fao amberlight - should i be concerned

[mumu80]

hi i am quite new to this so please bear with me, i have a ds who is 2.5 and is going to a SALT due to delayed speech,only a few words, i have had concerns he may be on the spectrum, mainly he gets really obsessed with things (at the moment hoovers) he has poor eye contact, isnt making friends at nursery and seems really sensetive to loud noises etc and is seriously uncomfortable when we get visitors to the house.
I saw your thread earlier it was a list of questions,about 11 of them sound like my ds. His SALT has refered him to see a developmental pead and says they will asses him to see if they think he has autism, by what i have said do you think this sounds likley?
Its hard as my dh dosnt even think he has delayed speech,is this all in my head or is it a possibility...??
He is happiest at home when its just me and him playing and dosnt really seem interested in anyone else, he is a gorgeous litte boy and i love him to bits and just want to do what is best for him.

Hi Mumu80, I'm not an Expert or a Diagnostic Professional so my opinion is just me having a think about things. Plenty of people here who are wonderful at ideas and suggestions and support so I hope you hear from lots of people on this.

I'd say that it's possible, yes. But not definite. If a child is struggling with language, it can affect their social skills and their ability to cope with new things. That isn't the same as autism, though, so it takes a good team to work out what the differences are.

On the list that I put on another couple of threads, I would have scored on all 23 things and I'm diagnosed, (though people don't have to score on all 23...).

You are absolutely right that he's still your gorgeous and lovely lad, worth all the love you have. I'd say just see what the professionals think and chat to lots of people. Hope that helps a bit...and good luck with your DH and his worries, too!

thank you amberlight :)

amberlight- which is your thread with the list on?? My DD1 has speech issues, together with some other "lesser" concerns, but I think i may be burying my head in the sand sometimes...

i copy pasted this from amber lights thread yesterday...its really usefull..!!

amberlight Wed 22-Sep-10 08:57:41
I posted a version of this on another thread....might be useful for people wondering what professionals might look for and ask about in interviews and assessments with a child and the family. (based on the sort of testing done by the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge - full versions of standard questions available on their website)

1.Does s/he find it difficult to join in peacefully and cheerfully when playing games with other children? (most children with an ASC don't)

1. Does s/he come up to you spontaneously for a chat and is interested in you rather than just telling you information and going again? (most don't)
2. Was s/he speaking by 2 years old in a fairly usual way for 2yr olds? (most have unusual speech patterns, no speech or use speech in odd ways even if we can say the words, though experts are a bit about this part of the diagnosis these days)
3. Is it important to him/her to fit in with the peer group ? have the same toys or clothes or interests as them? (mostly we don't care)
4. Does s/he appear to notice unusual tiny details that others miss ? sight, sound, smell etc? (our eyesight and hearing is often three times more detailed)
5. Does s/he tend to take things you say literally when you only meant them as an expression? (oops, we often do this a lot)
6. When s/he was 3 years old, did s/he spend a lot of time pretending and involving people with the play in an equal and friendly way (e.g., play-acting being a superhero, or holding teddy?s tea parties)? (we might memorise a set routine, but really flexible relaxed play is rare)
7. Does s/he like to do things over and over again, in the same way all the time, and get very upset if that routine is broken? (we hate sudden changes to routine, especially when tired)
8. Can s/he keep a two-way conversation going? (we tend to talk at people, not with them)

10. Does s/he have an interest or interests which takes up so much time that s/he does little else? (we can often concentrate on an interest for hours, weeks, months, years...) 11. Does s/he have real friends, rather than just lots of vague acquaintances? (we have difficulty knowing who's a friend and who's just someone who says hello) 12. Does s/he often bring you things s/he is interested in to show you and talk with you about them? (really talk with you, not just list out information and walk away again) 13. Does s/he enjoy jokes and friendly jostling with family? (we can find humour difficult to understand and may hate 'joking around' etc. Varies, though. 14. Does s/he have difficulty understanding the rules for polite behaviour? (we always struggle with this) 15. Does s/he appear to have an unusual memory for details? (we might recall things we saw years ago with perfect detail etc) 16. Is his/her voice unusual (e.g., overly adult, ?posh?, flat, or very monotonous)? (often the case with us) 17. Is s/he good at turn-taking in conversation? (we're usually rubbish at it) 18. Does s/he make normal eye-contact and seem able to ?read;? what your eye contact means and use eye-contact signalling to say how s/he is feeling? What about reading face expression and body language? (we're usually hopeless at using any of this stuff or 'reading' it properly) 19. Does s/he have any unusual and repetitive movements? (not all of us do, but many do) 20. Does s/he sometimes say ?you? or ?s/he? when s/he means ?I?? (we can find it really hard to know which one of us is "me" and which one is "you") 21. Does s/he sometimes confuse the listener because of not explaining what s/he is talking about? (we think you know the stuff that we know) 22. Does s/he often turn conversations to his/her favourite subject rather than following what the other person wants to talk about? (our interests are SO interesting - how can you not be thrilled to hear two hours on the subject of ) 23 Does s/he have odd or unusual phrases or repeat phrases over and over again? (often we practise new words and phrases for days and weeks and years) 24 Are there any unusual sensory sensitivities or hyposensitivities? (we tend to be very sensitive or undersensitive to things like pain, heat, cold, touch, taste, sound, light levels, shadows, flickering lights, smells - overlaps with sensory processing disorders) 25 Are there any unusual co-ordination issues? (some of us struggle to co-ordinate ourselves properly - overlaps with dyspraxia sometimes)

Only a professional diagnostic team can work out what's what from all of this, but it's useful to know a bit about it anyway

mumu80 my DS (now 3) was referred onto dev pead by SALT at 2.5. He had and still has a few single words he never really get past 20 words that he uses regularly but those 20 change often if you see what I mean.

The dev pead did an initial assessment to try and get an overall picture. She referred him to an assessment nursery where he is now. He will be there for 12 weeks and then they will make decision on where he goes next educationally.

Dev pead has also referred him onto consultant with interest in ASD for specific assessments into ASD.

You wont necessarily get many answers from the first appointment. For us it has been the beginning of a process.

I know things vary depending on where you live but hope that helps.

It took my dh a long time to accept that ds was anything other than a late starter but he now does. Am not saying your ds isn't just a bit behind but its better to get pead to have a look.

mumu80- thanks for that, v intersting