Autism at 19 Months

She has meltdowns / panic when faced with unfamiliar people or situations ( including her grandparents)

Be careful of using ‘meltdowns’ unless they really are meltdowns as opposed to being upset or having a tantrum.

For what it’s worth my completely neurotypical, albeit shy child was very much like this as a toddler. Took ages to warm up to people or places, even his grandparents who he saw twice a week. My autistic child had no stranger fear and even now will go up to random people in the street and talk at them. Being afraid of people who aren’t mum or dad is normal.

The NHS is unlikely to refer at the moment but you can pay for a private assessment, it'll cost around £250. I'm not sure if a private psychologist would assess at this age either but they might.

Sounds totally normal.

She sound developmental normal. Some children are more sensitive to unfamiliar things than others and that is normal.

Both of my kids don't do well in unfamiliar situations or with unfamiliar people. And to be honest both have had period where they don't go near people we see regularly (grandparents, great grandparents, friends, leaders of weekly classes). Both are fine and no issues.

If the HV, GP and Peds see no issue, please do not try and label you child now. It will cause you so much stress with noone else seeing things you do and your child issues in future.

That sounds pretty much like my DD at that age. She isn't autistic and the shyness and food issues got better with age.

One of my dc was diagnosed with ASD at 2.5 which is very early.

When you say ‘meltdown’ how long does this last and how does it resolve ? My dds meltdowns would be 2+ hours of shaking and screaming then followed by zoning out and then sleeping for hours. She had no speech at all at 2 and 10 words at 2.5 but she wasn’t using them in any communicative way. She was at nursery from 12 months so had been around others but if she was sat with other children to eat she would vomit and wasn’t able to eat or drink. She did the typical lining up of all toys and hand flapping as well. It was very obvious.

It might be worth a watch and wait and see how she develops because it might be a developmental stage and she just needs reassurance or if things don’t get better or get worse you can ask to see the HV or gp again.

good luck

And as far as I know, no one is going to send her for an assessment until she is at least two

I agree with the others. I’m autistic myself and have children with ASD. Your daughter sounds to be developing just right. Lots of children are very fussy about new foods, particularly as toddlers. She sounds a bit shy x

This all sounds very normal @Claire123e why do you think pulling faces and being fussy with food means she is autistic? In terms of being panicky with unfamiliar people and situations that’s just her personality. She probably has a little bit of separation anxiety that comes out in that way.

Sounds totally normal to me.

At 19 months this is within the range of developmentally normal behaviour. She's only been in the world for 19 months, unfamiliar situations and people trying to touch her, new tastes and textures, they are all an immense experience for a toddler and tantrums, fear, resistance, are all totally normal. I'm of course not saying she doesn't have autism but that at 19 months you wouldn't be able to distinguish it from normal behaviour. All you can do is keep being her calm, safe person in these situations and let her try in her own way, without making a big thing of it, for food just give her a range of options to feed herself, and also some of her favourite that you feed her, with new people and situations just keep trying them at her pace, don't force her to do anything in particular but show her you are calm and unafraid, and leave before she becomes overwhelmed if you can. If it continues on to school age you'll be referred for an assessment as it starts to diverge from normal behaviour. You can also repeatedly speak to your GP/health visitor if you continue to have concerns, over time it helps to build up a picture.

Sounds completely normal to me (whatever normal is!)
Is there a reason why you’re so keen for a label for her at such a young age? If she does turn out to exhibit more autistic traits later on then fine, but whilst she still so young and functioning OK, why do you want the label?

This all sounds perfectly normal for a 19 month old. Absolutely nothing you've said suggests autism.

She sounds developmentally normal to me OP. She is more likely to be shy if she's an only child and doesn't go to nursery. It's a developmental stage, she'll get over it with time and some gentle socialisation.
Lots of toddlers are fussy eaters at this stage too. You can only keep trying with new foods and try not to make an issue of it.