NorwayMom, sounds like we have a similar pattern of development with our boys. My oldest son had many red flags as a toddler, but I knew nothing of Autism and I just thought he was just very different from my other kids. My oldest son really started to stop developing at age 2 1/2, so I guess I am worried it will happen again. We parents seem to have that constant emotion with us, worry
Most pediatricians wouldn't know HFA/AS if it came up and bit them in the face. I wouldn't be concerned about a label at this point, but about monitoring development on an ongoing basis and getting help for any delays. Good luck with everything. Flip- his vision and hearing were tested and turned out fine. He has never had an ear infection and neither did my older PDD son. All of my girls did though, odd
I did forget to mention he does have excellent receptive language. Thanks everyone for your replies. Hey Rhosyn, we both have a Jacob, cute name huh? And as one of you said, I will get a 2nd opinion for sure. This time we will see a developmental ped. Has he had his hearing checked yet? Has he had a lot of ear infections? Those are defintely some good signs, the pointing, eye contact. If he does have ASD, it must be quite mild at this point. [/QUOTE] And i was going to ask if you suspect vision problems. Sometimes if children can't see that well up close they tend to stay away from the smaller types of toys and focus more on the bigger stuff. Well, my ds at 20 months... It's kind of hard to remember. But, I do know he pointed at 13 months. He has always had fairly good joint attention, with the exception of having a hard time trying to follow MY finger if I am pointing at something. The vacuum cleaner and anything he could push were very much favorites. Vacuums turned into an obsession for a while. He did play appropriately with those toys and he would hug his stuffed animals. He had good eye contact until about 3 1/2. He parallel played (still does sometimes) and wasn't terribly interested in other kids. He sometimes wouldn't respond to his name. He had fine and gross motor skills deficits, but I didn't know it at the time. He had difficulties feeding himself, although he wasn't terribly behind. We saw the gross motor delays as him being cautious (not wanting to climb much, hesitant going up and down stairs, etc.). My ds had only four words at 17 months and then had over 100 by 18 months. He was identifying all numbers 0-9 by 20 months. Talking in two word sentences at 21 months. But, he did start by saying only the first syllables of words. Anyway, that's just my child. I think it is hard to tell at your son's age - but it does sound like there are some red flags that I would keep an eye on. The dev ped we went to (when ds was past 4) said that his colleagues would never have diagnosed just because his joint attention was so good. And his colleague happens to be world-renowned.
I'll get off my soapbox now - but I would keep a good eye on your son's development and get a second opinion as well. Jacob does this to me sometimes too. He's actually going through one of those "He might just be NT" phases right now. His receptive language is getting better every day. He's interacting with other children more and in appropriate ways most of the time. And then come the days where he'll line pepperoni across the living room wall in a perfect line, or line potatoes up across the kitchen floor. Then there are the toy line ups. He doesn't line things up often, but I know how much of a red flag that is. It's also one that he could not have copied from his big brother because to my knowledge, Brendon has never lined anything up in his life. His eye contact is for the most part pretty good. His speech is still delayed, but he's gaining more and more each day. Lots of echolia though. I hope that by the time Jacob is in kindergarten he'll be indistinguishable from his NT peers, and I can see that happening with the progress he's making right now. Has he had his hearing checked yet? Has he had a lot of ear infections? Those are defintely some good signs, the pointing, eye contact. If he does have ASD, it must be quite mild at this point. Libby did this to me as well....I would be so sure something was differnt about her, then she would overnight get all these new skills and I would doubt myself again. For us, by the time she was 24 months, she was not "caught up" (she was a preemie as well, so we thought maybe she was just delayed). Anyway, I still had the lingering feeling she had Autism, even with all the positive things she did. It was the way she did things that set her apart from other kids. That and her speech. Apart from some odd quirkiness and her very delayed speech, she appears perfectly normal. But she was diagnosed with mild Autism 3 months ago. She will be 3 next month, and I'm really glad I found out, even thought it does "label" her. I'm one of those people who would rather know and take action. She is in speech therapy and in the school system getting the help she needs and we have noticed vast improvements in just a short time. Hi. I am in a smiliar situation. My 29 month old son has speech delays. He has about 20 words, but has great receptive language skills. He lines things up, but only when playing with his older brother. He is social, has great eye contact, above average motor skills, etc. No noted sensory issues, and is very responsive to verballization.` So the red flags are specifically the two I mentioned above. EI informally sat with him for an hour and although noted he is behind in speech, he does not have any other issues or concerns. I have been keeping an eye on his development, and if I don't see improvement at a decent rate, I will ask for a formal eval. My older son developed very similar to my youngest. However, in retrospect, my oldest had many red flags. He is an extremely bright, athletic, social kind of guy now. Fingers crossed for you and me.... Well, looks like my 20 mo is progressing OUT of Autism. I posted here several times about him possibly being on the Spectrum, but hes had some type of developmental spurt and now I think he imight be ok. What do you think? Did your ASD child show these symptoms at this age? He has always pointed and shared things/brought them to me to see. He still wont look at kids his own age and cries if they try to get him to play. Otherwise he ignores them totally. His language is still way behind. He has 5 words, but they are only parts of the word...the first sound of the word. No one beside us would ever understand what he is saying. He does communicate by different tones of voice and pointing. His fine and gross motor skills are good. Eye contact is good. He almost never looks when we call his name. We have to physically move or touch him, or even make a loud noise. Sometimes even that doesnt work and we just give up. This happens if he is not engaged w/ us somehow (playing w/ a train, watching Backyardagans) He DOES have sensory issues and will begin therapy in 2 weeks. He is beginning to play with a few toys appropriately, but only his favorites....vacuum cleaner, push popper, cars and ride on car. Everything else he looks at and either puts down, or throws. He LOVES to throw things! I took him to the his pediatrician and he said he is fine, he sees no signs of Autism. Early Intervention said he has sensory problems and is developmentally delayed, but they see no signs of Autism. Edited to ask: maybe I am just in denial? BB has always pointed at things and wanted to share them. He also takes great pride in accomplishements (he even now says, "Are you proud of me?!") He is actually totally into being with other kids. He knew them all by name even back then in daycare. He really didn't know how to play WITH so much as alongside of the others though. Receptive language is a bit behind though pretty darn good. His Expressive is where we have always seen the larger problems. He still has jargon sometimes and back then he had more. Also, at 20 months, he had more words that only "we" could understand. As for inflection...always been good. His eye contact has always been excellent. He usually responds to his name and always has unless he is trying to ignore (you noted the Bakyardigans...that would be one of the times he ignores, but if I go and talk to him he starts telling me what is going on and tries to get me to sit down. At 20 months he always wanted us to watch with him).
BB has pretty limited sensory issues. He is sensory seeking...constantly! He does not shy away from any sensation. Vestibular hardcore. He pretty much has always played with toys appropriately...until he gets pissed off...then he might throw one
With the speech delays, the social delays, some sensory issues, and the rigidity around transitions and schedules...he came up on the spectrum. I am still very hopeful that within the next few years...one would never be able to tell though
R NEVER did this - he never pointed and never bought things to me He still wont look at kids his own age and cries if they try to get him to play. Otherwise he ignores them totally. R also ignored and still ignores peers His language is still way behind. He has 5 words, ut they are only parts of the word...the first sound of the word. No one beside us would ever understand what he is saying. He does communicate by different tones of voice and pointing. R did not point and he aslo had 4-5 words that he steadily lost and were also not that clear His fine and gross motor skills are good. R - we thought was fine in this regard util him OT pointed out that his pincer grip was weak Eye contact is good. QUite good but only with us He almost never looks when we call his name. We have to physically move or touch him, or even make a loud noise. Sometimes even that doesnt work and we just give up. This happens if he is not engaged w/ us somehow (playing w/ a train, watching Backyardagans) R also never responded to his name - this is whay I kick myself most about - its a red flag that I totaly missed He DOES have sensory issues and will begin therapy in 2 weeks. Super- r does too - he gets very stimmy when stressed He is beginning to play with a few toys appropriately, but only his favorites....vacuum cleaner, push popper, cars and ride on car. Everything else he looks at and either puts down, or throws. He LOVES to throw things! R was never a thrower - Ina addition to what you talked about - R's recepitve language was and continues to be very poor YOu know one thing that Greenspan said that has really stuck with me is that The right question is not whether my child has ASD or not - its not as though if they have ASD its all dark roads and if it not - its all sunshine - the right question is what does my child need to progress along a healthy developmental path Also a lot of things that we missed were because R is our first child so we did not really know what to expect - I think your "gut" will be much better than mine as you have raised other children too My son had no words at 20 months, was peaceful and quiet. He observed, but did not participate with other kids. He became obsessed with letter shortly after that. He wasn't too interested in toys at that point. We thought he had a hearing problem and had it checked at that point. He did not respond to his name. He had a great smile and laugh. No pointing or following a point. Gross and fine motor were okay at that point, now they are not. Now that I have typical 20 month old in the house I can see the big differences in receptive language and joint attention that I missed.
At 20 months my Son Jacob had no pointing ( didnt point until close to 4), no speech, and was not interested in other kids. I cant say he didnt tolerate them, he just wasnt interested in them. He never brought me anything to show out of interest, and still rarely does at 4. When we tried to get him to play with anything appropriately it would be mouthed, or banged. He attached himself to a potato masher and a toothbrush for the longest time. As he got older the continued things that made me know all was not right were his chronic motor mannerism, the fact that he had no speech at 3, lack of pointing, no copying & inability to copy - he was also majorly late with every single on of his milestones. Your son sounds just like my own NT 20 month old. From my personal point of view, if you wait a little while, instead of passing like a phase, ASD symptoms will stay or present with new ones. Tom did not do this. Now he will point to numbers he sees and he'll shout out colours of things he sees and some objects. He still wont look at kids his own age and cries if they try to get him to play. Otherwise he ignores them totally. At 20 months I think few children are happily playing with other children. Most still want mummy or daddy. Parallel play doesn't happen until later often His language is still way behind. He has 5 words, ut they are only parts of the word...the first sound of the word. No one beside us would ever understand what he is saying. He does communicate by different tones of voice and pointing. Again, at 20 months there are lots of NT children who only have a few words. There is a wide variation in speech and language. Some children are saying little sentences. Others are at the single word and only a few stage. I've recently been sent a checklist for Jacob who's two, asking me to look to see if there's anything different with him. One of the questions was: "Is your child saying a few words, or their own interpretation of a few words?" In other words, it's expected that toddlers will have difficulties with pronunciation, that they won't all be saying lots of words and that as long as they appear to understand simple things (eg "where's teddy?" "Do you want some juice?") and they have some non verbal communication it's not worrying if they don't have many words yet. It is also common for children to have an explosion of language, where they pick up more and more words between the ages of 18 months to 2.5 years. When your child says one of his words repeat it back and expand. Eg say one of his words is "dog", you could say "brown dog" if you see one. His fine and gross motor skills are good. Tom's motor skills were always good. His gross motor skills were a little delayed but seem to be catching up now. Eye contact is good. I don't have a problem with poor eye contact (as in it doesn't bother me, since I have poor eye contact myself), but if you get the impression through your son's eye contact that he's paying attention then that's good. He almost never looks when we call his name. We have to physically move or touch him, or even make a loud noise. Sometimes even that doesnt work and we just give up. This happens if he is not engaged w/ us somehow (playing w/ a train, watching Backyardagans) Get hish earing checked out (eg for glue ear0 if you haven't already, but selective heariung again is very common for toddlers, especially when they're preoccupied. He DOES have sensory issues and will begin therapy in 2 weeks. Hope the therapy helps. Again, saensory issues are common with toddlers but they can grow out of them within a short space of time. Ds2 used to hate the vacuum cleaner, screamed the place down. Now he's fine with it. An old next door neighbour, when her daughter was two I could hear them through the walls of our terraced cottage screaming loudly as her hair was being washed or her nails were being clipped. He is beginning to play with a few toys appropriately, but only his favorites....vacuum cleaner, push popper, cars and ride on car. Everything else he looks at and either puts down, or throws. He LOVES to throw things! I think this is round about the time that play starts to expand with most children. Jacob also loves to throw, as does another lad a couple of months younger who goes to the toddler group. With Jacob it's chucking things over the stairgate and down the stairs. He loves to play with his teddy and toy cars. Judging by what you've put in your OP he is doing lots of things that typical toddlers do. However, this is the reason why it is difficult at this age to know if your child is on the spectrum, because aspects like language used for social communication and interaction with children the child's own age will not be expected to have developed , or will only just be developing at 20 months. 20 month olds do have sensory issues, do have repetitive behaviour (eg constantly opening and shutting drawers), do have wide variations in speech. Now, this does not mean I'm saying your son is definitely not on the spectrum. I can't. it's impossible to judge and I wouldn't presume to do so. What I am saying is that you are going to have to wait a few months to see more clearly. As your son gets older the comparison between him and other children his age will become more noticeable if he is on the spectrum. At 20 mos. she had no eye contact~<5 words a day/nonfunctional~toe walked~no play at all~extreme focus on teletubbies~very aloof~appeared deaf~flat affect ... Except for social delays you would never believe how she was so impaired. She is very verbal now and smart in school and no one would could tell she was ever on the spectrum.. I hope the same with all kids on board:)
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