Autism in babies…

My son’s assessment was like that. He was referred at 18 months, we did various appointments with paediatricians, a salt etc . He had blood tests and a hearing test. Around 2 1/2 he attended an assessment centre every Thursday for 11 weeks then a multi disciplinary meeting with all HCP’s to confirm diagnosis.

My adult son was diagnosed at 3. I remember him being a “difficult” newborn but by about 4 months he was the easiest child ever. If I sat him in front of the TV he’d stay there until i moved him. We barely knew we had him. He had very little interest in us or anything around him though . He was very early with physical milestones. When he started waking at around 11 months he just got up and walked. He never tripped or fell over. He’s mid 20’s now and i don’t think he’s ever fallen over. He’s severely autistic and non verbal but was very easy, no behaviours until he reached puberty when it all went to pot but that’s another story!

ADHD isn't diagnosed that early. It's usually around 6.

Well son was dx at two and a half and daughter dx at week of second birthday through multi disciplinary assessments. Their diagnoses were as right then as they are now. Both their assessments included six weeks attendance at the SEN nursery at CDC so that they could be assessed and observed by the assessment team. Ds was referred to paed at 17months and dd at 13 months so GP obviously noticed difficulties, Paed referred ds for assessment at 2 years old and dd at 17 months. He was confident after chromosome and metabolic disorderschecks came back clear that they would get autism diagnoses.

DS1 was very chilled, would sleep anywhere and talked and walked at about 14 months. DS2 was a pain and cried a lot, walked at 9 months and is super bright. Both are NT

Dc1 was mostly the former. Hardly ever cried but when he did get upset, he'd bang his head off the wall/furniture until you stopped him. Was speech delayed. Walked confidently by 13 months (capable of at least a mile). Never commando crawled. Normal crawled around 6/7 months. Has issues around food. Was late to toilet train, skipped the potty stage entirely and went straight to peeing standing up.

Dc2 was the latter. I couldn't put her down without her screaming at me. Took until she was 4 til she slept through the night. She was a confident walker by 12 months. Crawled by around 6 months. Was also late to toilet train (3) and then just switched with no accidents whatsoever.

Both had "obsessions" from an early age. Dc1 discovered (Admiral) Nelson at 3. I've spent more time on historic ships than I care to admit. Ancient Egypt, Titanic, Volcanoes, Rain Forests, Shipwrecks, Pirates, Kings & Queens, Drowned cities and European conflict from 1914 onwards are all things they've been focused on and they're currently 5 and 9.

Both are very rule focused with perfectionist tendencies.

According to the HV, GP and the school, neither are ND. Must admit there are distinct similarities between them and me/dh (lack of sleep, interests, food issues/pursuit of perfectionism).

My dd was your first bullet point very laid back never cried (not even for a feed)slept from 6.30pm till morning I had to wake her for feeds could happily just leave her be and wouldn't hear a peep from her, starting walking at 11months.

I have three children.

Dd1 was a "textbook Gina Ford" type baby - sleeping through the night from about six weeks, always content and didn't cry very much - so good in fact that my MIL used to say "You don't know you've got that baby do you?". She is Neurotypical.

Ds was not the greatest sleeper, but not awful either. He probably started sleeping through reliably at a year old. Didn't like being put down - preferred to be held. He is Autistic.

DD2 is the one who I have always said if she was born first, she would have been an only child! She screamed for hours on end at night and only took catnaps during the day. Constantly wanted to be held. Needed rocking, patting, shushing, white noise for hours on end sometimes for a whole 40 minutes of sleep...... She's just been diagnosed with ASD and ADHD at the age of 12

The research is wrong. Us parents know. I knew with ds when he was 1 that he was autistic. I remember googling signs of autism in a 4 month old. I've always known from when he was very young.

With dd I knew at 2 and she was diagnosed at 3.

Both my children hit their milestones. No early help whatsoever for ds even though I asked everyone to look into this. He was diagnosed at 8 after years of me pushing and arguing with everyone who wouldn't help us. We went private.

Ds was like your first description and dd like your second description.

I've spoken to lots of different parents who's children were one or the other descriptions you've written there too.

All exactly like my ds awaiting diagnosis

there has been lots of research into early detection of autism - look up work from Klin - the title is 2 year olds but the study includes much younger kids
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07868

and also the Basis Network
https://www.basisnetwork.org/index.html

My quick summary of the field (I do related research) is

• there is no reliable way to tell if a child has autism before age 2 and some say you can't really tell before age 5
• many kids who have autism also have other learning difficulties or developmental delays. those might be apparent at an earlier age, but the things you notice are not specific to autism
• all kids can and do learn and should be supported to learn. especially if there are signs of delay, then it should be possible to support kids & families regardless of diagnosis.

It’s not that there are no symptoms before 2, it’s that totally NT children can display many of the same “symptoms” but will grow out of them, whereas with ND they usually become more obvious with time.

Where's your control group to compare this and data?

I think this is just confirmation bias being fed by validation and belonging.

Your observations - whilst interesting - aren't reliable, valid, credible or generalisable.

The links between prevalence of gut problems and ND may well explain why some babies are very unsettled from birth onwards. My daughter wasn’t diagnosed with adhd and sensory issues ‘til in her teens ,so very late ,we never had an inkling til then … but I had very unpleasant experiences of going to baby groups as she’d just scream continuously.

Sorry if you’ve already answered but why did you think this out of interest, and if you do t mind sharing of course? I have a similar aged baby.

Just remembered, she didn't crawl and went straight to pulling up and cruising.

I read recently this can be due to ASD in some children and the inability to coordinate both sides of the body required to crawl?

So was mine though, from 10 months. She just got up and walked one day. She's not autistic.

It’s easy to say with hindsight but I knew there was something with my DD1 from very early on. Extremely noise sensitive from birth, poor sleeper, extremely unsettled. She got happier the more mobile and in control of her own environment she became. I ‘joked’ that she was hyperactive. Hit all milestones and no issues with communication but she was extremely wilful and wild. Diagnosed ASD with SPD at 8.

DD doesn't have a diagnosis but is on the referral pathway on the recommendation of her childminder.

I suspected prior to the childminder suggesting it. It wasn't one stand out thing but lots of little differences from other babies and toddlers.

Very high needs. Like, oh my goodness we needed to anticipate her every little need before she even knew what it was.
Very unhappy and unsettled baby.
Has always struggled with routine changes.
Sensory defensiveness when we started weaning, struggled to eat a lot of foods.
Early talker, sentences at 18 months and lots of vocabulary. Heard a word once and remembered it. People commented on her speech a lot.
Never stops talking, it's like a compulsion.
Terrible sleep.

She's in reception now. Still struggles with sleep. Still very high needs. Most of her peers have caught up speech wise. It's becoming more obvious that she struggles socially.

Yes, mine was ultra chilled out as a baby. I thought she was a good sleeper until I realised that although I'd put her into the cot asleep and then she'd wake up and lie there in total silence. No peekaboo, no social smiles, no apparent need for cuddles and didn't seem to like them, didn't ever meet my gaze when feeding and no response to name. It was a classic, lights on, nobody home.
Come 13 months and everything changed to the total opposite. No speech until 3.5, barely slept and generally caused hell. She developed obsessions, had the need to line things up and has absolutely no empathy.
I knew deep down that something was off with the eye contact and lying in the cot and it just became more and more obvious.
I would say, despite all these things, she is an absolute treasure and I'd not change anything. All children are different and its lovely to see my DDs character and personality emerge, even if it is a little strange at times.

This is interesting to read. My 8yo DS had a slightly above threshold score on a screening questionnaire for autism recently and we've been advised to have further assessment.

He was walking completely confidently at 10 months old. Other milestones all a little ahead or on target. But he slept really badly for years, waking every one to two hours for years. He would also sometimes wake in the night but seem not really there and scream-cry for 2 or 3 hours, and the same waking from naps sometimes. I remember at 4 weeks old my mum, who is pretty reasonable, said "he's a very high needs baby" and I just thought she had forgotten the newborn stage.

He has always been really anxious and had awful separation anxiety, to the point that the reason for the screening was it was part of us working with a professional for help getting him into school. He has disliked being away from me his whole life, crying every morning for nursery for two years and then most mornings throughout infant school until year 4 really when he was given a special way to enter school that didn't involve the crowds in the cloakroom first thing.

He often uses almost extreme silliness to avoid demands, smiles and laughs when being told no or apologising....

But he can be quite empathic and tuned into people, he's sweet and funny and lovely and achieving fine at school. I can't decide whether to do the full assessment or not.