6.5 mo getting v worried about development. Help!!

[goldie12]

Looking for some honest opinions!! My DS is 6.5 months and I am worried about several things that he's not doing.

• Doesn't roll either way. Has nearly gone back to tummy a few times but can't seem to move his arm from underneath to get all the way over.

• Doesn't reach out for toys v often

• slow in other things,eg, only started grabbing his feet at 6 months

• Often won't give me any eye contact when sitting in high chair

• Mostly happy to lie on back and kick or sit up and look around

• Not upset if I take a toy away and can't pass things hand to hand (only does it by accident)

I think it's the not rolling and lack of motivation to move in any style that worries me most. Would appreciate any views. I kinda think he has weak arms, wrists.

On the plus side, he has been bearing weight on his legs since 3.5 months and loves to stand. He sits unaided (since 6 months) and has a wicked laugh!

Anyway, I won't waffle on any more. Do you think I should be worried

QOQ- Yes, I do find the postnatal group comparisons quite hard and it probably gets harder as they get older too. DS is definitely the nosiest though. I think DS is teething- do you think that may be responsible for his disapperaing voice and loud wailing instead (v. out of character for him). He has spent the last 5 days with his lips sucked in as if chewing on them. Would win a gurning prize!!

Jimjams- he's definitely not deaf and is good at turning towards a voice.
You sound so sorted and calm!! I think having known a severely autistic child, I know how difficult the future would be and I find it frustrating having to wait it out, being reassured one minute and convinced of autism the next.

Facing (the possibility of) it the second time isn't as bad as the first Plus ds1 is going through a lovely phase- and even if it did strike again it wouldn't have to be severe.....

If you don't mind me asking Jimjams, how severe is your DS1? Does he have any speech? Does he have a PECS schedule at home or anything?

I know if it's your first DC, autism is probably impossible to dx at 7 months but if you're honest, do you have 95% gut feeling whether he's OK or not by now? He certainly sounds fine from what you're saying. I personally think an experienced dr/expert could tell whether a 6-12 month baby is on the spectrum (if they had no worries about being sued for misdiagnosis)!!

DS3, not 'he'...sorry!

I think ds3 is OK- only one thing that concerns me- he kind of scratches the surface of things...... I think I'll know by 12 months..... Sometime in the next 6 months anyway. I'm not sure about dr's being able to dx but I think most parents of autistic children can When he was younger I thought 99% that he was OK. Now I'm more parnaoid but that's because its getting close to the time I'll know for sure. If he is autistic he's very different from ds1 as he's not remotely passive- so he'd probably be more of a nightmare! I feel more 50:50 atm but a lot of that is paranoia.

Ds1 is non-verbal- but his receptive language is coming on leaps. I'm not sure he'll ever speak as I think he has a lot of processing problems iyswim- it's more than language. He uses PECS. I don't bother much with schedules because he's not really routine bound. HIs rigidity tends to come more from OCD type behaviour. He's very affectionate, and since changing to special school very happy. He sleeps well at the moment as well and is very calm. He;s hard work becauase he requires constant supervision, but not in other ways really.

What's your background? You seem quite knowlegable!

i do use immediate schedules- buttons for counting down then finished etc - just not timetables as such at home.

Your DS3 sounds v. different to DS1. Is he just trying to reach things when he's scratching etc?
Background is reading too much about all this on the internet .
Also taught a severely autistic boy a few years ago before he transferred to special school at 7. He had no speech, often v. aggressive (headbutting other children etc), numerous food allergies, in nappies still. He had a rigid pictoral schedule and used PECS with some success. Always really felt for his Mum- she was understandably v. worn down. Having taught him has not put ideas into my head about my DS but over time, DS seems to be showing quite a few signs. REALLY hope he's just a slow developer.

the little boy sounds like ds1 in mainstream (he wasn't exactly in nappies but he wasn't exactly toilet trained when he started either, and he didn't go for the other children- kept well clear of them- but he did go for the staff). He's completely different now he's in a special school. I'm very different as well- I think I was worn down when he was a ms- dreaded every pick up and drop off to be honest.

ds3 is definitely feeling things.....

Jimjams - sorry to butt in but just wondered what is the significance of scratching the surface of things? Am just curious as I would have thought this was usual exploratory behaviour?

Thanks.

depends how its done. DS3 is more stimmy- repetitive- sometimes purposeful- but often not- just a sensory thing. I wouldn't even have noticed if I wasn't watching everything though.

oh god sorry to hijack but my ds 10 and a half months and not pointing or waving. I feel in every other way he's fine, tho he also loves scratching surfaces he can be easily distracted. Don't know if i should worry.

i know i've brought up the pointing thing before, but i wondered if not waving was significant.

DS1 didn't wave until he was well over 1yr old

DS2 started at 14 months

A friend DS2 who's just turned 15 months started waving a few weeks ago.

when did he point QofQ?

DS1 - can't remember exactly- around 1yr I think

DS2 was a little earlier at around 11 months

can't imagine my ds pointing by a year - i do hope he does.

ruty the thing with pointing is that there's no kind of obvious slow build up. They just point (NT kids this is)- one minute they don't and one minute they do. When ds2 was 11 and half months I had a week of a total panic attack because he wasn't pointing and I'd just met my first baby of the same age (I hid a lot with ds2!) who was pointing. I was dreadful for that week- then suddenly one week after he turned one he started pointing, and then suddenly a couple of weeks after that he was doing all thet Point "uh uh uh" ad things of interest etc and I knew he was fine. But it really was a big change in a matter of weeks.

Waving is kind of important- but much less so. Ds2 was ropy at waving, ds1 ironically was rather good when he was little. DS1 has actually just started to try and wave again - at age 6 (but he gets the action wrong). So I think a complete absence of waving at 2 may be a cause for concern- but its an indicator of ability to imitate, rather than an inbuilt developmental thing like pointing.

thanks jimjams - i feel now much more sure he's fine - he's come on in leaps and bounds - but i guess as you say the pointing thing is the biggie which will really put my [our] mind at rest.

I know you said not to worry about losing early sounds Jimjams but it is really worrying me. The fact that he won't accept a spoon at all now is REALLY worrying me, nor is he really wanting finger food. I know this can't be normal. He was behind with development anyway and seems to have regressed in two things in a week . Do autistic children generally regress this early?

All my DS has sone this morning is sit up with his lips pursed most of the time and play with things immediately in front or to the side of him. If something is out of reach, he is happy to just look around at stuff or if I'm at the other end of the room, look at me. I am feeling a bit desperate and frustrated- surely these things aren't just teething. Sorry to be so negative but I just feel I need some answers v soon or at least some ideas to try and help him. Do you know of any organisations or anything jimjams?

one thing I suggested to ruty when her ds was 6 months was to contact Paul Shattock at the autism research unit in Sunderland to arrange for a urine test for IAG. (It was the first thing I did when worried about ds1). As a result of that ruty's ds is now gluten and casein free (have I got that right Ruty?). Her ds was showing gut problems though. I think its an easy thing to do and if it comes back as positive its pretty easy to go gluten and/or casein free at this age. (I'm keeping ds3 gluten free until he's 2- did the same with ds2).

Type ARU autism sunderland into google and you'll get all the details.

There is a book called somehting like the boy who looked through windows about a mother who had concerns about her young baby. She did son-rise with him I think, which I don't think is great (I think ABA/rdi are better) but I think it mentions other things as well that she did with him as a baby.

You could also look at something like RDI as that aims to teach normal development- so in other words can be started early I would imagine. The website is something like the connections centre- again you'll find it through google.

But try not to worry too much- it's easy to get an idea in your head and then fit everything to it at 6 months iyswim. I do think that its really hard to tell at 6 months.

yep my boy is gluten and casein free. And i feel his language got back on track when we started that, altho of course he's rather young to be able to tell anything like that for sure.

Thanks for those Jimjams- I will look into them all. What is the deal with gluten and autism- does it worsen autistic characteristics? I haven't started gluten yet as DS has a milk allergy. He was having blood in stools at 8 weeks. Am I right in thinking a lot of autistic children are allergic to dairy etc?

Ruty- what is the story with your DS? Did you suspect something early with him behaviour/development wise? How is he now and how old?

A lot of autistic children/adults have "leaky" membranes- so their membranes (gut/blood brain barrier etc) let in molecules that are larger than normal. The problem comes with gluten and casein (milk protein) because when they are incompletely broken down they form opiate type substances. DS1 was a pretty classic picture. He had a wide and varied diet (would eat anything) then got ill at 11 months- was treated aggressively including a lot of antibiotics and steroids. Following that he stopped eating until he was eating only bread and cheerios. He was addicted to the gluten! We withdrew gluten at 2 and he immediately (within 2 days) stopped counting stairs obsessive compulsively. A couple of weeks later he had a tiny amount of gluten in error and stair counting started again - went as soon as I realised that I was feeding him gluten (I made some buns- used the wrong baking powder). We've tried him casein free twice but haven't seen any difference (and casein didn't show up on his urine test). Now if he has gluten (or MSG or sweetners especially) he head bangs enough to bruise quite badly - opiates have an effect on pain receptors though don't they! (gluten and casein don't form opiates- they just have asimilar effect).

The test is really simple so I think worth doing - although you may need to talk to Paul Shattock as if he isn't having any gluten/casein anyway it may not be possible to run the test. He might be worth talking to anyway for ideas (he's lovely).

hi goldie - how interesting that your babe had blood in his stools at 8 weeks - mine had the same thing from 3 to 6 months on and off. He had lots of mucus too. We finally stopped that by combining breastfeeding and me on a gluten free dairy free diet and neocate formula. He started to behave more like his old`self when we did this. We did the Sunderland urine test and he showed up with IAG, even tho he was gluten free, which meant he mustn't have gluten, and with casein in his urine [his dad had given him one bottle of dairy formula in the weeks before the test - which meant no dairy. We feel an awful lot better about him now - he was happy and smiley and chatty up to three months, and then went rather quiet at 6 months. He is now happy and chatty and giggly again. I feel he is ok now, just on tenterhooks for the pointing , but i feel basically he is ok. BTW he was a very late crawler and only really got the hang of it recently. Speak to Paul shattok - he is really great. And Mike Tettenborn who we saw privately [Jimjams told me about him] is also great. Thanks to him the gastroenterolgist we were seeing has stopped moaning at me to give my son weetabix! Good luck x

my ds is 10 and a half months now.