Help! Are these early signs? - Autism Spectrum Message Board

netsya · 06-06-2009, 03:27 PM

My son is now almost 16 mos. old.

I had a friend of mine watch my little one a few weeks ago. She had her son a few weeks early (6 to be exact). The doc. recommended she starts seeing an OT and speech therapist and her son is now doing great. Well, the therapists looked at my LO and though that he was behind in a few areas. I mean he doesn't make the eye contact all the time and especially at close distance, doesn't talk much and he is not as advanced as he should be for walking for as long as he has.

We've been so terrified of Autisim and had an altered vaccine schedule because we have had to deal with one in our immediate family (husbands second cousin). It's always been in the back of our minds but this evaluaton from 2 different therapists has us really worried.

We had an evaluation by a Speech Therapist thru a program called birth-to-three and he is definitely behind in speech. This is only the beginning and we will have to have a few others to figure out where the delay is. He communicates extremely well non verbally. He will go get his shoes if you ask "Do you wanna go outside" or goes to his bedroom door after poopy for a diaper change when asked "Do you have potty in your pants". He will point (not with his index finger but with his hand) to things he wants but refuses to say the words.

So the things that worry us are the eye contact which is on and off....He will look at you and has recently started babbling back and forth and will make the eye contact for a really long time but then if I sit him down face to face to tell him No or just to tell him something he sometimes won't look at me.

He occasionally (but not obsessively) flaps hands from the wrist when he wants to hear music and as part of his dance moves. My husband did that in the beginning to show him to dance and move his arms so we're not sure if we taught him that or not. He also does it in anticpation of playing with his balls as if he is bouncing it. However; he starts the wrist flapping long before he reaches the ball.

Lastly, the speech.

He is very social and goes up to people he doesn't know. Loves to play peekaboo, smiles all the time, loves to play chase. Isn't afraid of other kids or adults.

He started walking around 11 months and has been on the move since.

I am trying to give ya guys as much information but if you have specific questions, please let me know. I have done research online but not sure if he truly falls in the specturm because he is not that way all the time.

Any help or advice given is greatly appreciated...

My question is are symptoms something that come and go? meaning one day they might have it and gone for days/weeks? Or do these things look like it's normal excitement but as they get older get worse. Also, do kids with Autisim NEVER make eye contact?

mscat40 · 06-06-2009, 05:41 PM

IMO, at your sons' age it is too soon to tell. He is very young , and IF there is going to be Autism, it may show up at a later time, with many more behaviors seen , that cannot possibly be ignored.
I do know that in a baby, head banging is a early behaviroal sign, as well as rocking, or walking on toes.
Autism is a spectrum disorder. Meaning that there are different degrees of this developmental disability. early infantile autism , is what you are refering to . This can show up at a very yong age, however even with that, it stil will not be diagnosed until there are more behaviors and at a later age, I'd say at least 2 1/5, 3 yrs old. The more severe the autism is the more behaviral indications there will be.
Right now, I would concentrate on enjoing your baby's developmental milestones, and not to fear for his future . The best thing I would reccomend you doing is to learn about child develoment, and milestones every baby/child reaches at a certain stage of development.
Baby boys, or boys in general can be slower at deveoping speech. Especially if the baby is frst born. what helps in this area is to read to him, and show him picture books, helping him name the pictures, plus showing him simple everday things, then telling him the name. Such as, apple, and naming a toy for him.
The wrist flapping could have been picked up easily from the parent, because he rolled modeled the behavior.
Eye contact, not even a NT child has 100% eye contact all the time. He may not be paying attention, distracted, and plus words are not as important to him right now. This is why you need to use more visual cues and prompts and then add words to help your baby understand. Eye contact will become better once baby is interested, and understands that words have meaning.
I have a son who is on the autism spectrum. He was diagnosed at the age of 3. He is now nearly 16yrs old.

netsya · 06-06-2009, 06:29 PM

I forgot to mention that he occassionally walks on his toes as well.

I guess what I am trying to avoid is the beginning of a new symptom or a regression because I am ignoring these signs or waiting it out til he is 2 1/2 or 3. I know that diet is important in some cases and if it helps I would like to know even now so I can begin to change those and see if his speech improves. The other things aren't even noticable to anyone else. As a matter of fact, I had to point it out to the speech therapist when she came to give me his report.

I have taken some online questionaires and he got a 40% on it, 100% being that the child is definitelyon the autisim spectrum.

The progream that I have contacted can provide therapy. They also have a child Psycologist who is the only person that can give the diagnosis but I have no idea how long it takes. I contacted a group (the only one in 100 mile radius) and they told me they won't even see him until he is 2 and they don't have any appointments for another 6 mos.

I really don't wanna self diagnose and change everything he loves to find out he just does some funny moves and started talking later.

BTW, he is a first and other than the 2 times a week he goes for 30-45 minute classes, he doesn't really interact with too many other kids. My husband and I moved to this area when I was pregnant with him and don't really know too many people.

Mira11 · 06-07-2009, 12:06 AM

Hi - it's really hard to tell anything definite at such a young age but I think you're absolutely right in looking into the early intervention, esp in the area of speech. It certainly cannot hurt and may just be the impetus he requires to begin to develop language. Again, he is very young.

I would continue with the classes - at 16 months, babies do not really interact, more parallel play than anything else. But it's still great for him to be around and in a fun social setting with other babies.

When you get the evals, I think the speech therapy would be a good thing to get started with. They will also give you ideas of what you can do at home.

From what you've described, honestly, my gut feeling is that he doesn't have autism but instead some kind of language delay which speech therapy can be so helpful for him. The eye contact at 16 months is pretty inconsistent for any child this young so it's hard to say anything definite there. If he does fall on the autism spectrum, he's probably very mild as he seems social, uses gestures to communicate and doesn't get upset around people making noises or social settings where there are louder noises, from what you're describing.

The wrist flapping can be a sign, but I think at 16 months, may not mean too much. OTOH I have seen typical 3 year old hand flap when excited about dancing or something fun they are playing.

You seem on exactly the right track in seeking the right resources for him. Keep us posted.

netsya · 06-07-2009, 05:44 AM

Thank you very much ladies. I am hoping that the speech therapy will help. I feel we are a little to blame for his delay. My husband and I tried to read to him and when he showed disinterst in the books by taking them away and throwing them or simply not sitting still we decided to hold off thinking he will outgrow it. He probably watched more TV than he should have which is my fault. I used it so I can get things done around the house and time for a few hours straight. These 2 things I know probably contributed to it...but I have been reading to him every day throughout the day. He doesn't like to be read to when he is ready to go nap or go to bed so I read as many books as I can during the day. As for TV, I completely cut it out in the beginning and now I let him watch maybe 30 minutes a day.

Again, thanks so much for your feedback. It's good to know we're headed in the right direction. I will definitely let you guys know how his evaluation goes with the OT and DS. He will have his final evaluation with all 3 specialists on the 23rd and they will say if he needs to the psycologist.