Signs of autism in toddler

[Mumssupportingmums]

Hello everyone,

I hope this is a safe place to post my thoughts on for some advice.

Me and my partner feel my son may be showing some signs of being on the spectrum, my partner is a teacher so recognised a lot of signs in kids at school.

What was signs for you in early days? Toddler years?

ours are…

• Cannot cope when routine changes
• Hates getting things on his hands and has extreme meltdowns at times
• Cannot cope in large social situations with other children
• get fixated on things and it’s hard to change his mindset without a meltdown
• Does give eye contact but can sometimes look to the side if wanting to avoid it
• If doing a task like stacking books, he has to stack specific books and also if they fall he cannot cope and will again trigger a huge meltdown.
• Doesnt like physical touch of other kids and some adults (not too worried about this one though)

Now I know a lot of these could be toddler years. So I hope no one will answer with … ‘that’s just toddlers’ just looking for your experiences with your kids who have been diagnosed on the spectrum to see if you had early signs and what they were.

thank you 😊

How old is your son?

Hi there, depends what you mean by “huge meltdowns”. My little one was diagnosed at two and was non verbal, limited understanding, no relationships with peers at all, very little awareness of the world. I don’t recognise what you are worried about in my little boy. In fact, I wouldn’t say he has ever had a meltdown, been bothered about social situations or loud noises, mess on hands. He’s very much a sensory seeker though.

In my family and friend group, the main signs in toddlers who were later diagnosed with autism have been;

• Poor eye contact, taking many years to respond to own name and avoiding eye contact

• walking on tip toe

• stimming

• sensory problems with clothing, hair washing/styling, bedding, textures

• meltdowns for very specific things, such as when people sing happy birthday to them, strangers trying to talk to them, transitions between home and outside environments

• never naturally gravitating to other children to play with. Always preferring to play alone. Not sharing toys and not liking other people touching their things.

• Speech delay. Making up a language. Using few words but sometimes impressive vocabulary (ie "Do you think it will rain today Ava?", "Potentially, Dada" at the age of 2!"). Hand leading from young age. Trouble with knowing sentence structure, "me want little sister, me think mama should have baby sister. Me says yes baby sister." and instead of "I don't know", "me can't know" at the age of 5.

• Lining things up. Intense special interests from young age. Early fascination with reading (hyperlexia common in the girls) or numbers and early ability to learn patterns or memorise facts. Intellectually seeming older than other children whilst also seeming emotionally much younger.

• Fascination with lights as a baby.

• Spinning in circles. Wrapping self up tightly in fabrics, curtains etc, hiding in clothes rails. Wanting to be held tightly by parents with firm pressure.

• Atrociously bad at sleeping! Can function on next to no sleep!

• Very sensitive hearing.

All of these children would have been referred to in the past as "high functioning" or having "aspergers" and they all have at least one ND parent.

Hi there, I am also looking for a bit of advice. My youngest is 18 months, was walking at 10 months doing everything he should around that age if not a bit more. He says a few words like daddy, mama, cat, Nana and ball. However it is little things we are noticing that is different to our other children now our non verbal autistic nephew who is 5 was born. Our son doesn’t do much as play with toys but rather likes to destroy them. He will point to something and just make a humming sound. He will lay himself on the floor just rolling back & forth staring at the ceiling. He’s constantly spinning round in circles and making hand and neck movements. He constantly wants to turn things like the knobs on the cooker or washer, ripping wallpaper, biting and smacking. When he hurts himself he cry’s for all of 10 seconds then goes to do it again. He sometimes covers his ears if too loud. Forever climbing on furniture and just walking off a drop (bed,sofa, cabinet) no sense of danger at all. Constantly turning taps on ect. He was a great sleeper but wakes multiple times through the night and will only really settle if with me. He is stuck to my side and has meltdowns if I’m not there. He hates the other kids and my husband giving me cuddles. He is the most loving boy though and I’m worried I am looking too much into it and even how to approach the subject with the doctor! Does anybody have any advice or can relate with their children?

Can I also add he doesn’t always respond to his name or make eye contact and he will only eat certain foods over & over again. He also eats non edibles.

@MrsWard21 I think you may get more of a response from starting a new thread instead of posting on an existing one as this one didn't get many responses anyway.

Hi x in the same boat with DD ? May I ask for an update about your toddler ?