Is my 18 month old autistic?

[brushlaptop]

My husband is beside himself with worry that our son is autistic. He is 18 months old and does not yet talk which I think is mainly why he is worried, but there are a few other things he doesn’t do like point and bring people toys/food. His development is otherwise normal, started walking at 12 months, crawling at 10 months sitting up 6 months and makes a lot of ga/bah/dah/gee noises just not specific words. I looked at a checklist for autism at his age and he doesn’t show all the signs but does some:

• not responding to their name - he does respond to his name
• avoiding eye contact - he doesn’t avoid eye contact
• not smiling when you smile at them - he does smile/laugh when smiled at
• getting very upset if they do not like a certain taste, smell or sound - not really, if there is a loud bang or something startling he gets upset but calms down quickly
• repetitive movements, such as flapping their hands, flicking their fingers or rocking their body - he doesn’t do this
• not talking as much as other children - true, he does not talk at all
• repeating the same phrases - he does not talk

One other thing he does is he loves the wheels on toys (have heard the spinning wheels thing is a sign of autism?) and he loves real life objects like the empty coffee tin, climbing on benches, and railings (so random?) Does anyone with autistic children know what the signs would look like at 18 months and whether we should be worried? We are seeing his paediatrician tomorrow just in case but my gut feeling is that he doesn’t have autism but he does have some kind of speech delay.

[brushlaptop]

Bump

[Foreverbaffled]

Have you done the MCHAT to see how he gets on? Might be worth a look.

www.autismspeaks.org/screen-your-child

[brushlaptop]

I haven't but thank you for that, it says medium risk 🤷‍♀️ so I guess let's just see what the doctor says

[Foreverbaffled]

Absolutely. It sounds like he has some wonderful positives

[AladdinMum]

Autism comes in many different shapes and forms, but it tends to impact on social communication - no words at 18M is not concerning, but not distal pointing to show interests by 18M or giving/lifting objects to show them to you (both examples of social communication) by 14M could be. The general rule of thumb for an 18M not passing the MCHAT is to be seen by a paediatrician, though having said that he does have some great positives so not very clear at all.

[brushlaptop]

Thanks so much @AladdinMum that's very helpful. We are seeing the paediatrician later today so hopefully will have an update and way forward then. Thanks again x

[r1911]

@brushlaptop hey, any updates or advice on how your DS is getting on would be really helpful - im so worried about my 20 month old who is showing similar behaviours

[brushlaptop]

@r1911 hello! Unfortunately he is indeed autistic, albeit "mildly".
A tough road ahead! If your son displays any of these symptoms get him looked at asap- early intervention is key

[r1911]

Thank you for replying! How is he doing now? Has he started speaking any words/pointing?

[brushlaptop]

@r1911 no words yet but pointing like mad! How's your little one? X