worried about autism

[gaelle79]

Hi everyone,

my DD is 15 months and I'm really worried about her showing many red flags for ASD:
1- she doesn't respond to her name. She used to, like 60% of the time, when not busy but now, it's less then 25% of the time no matter what she's up to
2- she doesn't point to request, never did. She only reaches for what she wants. Lately though, she has been pointing to me or in books and reaching to request with her full hand. She also raises her arms to be picked up
3- she rarely follows my point but will bring toys to play with or raise things to show me
4- she doesn't say a single word meaningfully. She babbles a lot and says mama, papa and no both in contest and out of contest so I guess she just throws them randomly and they happen to be on spot some times
5- she has poor receptive language. Sometimes I fell like she understand bravo, bye bye, come, give but sometimes I feel like she doesn't and just figure out commands depending on the context
6- she's still not walking, only cruising. I know some children walk as late as 18 months but we add to stimulate her +++ to get to the pulling up stage. She army crawled at 9 months and crawled at 11 but get sucked there and would never try to pull up before we taught her.
7- she doesn't imitate facial expressions or mimic my sounds. She will just look at me and laugh. On the other hand, when I get angry and make a "mad" face, she will cry

What's puzzling is that she also has some positives:
1- she shares interest by showing and bringing toys and she will have a 3 point gaze when she sees something funny or unusual
2- she has good eye contact and social skills
3- she can imitate daily actions and use tools properly (brush her hair or teeth or rub lotion on her hair, use a tissue to sweep her or my face etc)
4- she as some play pretend skills (feed a doll, put a toy in a train and roll it)
5- she claps, waves bye bye, plays peekaboo (but rarely initiate it), will make the gestures along her nursery rhymes

She started physical therapy a week ago and is scheduled for speech therapy. Now I'm trying to get her into a full assessment unit but in France, it's quiet difficult. People won't bouge until she's 24 months or 18 at least.

Even if I know you can't diagnose my DD over the internet, could you please give me your opinion ? I'm I right to be this concerned ?

[PastysPrincess]

A major red flag for Autism is lack of eye contact and lack of social skills. You've said she is doing that, so that is very promising.

[SaltyMyDear]

Yes. You're right to be concerned. She may or may not have ASD - but she certainly may.

My advice is not to get overly concerned about a diagnosis. I don't know about France but here in the U.K. Nothing will change when you get a dx. So doesn't matter if you get one now or in 2 years.

What matters is what you do. And you don't need a dx to research autism and start deciding what you're going to do to help.

(Although sounds like you're already doing the right things)

[Astro55]

Have you had their hearing checked?

[pelicanpaul]

Everything your be said sounds well within the range of normal for her age to me

[tessiebear4]

She sounds totally on target for her age to me! My DS3 is 16 months and pretty much the same, and I have no concerns at all.

[MissAdaSmith]

A major red flag for Autism is lack of eye contact

it's not. it is not a diagnostic criteria either (I have a DC with severe ASD and good eye contact - it is rather common).

[Oysterbabe]

Why is she in physio and speech therapy? Are medical professionals concerned about her? She sounds completely normal.

[PurpleAlerts]

I was going to say have you had hearing checked? Not only could that be a reason for not responding it could also explain the late walking/ physical development and hearing issues can also affect balance.

[tessiebear4]

15 months is not late walking, btw. Cruising is fine at this age.

[gaelle79]

We have an appointment in about a week for hearing check.
She's in physio for an obvious reason: she will be 16 months in 11 days and still can't stand on her own let alone walk :(
She's in speech therapie for the same reason, a delay that is growing bigger every day.
The lack of pointing is THE thing that is driving me crazy right now. It's seems to be a fool proof symptom of a big problem. Either ASD, PDD or GDD.
I feel so overwhelmed and hopeless right now 😢

[tessiebear4]

As far as I know, 18 months is the milestone for pointing.

My DS is 16.5 months and he can't stand alone or walk. I'm not worried, my other children were 18 and 19 months before they walked.

16 months is really really young - still babies.

[buckyou]

She's still quite young for talking and walking. I think she sounds quite normal!

[purpleme12]

I think she sounds quite normal too. Especially with walking. Bit confused about that as you make it sound like it's a massive worry that she's not walking. I don't think it should be. Up till 18 months is seen as normal. My little one didn't walk til a day before turning 18 months. Bit confused at her being in therapy for this

[oldbagforlife]

She honestly sounds fine, are in the uk? I'm really really surprised they're seeing you for her not walking or talking at 15 months.

[Baggins2012]

I'm in the UK and at 14months my ds received physio as he wasn't even crawling. Now at 20 months he is still receiving physio as though he can crawl he cannot walk. He is not speaking or understanding much either.

He has been diagnosed with gdd with the possibility of social communication disorder. The earlier u can get treatment the better.

Btw, clapping and waving are the first signs of communication so that is encouraging! My ds doesn't wave or point.

[ttrrii]

@gaelle79 How is your DD doing now?