My little boy (sorry about my last post I posted the wrong message on this board)

[ky girl]

I have a three year old who will be four in June. He is such a blessing, I am very concerned for him though. My concern is he is almost 4 and he isn't speaking yet. He very seldom voices when he is hurt (like cries). And seems to have a short attention span. I did put him in speech theropy and pre-school this last half of the year. But he seems to get really frustrated because he can't speak. One weird thing is that he was saying words at 6 months to about 15 months. Then he had to have tubes put into his ears and he recived his shots at the health department. I have heard that there is a drug that is being put into the serum for shots to preserve it so that the serum won't go bad as fast. My little boy loves to run and climb hates to sit still for more than a minute or two. But I will say that I have seen an improvment in that area since he has started pre-school. He use to not want to look very many people in the eye and often acts like he doesn't hear a word you say though I know that he doesn't have hearing problems. He is beginning to interact with other children a little bit. But not very often. He is hard to get to go to sleep at night and hard to wake in the morning. I have a cousin that has a child that is autistic and she says that my little boy reminds her of her little girl. But when I questioned his teachers about it at our in home visits they always say lets not put a label on him to quick though they do say that he has some autistic tendensies. I was planning on waiting until the end of the school year to see what the teachers and school system said before having him tested because they said no one would test him until he turned 4? But I read someones thread in here and they said that their child was diagnosed at the age of three??????

[ADR75]

I don't think you should wait. Trust your mother's instincts, if you're wrong - hey, that's one thing you can be glad you were wrong about. If you're right, and he does have some mild tendancies, then you can start getting him into some programs and start working with him. My son just turned 2 and sounds a lot like your son. His pediatrician gave us a referral to children's hospital, we will have him evaluated soon.

[ky girl]

Originally Posted by ADR75

I don't think you should wait. Trust your mother's instincts, if you're wrong - hey, that's one thing you can be glad you were wrong about. If you're right, and he does have some mild tendancies, then you can start getting him into some programs and start working with him. My son just turned 2 and sounds a lot like your son. His pediatrician gave us a referral to children's hospital, we will have him evaluated soon.

Thank you for your input, I was under the impression that he couldn't even be evaluated until he was 4. I think your right we mothers should follow our motherly insticts shouldn't we! I will post back when I find something out!

[DzzRed66]

My girl was evaluated at age 3. Autism. And yes, your son had a lot of AnnaMarie's traits. He reminds me of AnnaMarie. Get him tested. Early prevention, early help/support would be best for him, if he is Autistic.

Good Luck,
Yvette

[KathleenW]

My son was diagnosed before he turned two and a half. The CARS test (Childhood Autism Rating Scale) can be done at 18 months. It is very important to get evaluated as soon as possible. It has nothing to do with being "labeled". The thing that is important is finding out all the reasons that lead them to the diagnosis. If your child has the label of autistic you will qualify for early intervention services. Also once you see your son's test scores you will know exactly what areas you need to work on. I am very glad he is in speech therapy and attending a regular preschool. It is very important!