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Autism red flags?

5 replies

Wednesday23 · 20/04/2022 21:44

My daughter is 21 months old and for a little while I've started suspecting some form of possible autism. I'd love to get some input!

My daughter seems quite forward for her age. She has been able to count to 20, say the alphabet, she knows exact colours and knows her shapes for a good few weeks. She doesn't just mimic these but she recognises the letters, numbers etc (for instance: if I show her a certain, random letter or number, she knows what it is). She also loves to stack and organise, she lines up toys, stacks books etc, her speech also seems forward as I can hold a conversation with her. Again this has been the norm since about 18 months. She "flaps" and does some eye tracking too.

I do have history of Autism Spectrum Disorder in my family as my brother and sister have it so I'm more aware. My mum has also said that she recognises this behaviour from my siblings.


I'd love to get some input from other parents.

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Mimosachimosa · 20/04/2022 21:45

What's her eye contact like OP?
Does she have any obsessive interests/behaviour?

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Wednesday23 · 20/04/2022 21:54

Her eye contact is good. When I talk to her and ask her to listen, she will pay attention to me and look me in the eyes.

I'd say she has some repetitive behaviour... Like she'll go back and fourth doing the same thing for a little bit until she gets distracted by something else.

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Bessica1970 · 20/04/2022 22:01

What ‘red flags’ are you seeing?
She sounds like a very bright toddler to me - you haven’t mentioned any impairment at all.
For a diagnosis she would need to demonstrate the triad of impairments which I think are ‘social, communication and narrow interests’ but I may have remembered these incorrectly.

ASD is not awful for all children. Some are fortunate enough to have the positive aspects. While all people with ASD have the impairments which categorise the condition, some manage very well with support.

I have two sons (and a husband) with ASD, and while they all struggle with literalism and some social situations, their focus on their interests means they are all experts in their own areas.

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mynameisnotmichaelcaine · 20/04/2022 22:07

My DS1 is autistic. It took until he was 15 to get a diagnosis as he was able to mask extremely effectively. I had my suspicions from about the age of 4 though, so I just did everything I thought would help to support him, given that if he didn't turn out to be autistic, it wouldn't do any harm. So, a fairly strong routine, plenty of warning for activity changes and absolutely loads of reading fiction and discussing his feelings about what was happening to the characters/how they might feel.

He's 16 now, and doing pretty well - academically brilliant and doing ok socially. As a bonus for all the hours of reading, he's bloody great at creative writing, which is lovely, as Maths is his thing really.

I'm sure your DD will thrive with you looking out for her OP.

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Wednesday23 · 20/04/2022 22:13

I wouldn't say I've seen "impairments". My mum described my brother as a very bright toddler and child, very very similar to my DD and this is why she brought up ASD as she saw my brother in my daughter.

I have grown up surrounded by ASD as my brother, sister and step dad have it. I in no way think that it is a bad thing at all, I would just like to be prepared to help my child in anyway possible if it turns out that she has ASD.

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