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Autism in 18 month old?

4 replies

Bakingmom · 27/11/2021 11:47

I’m looking for any advice from parents that have been on the journey of diagnosis for ASD in toddlers. I believe my 18 month old has been showing signs since around 8 months old. As she’s gotten older I’ve become more concerned. I took her to our GP last week and was basically laughed away. He said “no one will give you a ASD diagnosis at 18 month” I know this might be true that she is stil too young, but I’ve read that waiting times for assessment can be up to 12months+ and that was before the pandemic. Wouldn’t it be best to get the ball rolling or am I being an over panicked parent and should I wait to see if these behaviours settle down with age?
Any advice from anyone that has been through this process would be great as at the moment I feel like my mum instinct is telling me something is there but everyone else is telling me I’m being over sensitive.
I’ll include the list of signs to see if anyone has had similar ones and got a referral/diagnosis.
Thanks!

  • Flapping hands
  • Opening fingers/hands when excited
  • Eyes looking up and to the side a lot
  • Bad balance on feet
  • Very very fussy eater
  • Very bad sleeper since birth
  • Hardly any communication/talking- can understand some things I say but can only say mama dada yes and no
  • Stacking toys, putting them in a bucket one by one
  • Very neat, good fine motor skills, takes time doing something one at a time eg pouring/spooning
  • Doesn’t like mess on hands
  • Tantrum for over 30 minutes- crying and screaming nothing helped to calm down- throwing self back on floor
  • Cries/fussy if something she doesn’t want is near her e.g food on tray, has to push it away, bottle near her
  • Spinning in circles
  • Recently started to cry at the other baby in the childminders care, won’t play with him or interact with him
OP posts:
CP2701 · 27/11/2021 13:06

Sounds just like my wee girl at 18 months and she's almost 3 now and totally fine.

The flapping and hand thing when excited etc are all normal. Both of my children hated getting their hands dirty. Both Crap sleepers and fussy eaters! 😂 Both of my girls also put wee toys in buckets etc one by one, then moved them into other things. It's just part of their development.

There's nothing really standing out as yet i would say. But then, I'm no expert.

underneaththeash · 27/11/2021 13:22

Doesn't sound that unusual to me. Couple of my children had sensory issues when they were young.

18mo don't play with other children.

PanicBuyingSprouts · 28/11/2021 07:34

Totally agree that children of this age don't play with other children, that doesn't happen for quite a while yet.

If you're worried about the potential of ASD though, have you done the MChat test? That's usually quite reliable, although not infallible.

This progress checker from ICan will tell you if he needs some additional support with speech and language.

Vittoria123 · 03/07/2024 20:09

Bakingmom · 27/11/2021 11:47

I’m looking for any advice from parents that have been on the journey of diagnosis for ASD in toddlers. I believe my 18 month old has been showing signs since around 8 months old. As she’s gotten older I’ve become more concerned. I took her to our GP last week and was basically laughed away. He said “no one will give you a ASD diagnosis at 18 month” I know this might be true that she is stil too young, but I’ve read that waiting times for assessment can be up to 12months+ and that was before the pandemic. Wouldn’t it be best to get the ball rolling or am I being an over panicked parent and should I wait to see if these behaviours settle down with age?
Any advice from anyone that has been through this process would be great as at the moment I feel like my mum instinct is telling me something is there but everyone else is telling me I’m being over sensitive.
I’ll include the list of signs to see if anyone has had similar ones and got a referral/diagnosis.
Thanks!

  • Flapping hands
  • Opening fingers/hands when excited
  • Eyes looking up and to the side a lot
  • Bad balance on feet
  • Very very fussy eater
  • Very bad sleeper since birth
  • Hardly any communication/talking- can understand some things I say but can only say mama dada yes and no
  • Stacking toys, putting them in a bucket one by one
  • Very neat, good fine motor skills, takes time doing something one at a time eg pouring/spooning
  • Doesn’t like mess on hands
  • Tantrum for over 30 minutes- crying and screaming nothing helped to calm down- throwing self back on floor
  • Cries/fussy if something she doesn’t want is near her e.g food on tray, has to push it away, bottle near her
  • Spinning in circles
  • Recently started to cry at the other baby in the childminders care, won’t play with him or interact with him

Hi
Any update please ? ☺️ how’s your little one doing ?

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