Identifying ASD traits.

[Writerwannabe83]

Can I just ask those of you who have a child who has been diagnosed with autism or any other condition on the spectrum, at what age did you initially start to have concerns about your child's development?

I only ask on behalf of a friend who in conversation talks about her DS (who will be two in July) and some of his behavioural traits that worry her but she won't seek advice as she thinks he's too young for the behaviours at actually mean anything so no HCP will be interested.

A colleague at work has a 12 year old DD who was diagnosed as having autism when she was six but my friend said in hindsight there were signs from a really young age that indicated that something just wasn't right.

At what age should a 'parents intuition" be listened to and taken seriously even if that child is still quite young?

Any advice or thoughts really appreciated.

I had niggles when DS was 3 and asked for support from the HV with his behaviour and she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. It was when he started school that the shit really hit the fan as he just could not cope at all and the teachers picked up straight away that there was something wrong. He was diagnosed age 6 due to the ridiculous waiting times for assessment. Looking back there were signs from as young as 8 months old but as he was my first i didn't know any different.
It depends on what the concerns are and how badly affected the child is as to how seriously HCP will take parents concerns. DS is fairly articulate and only had slight delays with his development so nothing jumped out as seriously wrong until he started school. My friends little boy is severely affected, he was diagnosed at 2. He is now 8 and is nonverbal, not toilet trained and has severe learning difficulties. Some children who are bright, verbal and appear to be just on the 'edge' of fitting in don't get diagnosed until much later.
A lot of HCP seem to be wrongly under the impression that they cannot do anything until a child turns 3. I would advise your friend to contact the HV or GP and just discuss her concerns. If she gets turned away then at least her concerns are recorded so if she needs to go back in a few months they can see that things haven't changed.

Had suspicions at 6-12 months. Was almost certain before he was 2. He was.diagnosed at 3.

Do the M-CHAT online. I think you can adjust it for what age the child is.

Thank you everyone, I will look at the M-CHAT.

My friend actually came round with her son earlier and they were here for about 1.5 hours and in that time he barely made a sound. He doesn't say a single word, he just grunts. He was also completely expressionless, he would stare at me but absolutely nothing I did could elicit any kind of facial reaction to me. I think this is one thing my friend is concerned about.

He hit my DS really hard because he wanted the toy my DS had and I can't say I was impressed with that but I know kids will be kids. My friend said her DS's temper and behaviour can be really bad at times in that he pinches, hits, slaps, pulls people's hair etc if he doesn't get what he wants. I thought that may be down to frustration though because he cannot vocalise his feelings.

I guess it's just so hard to know what's normal and what isn't seeing as children hit developmental milestones at all different ages.

Wow, 13 months is early. What concerns did you have?

In our area of the country the development check isn't fine until 2.5 years old (sometimes nearer 3 years) which is another 6 months away minimum for my friend.

10 months I suspected even though everyone was telling me I was imagining it-at just 2 she was referred for SLT during thec1st meeting the therapist voiced her concerns and she got referred for assessment diagnosed at 39 months with HFA.