Autism help please

[Lily189]

Sorry long post

Hi everyone I have a 19 month old son who is currently in the process of being diagnosed with autism
He is non verbal only thing he says is dada baba but he dosnt understand what meaning of them is the only other ways he communicates is high pitched noises

Recently hes been throwing alot of tantrums and crying niping and biting me and it seems it's because he cant tell me what he wants h
I've tryed cue cards but he wont concentrate on them I've even put the objects like a bottle food or his favourite toy with the cards to see if he understands but so far it hasnt worked but I'm keeping trying everyday
Can anyone give me tips on how to help him communicate with me

Also he constantly cries for food even tho hes well fed hell cry infront of the fridge if I have fo in the fridge and dont give him anything he throws tantrums teys push me towards the fridge nips and bites
Is this part of autism or something else I should mention to his doctor

And potty training is just not happening a bought him a potty looks just like a toliet and has a flush that lights up he loves playing with it climbs on it buy screams when you take his nappy off and sit him on it and he wont go
All tips would be great

It's just a stressful time he was always such a calm baby and reaching all his milestones saying alot more words all until he hit 12 months then he regressed and now his just in his own wee world most of the time and dosnt even really acknowledged anyone around him
I just feel so sorry for him and wish he could tell me what's wrong it breaks my heart not hearing his wee voice and not knowing how to help him

All advice and help would be great thank you all so much

I don't have a huge amount of advice - I'm just going through the assessment process with my DS right now so I understand how stressful and overwhelming it is.
The one thing that stands out for me here is that it's probably far too early to think about potty training him. He's only 19 months - that's very young to push it. Wait until he's ready. My DS was around 3. Easiest thing ever simply because he was ready to do it.

Definitely knock the potty training on the head. That's very young for children even with no ASD or other SEN. DD is neurotypical and was 2.5 and all her NT peers were around that age too.

19 months is still very young, so there a lot that can change in a short space of time.

Hi. I have a 9 year old severely autistic child snd the early years we're very tough.
Agree with pp, it's definitely too early to potty train. Very early for picture exchange communication too.
The crying for food sounds very familiar to me too. My son wanted to eat all the time and would have huge meltdowns if he didn't get food. I used to make sure I had meals prepared so that I just had to heat up when we got in from somewhere so he didn't have to wait because he'd just scream. Then I was pretty relaxed about giving him multiple snacks. He loves rice cakes so I just let him have them when he wanted. He's much less obsessed by food now and cries a lot less.
My son likes to be out and about and particularly when he was little would cry if we spent too long in the house. We generally go out at least three times a day.

As others have said, 19 months is very young for potty training. Most children are at least two, or even three isn't uncommon.

The eating thing could be sensory related, either an impulse because he enjoys the sensation of chewing/ swallowing, or maybe he's undersensitive to the feeling of been full. I'd probably just make sure there were plenty of snacks you don't mind him having (rice cakes, bread sticks, cucumber etc). Possibly reduced meal size a little so he can eat more frequently without overeating.

He may be too young for this, but a friend with a similar sounding DS had a lot of success with a snack chart stuck to the fridge. Just a piece of A4 with 6 pictures of different snacks options he could point to.

my son is 4 and was diagnosed with asd just before 3. 18 months was a difficult age due to him being very frustrated at not being able to communicate. He never babbled either, so no baba mama etc no pointing or anything. It was just him screaming, meltdowns and pulling me here and there and me not understanding what he wanted.
My son did respond to flashcard/pictures at some point. I think around 2.5. They had to be actual photos of the same object. As a photo of a random bottle of water didn't make sense to my son, So I took photos and laminated them. I also found a few foods he loved (watermelon, bananas and rice cakes) and fed them to him constantly throughout the day so I could feed him before he ended up having a meltdown.

Potty training didn't happen until nearly 4. But it was quick and easy. 18 months is very early , and probably way too early if he has asd.

A bit of a breakthrough came when I was given some PACT training (paediatric autism communication training). To communicate with my son (not necessarily verbal, but any kind of communication - smiles, looks etc) I really had to go into his world. I found it really helpful. Much more helpful than speech therapy in my opinion.

Please know it will get better!

@pparrotonthesofa How is your son now ?? Any updates will be appreciated

@CCatheP how is ur baby mom is he talking