Hey everyone. So my son is 17 months old and I love him dearly, but sometimes I have some concerns and worries, namely about autism because I have a sibling with Level 3 ASD.
I feel like I see other 1.5 year olds that are a bit more advanced and (I know this will sound odd, but) disciplined than he is displaying right now.
I've broken down some of what I see are the positives/reassuring things he's doing and then what some of my concerns are. I'm not looking for any advice on talking to my pediatrician or considering early intervention, because we're already keeping an eye on him, I'm just wondering if anyone has any similar situations to share about their little ones that might comfort my concerns. Thanks
The good:
- Points at things a ton, and follows points as well.
- Tries to alert us of things he sees of interest, looks at us for reactions and for us to tell him what those things are.
- Looks at us to share moments when he finds something funny, has a good sense of humor.
- Very strong vocabulary and object identification skills. Very good at generalizing (he'll call a real cat and a tiny lawn decoration of a cat, a "cat"). Has probably 50+ words and knows the majority of the letters of the alphabet.
- Pretty frequently engages in little games with us like hide and seek, hand over eyes peek a boo, chase, making silly sounds etc.
- Hands/shares toys and books with us all the time, sometimes for the purpose of turning on one for him.
- Overall pretty good at communicating what he wants, will come up to us and say "up" with his arms raised when he wants to be picked up, will point to a bottle and say "baba" if he wants one.
- Fairly good eye contact, at least with us.
- Can calm himself down pretty easily, never fusses for too long, generally a pretty happy little boy. Loves toys.
My biggest concerns are:
- Only responds to his name when his father says it. When I say it, it'll be MAYBE 1 out of 8 times. However, when he does it's literally almost every time, so that tells me he at least knows it...
- Not really following ANY directions consistently. Everything is super scattered and he'll only occasionally do what you ask... Like 'clap your hands", "give me that", "tell me what that is", "where's your hair"? Those are examples and he CAN do all of those, but some days he just straight up will refuse or won't care. Alot of the time he just seems too focused on something else to care what you're asking and it's all on his terms.
- He doesn't seem super interested in other kids, or even other people who aren't his parents at all generally. He's far more interested in objects, for example at a playground by our house there's a mural of flowers that he absolutely loves and points at and is captivated by, but if other kids are around they'll be into looking at him but he'll maybe just glance at them real quick.
- Isn't very good or interested in following gaze. He can do it sorta, but you have to go "HEY LOOK!" and then turn your head real quick for him to catch on.
- Not very interested in mirrors or looking at himself, never really was.
- Will randomly stop doing certain things for a long time, the biggest example being waving. He was waving at 9 months old, did it for 2 weeks, then stopped for months, started doing it again for 3-4 weeks, and then AGAIN stopped.