Early signs of autism - please help

[monkey2010]

Hi,
I posted a while back about my worries about my DS when he was very young. He had a really tough start born at 30 weeks & bacterial meningitus and we were told he would have some degree of developmental delay/disability.

He is now 15 months. He has never liked cuddles, pulling away from us. his eye contact has got better but isn't great, he doesn't put his hands out to be picked up, does not seek affection or hugs when upset. Is currently very into opening doors and lights.

But...he has started pointing, makes lots of sounds, loves social games like peekaboo, crawling chase, us making funny faces. Can imitate clapping etc. Imitates some sounds, is generally smiley, smiles when we smile at him and others. Seems to like people.

I'm confused. Some of the things he does seem really autistic but other things don't. He has been referred for SALT and has a paeditrician, who as yet, hasn't been very helpful. Hearing & vision both fine.

I don't know what all this means in terms of his prognosis. Do clear autistic symptoms this early mean that he will be more severely affected in the future (compared to those children who present with symptoms later?).

Any experiences or advice really welcome!!!

Really don't know monkey. My DS had poor eye contact etc at that age but I knew nothing about autism then. There is the CHAT questionnaire (checklist for autism in toddlers) link here but that is aimed at from 18 mths but you may be interested. But as your DS had such a rocky start he may be developmentally delayed but not autistic. Sorry, not much help.

I honestly think that 15 months is far too early to take a view with regards to any sort of prognosis in these circumstances. The pointing, game playing sounds pretty positive to me at this age. Keep working away on communication etc, hope that SALT has useful advice, in the meantime there are some useful sites for early language development - www.hanen.org, www.teachmetotalk.com, www.ican.org.uk.

I think it is really hard to say, DS2 couldn't/didn't do any of the things you state in your list of things yours does do, at 18months to 2years.
He is now 4.5 and about to be dx-ed for ASD, but if it wasn't for his older brother being severe AS I probably wouldn't have concerns about him now, so I am very aware of any ASD signs, I see some of his behaviour as ASD but it doesn't appear to be as bad as his brother who I had no concerns about until he started school.
Sorry, that is really waffly, but just trying to say that DS2 who had way more early childhood indicators than DS1 of ASD may not even have it - I await September to find out! By the time DS1 is the age DS2 is now I KNEW DS1 had AS.

early diagnosis doesn't mean being more affected later - on the contrary, it means the chance for early intervention which is always more beneficial and IMO crucial for future prospects

we saw something was wrong with ds2 from 9-11 months. diagnosis of classic autism came at 22 months - almost unheard of these days I think. He scored 45/60 on CARS so smack bang in the middle of what they termed "severe". Now a few days off turning 15 and he's a different child, impeccably well mannered, speaks like someone out of Enid Blyton and is very sociable, academically he has moderate learning difficulties but has already taken one public exam and is due to take 2 more next week and hopefully will hold down some sort of job one day.

Would recommend the CHAT link above though its not conclusive.

Keep a note of things you notice with dates. Following a point, vocalisations, eye contact etc

Thanks for your messages. I've checked out the CHAT link and he scores 7/9 already and is not 18 months yet so I feel somewhat reassured (although can not imagine him doing pretend play in three months time?!)

No early signs doesn't mean worse. My son gained more and more signs over time and ended up more severe than children who showed signs earlier. He honestly was totally typical at 18 months and then signs emerged slowly and then around 2.5 a massive regression. Also often other conditions can mimic autism but once they improve eg speech develops, the autistic symptoms subside. Often children go into speech units and they are not sure if its a speech only or a speech and autism problem and that only becomes clear overtime. The full version of early years foundation stage can be useful for scoring progress.

Hi my dd2 is 22 months and sounds a lot like your son. Except my dd doesn't really like other people except for family. She smiles and likes games and can point etc. However portage came the other day for an assessment and told me they think her pointing is more for her own benefit than actually showing us something , that he eye contact was good occasionally but other times she purposely avoids looking at you and that she has odd playing habits. We have been referred for salt also as she only has a handful of words, she doesn't initiate games with us, hates certain noises/textures etc and doesn't pretend play off her own back unless we show her first and give her the items correctly so she can do it IySWIM. However I think her understanding is very good (even though portage questioned that as well!) and she's adorable! And what will be will be I suppose. Weve already Ben told she ha sensory integration disorder so at least we can help her with those things. Good luck x

See it's so hard that young because they are all so different. It must be a worrying time for you

My DD has quite severe autism and loves cuddles and being picked up when upset, I wouldn't read too much into the fact he doesn't.

Hi, my son was diagnosed at 20 months with Autism. His first signs were that he didn't play with toys in the 'typical' way, start pointing, babbling, had poor eye contact. However he did smile a lot, didn't seek cuddles but was happy to be touched etc.

He is now two and a half and is non verbal and still doesn't have an alternative form of communication e.g. Pointing, signing. He also has no understanding of language. He doesn't answer to his name etc. We can still interact with him in other ways though and he's a really happy little boy.

His peadtrican used the Modified ADI to acess him in the beggining. It's really worth checking that out. Even thought it was hard to have it confirmed it wa reassuring to know what they looked at and for us to see for ourselves he ticked every box nearly. Reuben is thought to have severe autism and I think they have based this largely on his lack of desire to communicate.

I hope this helps slightly. I don't normally use these sort of things but when I saw your message I really felt for you.