Autism??

[Tentoes21]

Hello MNs.

My toddler is just over 18 months, a boy, and until recently developing really well.

He’s sociable, smiley, good eye contact, points, interested in others and talks well although...

Has always been obsessed with spinning things, will flip a trolley to spin its wheels.
Is fixated on balls - wants them first thing every day, limited interest in other things
has started arranging his toys (including lining them up), gets distressed if moved.

Starting to feel concerned now
especially as he’s started walking on tiptoes v. recently.
it’s a few things combined so could be autism......

I know the answer is to take him to be seen.... to prepare tho I’m hoping to tap into MNs online village for experiences to help me compare to what’s normal.

Has anyone seen these behaviours in kids who do NOT have autism??

Thanks all xx

Hi
I think at his age, and with his ‘symptoms’ (which is not many) it will be hard to give a diagnosis, and I think you should wait. My son is almost 6 now. At 18 months he was not pointing at all, he had a handful of words at most including mama/dada which were sometimes not used in the right context even. Eye contact was ok but not constant. He was always pushing at nursery and hitting but very happy and well behaved at home. He also liked to line things up and spin wheels! (Not all the time!) Now at nearly 6 he’s a bright and intelligent and popular boy at school. We had him evaluated at 4 and again at 5 due to bad behaviour at school namely pushing, hitting, frustrated. He doesn’t have autism, he doesn’t have adhd or any other SEN. He does have some mild sensory issues, which were dealt with with the help of an OT. Some behaviours he’s grown out of and moved on from, some he’s had help with from the OT, but from how he was at 18 months to now is completely different. He’s still not really a pointer I can’t tell you the last time he did, but I sometimes think we are bombarded and scared to death of all this information that’s thrown daily at us about autism etc that we convince ourselves of our kids have issues when in reality we just need to let them grow (and have a chance of growing out of certain behaviours) I would not worry right now. They go through so many ‘stages’ and just as I have one certain behaviour sorted they come out with something else. The internet is equally a blessing and a curse for us new mothers.

Autism is a social communication disorder, and while obsessions with spinning and lining objects can be associated with autism as stereotypical behaviors it does not define autism meaning that many children like to do many stereotypical behaviors which are associated with autism but are not autistic; so sniping in circles, lining objects (this is actually a milestone in one of the ASQ tests), rocking, spinning objects, opening/closing doors, flipping switches, etc because it is fun to do :) In addition, walking in tiptoes is a milestone and not concerning for under 3 year olds.

At 18M professionals will be looking for deficits in social communication (which is what autism is); so things like lack in pointing to share interests (so to a plane in the sky), weak social referencing (when unexpected things happen or while in new places the child will be cautious and making extra eye contact with the parent), general lack of a three point gaze, difficulties in following a point or a gaze (if you point you would expect the child to look at where you point and not at your hand, if you turn your head and say "look" you would expect the child to look at where you are looking and not at your face), etc.

Have you taken the MCHAT test online? if not then it's worth doing, only takes a few minutes -> www.autismspeaks.org/screen-your-child

Autism is a social communication disorder, and while obsessions with spinning and lining objects can be associated with autism as stereotypical behaviors it does not define autism meaning that many children like to do many stereotypical behaviors which are associated with autism but are not autistic; so sniping in circles, lining objects (this is actually a milestone in one of the ASQ tests), rocking, spinning objects, opening/closing doors, flipping switches, etc because it is fun to do :) In addition, walking in tiptoes is a milestone and not concerning for under 3 year olds.

At 18M professionals will be looking for deficits in social communication (which is what autism is); so things like lack in pointing to share interests (so to a plane in the sky), weak social referencing (when unexpected things happen or while in new places the child will be cautious and making extra eye contact with the parent), general lack of a three point gaze, difficulties in following a point or a gaze (if you point you would expect the child to look at where you point and not at your hand, if you turn your head and say "look" you would expect the child to look at where you are looking and not at your face), etc.

Have you taken the MCHAT test online? if not then it's worth doing, only takes a few minutes -> www.autismspeaks.org/screen-your-child