and will reach up his arms to be picked up. He's starting to develop stranger/separation anxiety and sits up pretty well on his own.

I know that autism isn't usually diagnosed this early, but there's a lot going on here. I have an appointment scheduled with his doctor on Friday, but he's not a pediatrician - he's a general practitioner. I'm currently looking for a good pediatrician though - we had a great one before we relocated, so I have high expectations.

I guess what I'm hoping is for someone to tell me that all of my son's behaviors are completely normal for his age and everything is fine. I don't think that's the case though. Did anyone else notice these types of behaviors this early?

Lot's of the red-flag behaviors of autism are actually immature behaviors that most children outgrew in infanthood or toddlerhood (and their persistance into late toddlerhood is what makes them 'red flags'). Your child has a lot of immature behaviors, but then again, he's seven months. Mom's intuition is something I've come to have a great deal of respect for over the year's, especially mom's who have had other children, so I wouldn't dismiss your concerns and keep a close eye on his development, but there's nothing there that screams 'autistic' to me - now, if he was behaving that way at 24 months, it'd be completely different.