What is the earliest age for diagnosing autism?

[Rozzzeto]

Hello,

What is the earliest age at which autism can be diagnosed in a baby?

My little one is 2.5 months old, and I am a bit worried about his condition. He constantly sticks out his tongue, often moves his head from left to right and back when he is nervous, and frequently looks to the side without turning his head.

Overall, he follows objects and colorful toys quite well, coos a lot, and smiles when he sees me (though not always), but he does seem to observe people around him a lot. I can't tell if he recognizes where sounds from toys are coming from—sometimes he turns his head, but I don't know if it's just a coincidence.

I know that many of these behaviors are normal for a boy his age, but I would still love to hear an opinion.

DC was diagnosed at 3 years, started the pathway and other services around 20 months. They were put under watch and wait and went to panel 3 times before multiple services were confident enough they fit the criteria to be diagnosed.

The watch and wait was to see what was slow/different development and what was in the realms of standard toddler behaviour. We had access and support of several services to encourage development in areas they were severely behind in during this time and afterwards.

I'd suggest finding out the EYFS Small Steps and holistically track your child's development. Also speak to you HV if you have concerns as they'll be able to help.

The PP has made some great suggestions already. At 2.5 months though even if you have strong traits being demonstrated realistically you’re not going to get a referral for a long time.

Ds was diagnosed at 3. We contacted the GP with concerns at around 9 months and he was on the pathway from then. We had lots of people telling us you can’t possibly tell he had autism so young etc but it was really clear to us. We had an older child and his behaviours were really extreme in terms of being different. I have autism myself and my dh has a brother with autism so we knew very quickly what we were experiencing were signs of autism - Ds was super noise sensitive, he would scream on and off all day long only sleeping for 2 hours in short blocks in 24 hours even as a newborn. He never made eye contact. Hated noise of other babies / children. We couldn’t go in any shops / anywhere other than a quiet walk outside as the noise would start him screaming. We’d be unable to have the TV on or music on at home - music was the worst thing and would really set him off. He would stare at patterns made by sunlight on the floor and was very late at meeting all his milestones.

He’s now 12 and attends an autism specific specialist school and has made amazing progress, he is looking to sit GCSES and go to college. I think part of this was getting a diagnosis so young and us pushing for things like an ehcp (he had one at 4, we applied ourselves) and we were adamant we didn’t want him to go to mainstream due to his high sensory needs.

Is there a reason you're looking for signs so early? Do you have other children with autism? Seems strange to me to be considering this at only 2.5 months old.

Do you know I completely didn't see months and assumed it was years 😅 might show just how far behind dcs development was as a toddler, as it sounded completely reasonable and normal for our house at 2.5 years!

I mean with DC looking back the signs were there from very young but not in a way I would have raised concerns at the time.

I knew from within minutes of my son being born that something wasn’t right and actually had him checked over again by the paed who said he was ok. I even told my friend when she visited me a few hours after he’d been born.

I first said I thought he was autistic when he was 8 months old but I’d been thinking it for months by months.

My son is now 33 and profoundly autistic with multiple other Dx.

My eldest had his final diagnosis at 2 and a half years old. Looking back now the signs were there pretty much from birth but it wasn't until he was maybe a year old that it became obvious to everyone and by the time he was 18 months old he was already being assessed and having play therapy and the home visiting service.

From birth I was convinced he hated me. He would go rigid when i tried to cuddle him. He wouldn't make eye contact. He wasn't interested in interacting how you see babies interacting with their mothers. He was more sort of feed me with as little touching as possible then fuck off.

My youngest otoh was dx at 3 after a massive regression and until the regression he had been developing as expected. Two autistic children, two very different presentations.

The earliest they can be referred to the pathway way is 2 in my area

No, neither of us has close relatives who are autistic. I’m just wondering if other kids are the same way.

If your an experienced mother, my son was my 5th child, it’s entirely possible to pick up on things like I did even from birth. In fact I had also mentioned during my pregnancy things felt very different.

I've never heard of any information to suggest that the child having autism can affect a woman's pregnancy. Are you sure that was related?

Unless your dc has significant developmental delays alongside asd it would be extremely difficult to tell at 2 months . I have worked with disabled children for years and have relevant experience/qualifications in diagnosis, I recognised signs on my own son from 9m. I spoke to hv at 20m who agreed, I referred to salt and salt/hv refered to paediatrician who put ds on pathway. Ds was 25m at that point. This was 7 years ago, pathway in our area was around a year. Ds was seen 14m later and diagnosed at 3 years 4 months. I believe through NHS most areas the wait it around 2 years for under 5’s and longer for over. Obviously private is quicker but not always recognised by school/nhs.

id see where your ds is in a year.

@Weepixie how interesting. I had a very similar experience with my child.

Do you have health anxiety? Autism is very hereditary, so if you and your partner don't have autism then it is not very likely that your son will have it. Although obviously there are a lot of undiagnosed adults.
If there is no family history and it is preoccupying you, then you could have post natal anxiety or post metal depression. It might be worth chatting to the GP or health visitor for some support.

He's a tiny baby OP, note down your observations just in case but I would just wait and see how he develops if you don't already have ND conditions in the family and try not to worry.

I'm an autistic adult and a parent of a child with autism. Nothing you describe is an autistic symptom.

Like others, I knew there was something within the first few months but couldn’t put my finger on it. By 18 months I knew it was autism and he was eventually diagnosed around 3 1/2. The symptoms you mention aren’t concerning, but parental feelings should always be considered. The diagnosis pathway is usually very slow so it doesn’t really matter what age children can be diagnosed at. Have you considered a follow up hearing test?

People say you can't tell early on. But having experience with my own baby and looking back to my nephews (severely autistic) behaviour as a young baby, the signs were there.

That being said, the concerns you have are normal developmental behaviours at that stage. Smiling, cooing and eye contact is great.

Try not to obsess about autism. It's not a disease and people live a full, lovely life with it.