18 month old autism. Advice needed

[Leabee1234]

Hi all so I thought from early on my son may have autism.
This is the list of things

Fixated on spinning (especially toy car wheels)
Very quiet doesn't say any words hardly
He arches his back/ stiffens up when having a temper
He prefers to play alone rarely interacts wirh other children
He doesn't like loud noises
He laughs at other babies or just looks at them when they are crying
He doesn't always respond to his name
However he does have good eye contact
He isn't pointing or waving or anything like that
He doesn't look in my direction when I point
Not saying words or sentences sometimes babbles mama or dada that's it

The health visitor came to see him as the nursery also picked up on it and mentioned it to me and she has referred him for audiology, speech and language therapy and early years intervention I think for autism?

I have felt so upset and overwhelmed by this and just feel lost at what to do to try and help him
I'm a single mom his dad doesn't see him and it's just me and him and I can't help feeling guilty that I'm not doing enough to help him. My whole life is devoted to him I work part time and he goes to nursery 3 days a week

Is there any advice anyone can give how to help at home more or what to do with him where to go days out what activities to do at home to help? I just want my boy to be ok and it's just feeling mentally overwhelming as already had stress with his sons dad not seeing him and not helping anymore.

He seems like he's in his own world all the time ignores everything else and wonders around doing his own thing is another sign

That all sounds very standard for eighteen months old?

Sounds like a very normal toddler. If toddlers are ever normal. I’d put money on there being nothing wrong with him. Is there a history of autism in the family that makes you worried?

Yes it's just the health visitor did an assessment on him and saying he is scoring high for autism and seems like he might have it

Sounds normal, at least they are getting an appointment for his hearing.

This all made me wonder if he has some hearing loss perhaps?

Am sure that audiology will be doing hearing test for him.

Wouldn't have assumed Autism from your list, but do see how you've got there.

Hope you're not waiting too long to be seen, try not to worry.

Though I would point out that what you've listed sounds "normal" to me, and my only child is autistic so make of that what you will!

This is why I don't usually post(!)

Where are you based? You say Mom, USA?
This is very typical 18 month old behaviour. I’m surprised the health visitor is doing any referrals so young tbh.

That's not enough evidence to say.

How he is in nursery after a year or so will be a better guide.

For now just focus on developing his social skills.

It sounds like you have a very proactive HV. This is a good thing! If he has a language delay/ autism it is good to get on the waiting lists early and if he doesn’t then no harm done. All the evidence says that early intervention is very beneficial but so many HV refuse to refer!

Things I would work on: attention, understanding and a way for your child to communicate.

How is his attention? Can he read a short story? Can he play cars/ mega blocks/ colouring (whatever he is into with you)? If not, have a look at some of the Attention Autism stuff on YouTube. It’s basically just a exciting sensory activity but might give you some ideas of something you can do together to start building his joint attention skills.

How is his understanding? Does he follow simple instructions? If you asked him to get his shoes would he? If not, try taking it back to a picture level. So say “Shoes” and show him a photo of his shoes. Then point to his shoes and hopefully he will get them. Look up Intensive Interaction on YouTube. This is about spending a short about of time - maybe 3 lots of 10 mins over the day- copying and commenting on what your child is doing. It seems obvious but it’s actually quite difficult to do!

How does your child currently ask for things? How does he ask for food/ drink/ sleep? Signing can be a good tool here but as he isn’t pointing or waving I would suggest a Communication Board/ Book. Basically put pictures of his favourite food/ drink/ activities (swings at the park, feeding the duck etc) on a board/ book and then get him to choose what he wants by giving you a picture. Look up PECS and communication board for examples.

Try not to panic, OP. He is little still, and much better that the Health Visitor is aware and making some referrals now rather than years of you worrying while they 'wait and see'.

It'a really good thing to get hearing checked as there is a big crossover between behaviours caused by autism and hearing issues like glue ear. An eyesight check wouldn't do any harm either.

One thing we found helped support commincation and interation was that if DC won't copy what your are doing, then copy them instead. If DS is spinning the wheels of a toy car, get another car yoursefl, plonk yourself next to him and spin the wheels of your car. It teaches him that his actions (and eventually words) can be used to change you behaviour, so he will hopefully begin to initiate more communication over time.

There's a LOTyou can do to help him.

Speech and language will give you a lot of advice when you get to see them. Consider looking at Makaton which is signing alongside speech.

The early intervention people will also have a lot of advice.

Consider looking at the national autistic society website for information - they also run local parent groups which can be really useful.

www.autism.org.uk

Most 18 month olds don't interact much with other babies (they do parallel play, not together) and they certainly don't speak in sentences until they're about 2.

Try to relax. Some HVs seem weirdly keen to make it seem like everything is a problem. When we did the 1 year questionnaire, our boy got about 60% of the marks and the Health Visitor said she probably didn't have to refer him...refer him for what??

Hi I'm uk based !

Thanks everyone for your advice

Noone believed me when I started asking about my son. HV brushed me off at his 2 year review, nursery brushed me off several times over the years. I started thinking it was just me being neurotic, especially when his second nursery (we moved area) noticed signs and suggested a HV assess him - she did but told me it was my shitty parenting and he was fine... He's in school now, nearly 7 and a year and a half into our two year wait for assessment.

For us, the way in was having a hearing test. Once his hearing came back normal, more people were willing to consider other options. His behaviour became more erratic at school and his SENDCO said to me at the last meeting we had that she doesn't see a world where he doesn't get a diagnosis.

I'm not saying there's definitely anything in your DS' behaviour but if you're concerned, get all the balls rolling now - keep pushing, keep asking, keep going. My son could have started school with a diagnosis already in place if someone had taken my concerns seriously and his early school career could have been a lot more successful if we were all better equipped to handle his needs.

I hate the way autism is almost always stated to affect children here (to the point where I was advised to put my son on a waiting list ‘just in case’) but while some of this is standard for eighteen months, some of it isn’t. And given both the nursery and HV have raised it as a possibility I would probably go with that.

OP, you are lucky to have a very proactive nursery and SV. My advice is to take all the early intervention offered, this is key.

Hello, please do you have an update?