Severe autism question

[ladybug2020]

So I heard about a severely autistic child who now at age 9 can't talk. With that kinda child would it have been obvious they were severely autistic around 2 years of age?

Just anxious I guess as my 2yo babbling away but not talking

Anyone

Lack of speech is not even one of the criteria for a autism diagnosis so a toddler not speaking at 2YRs is not at all indicative of autism. Autism is not a speech disorder but a social communication disorder. If a 2YR old has autism it is likely that they will be showing signs which could be predictive of a future diagnosis, though lack of speech is not one of them.

What signs of autism?

He answers his name and has good eye contact and laughs lots and babbles away

Those are generally not reliable tests, as some/many toddlers/children with autism have excellent eye contact and can turn to their names when called so being able to do these things or not means very little in terms of autism. These are just some of the many myths about autism that you find by searching the web, others include that children with autism lack empathy and that they are not cuddly or loving which is total nonsense.

Autism is a social communication disorder so deficits at 2YRs old have to be observed in this area for autism to be even considered. So things that they would ask or look for are: Did/does he point to share interests with you? (like a plane in the sky) and did by 18M old, does he look at you from a distance when he is cautious or unsure (social referencing) and did so by 18M, does he look at you when she does something that he is proud of? (praise seeking), does he show/give you interesting things that she finds, and used to from 12M old? (like an interesting rock or leaf from the ground), etc.

Yes he shows me stuff but it's hard to read him sometimes as he's not talking and he's very clingy to me so he's always attached to me so he could be showing me something he likes or he could just be being clingy

Ah I see, 'showing' is when a toddler comes to you and lifts an object (over their head for example) to show you the object paired with eye contact and then after a few seconds he walks away with it and goes back to what he was doing - the idea is that he does not want anything in return, just to show you the object, i.e. he is sharing his interests. Or he may also give you the object and then walk away without wanting anything in return (so not a hug, does not want you manipulate the object in any way, etc). If he wants something in return, or needs you do something with the object (like label it, or wind a toy, or read a book, etc) then it would not be classified as sharing but meeting his needs. The other big one is pointing to share interests, like pointing to a plane in the sky or pointing to a big bird, etc. A typically developing 2YR old would be doing a lot of that on a daily basis.

He sometimes brings me stuff yes. He points but not lots

My child is autistic and was diagnosed age 6, he is verbal however. He met all his age 2 milestones, pointed, gave eye contact etc. Looking back the signs were more repetitive behaviours like he’d stand opening and a gate for example and he didn’t really play with toys in a creative way. Some kids have speech abs then lose it again so it’s really difficult to tell at thst age

Obviously I can't tell you if your child is autistic. But suppose for a minute they were, just because they are non-verbal at 2 doesn't mean they are permanently non-verbal. A lot of autistic kids pick up language a little later than neurotypical kids. It's not unusual for a kid to get to 3 or 4 and suddenly start using words.