What signs of ASD did your DC display at 2?

[laurabatty]

Hi all. Just wondering to try to get an idea of how broad the spectrum is. Our DS is doing so well at some things but others are very worrying. What ASD traits did/ does your DC show at this age?

I didn't really suspect, I just thought they were a bit energetic! In retrospect, not waving, not pointing things out. I would take them to the local library for song time but they preferred to just run round and round the book cases instead of lying down for sleeping bunnies. They weren't the only ones though (and in fact tended to be ringleaders)!

Now I look back and think - if I'd known then what I know now...

They were both talking not long before 2, although they went from single words almost straight to sentences. They are now both ASD (they don't diagnose Aspergers in these parts any more)

No speech, no other attempts to communicate, no tantrums, no attachment to me or his father, utterly uncontrollable physically, poor eye cntact, fascination with k'nex, traintracks, and nothing else.

And, oddly, a 'catalogue' face.

He reminded me, and a lot of other people, of a vchild out of a catalogue, and I've only recently realised now he is nine that it was because he only used three facial expressions - blank, smiling, and very very rarely he would cry. So he looked like a photograph.

Thanks everyone. Any more experiences much appreciated.

no speech, in fact no sounds.. he never made animal sounds or baby noises at all, was completely silent apart from crying.
Not really engaging with anyone or anything but screemed if anyone of us left the room or left him
Had no desire to play with anything or anyone
Obsessively wipe our skirting boards, starting at the front door & crawling around the downstairs until he had washed all the skirting boards.
Could put him in the middle of the room with a pile of toys or objects & wouldnt know what to do with them.
DS2 may not be typical as he also has CP & learning difficulties so at 2 yrs he was delayed in all areas which made him much more baby like even without the autism IYKWIM

A genius . He knew the alphabet, could count, label lots of objects, fascinated with vtech machines and computers. We thought wow he's even more clever than DS1 and DS2. But otherwise typical. He then lost speech and social skills at 2.3, became less affectionate, lost expressions, stopped pointing and waving, stopped calling us by our names and sort of shut down at 2.3. Looking back the earliest signs apart from the alphabet obsession was that he started to push other children at nursery and stopped reacting when he was told off.

Poor eye contact and response to own name being called
Tendency to prefer playing on his own, do things his own way rather than how he was shown/asked
Not interested in other children
Slightly delayed speech, still within normal range though
Didn't point much at things
Was fascinated by things that spin round, if the pushchair was folded with wheels in the air he would sit there and spin them over and over, watch the washing machine.
Fussy eating (extreme) from 18 months or so

I did suspect back then that he was ASD, so did his nursery, so we started getting help for him from about his 2nd birthday, he was diagnosed with Aspergers last year at the age of 8.

No speech. also no hearing but that's another thread repetitive play, mr rabbit goes in the door and up the stairs and down the stairs and out the window. Repeatedly. for hours at a time. Not walking. Wouldn't point. Would scream until I could through trial and error offering of things figure out what she wanted. Completely blanked everyone adult and child alike who wasn't immediate family. Would watch tv for hours if allowed wouldn't sleep. Head banging, verbal stimming, repeating the same sound over and over again, No attachment. No fear. No pain threshold.

Speech delay. Poor response to own name. Preferred to spin wheels, watch washing machine, switch lights on and off x 1000. No pointing, no joint attention, poor at waving. Fascinated with lights. Learned alphabet (before age 2) and reading simple words. Repetitive play that was definitely undeveloped. No role play. No pretend play. Seemed to struggle to understand what was going on. Very little awareness of what was going on - often seemed immersed in his own world. Very wary of other children he didn't know. Shifted gaze to peer out of the corners of eyes, just for a moment (eye contact otherwise always good) Very very interested in transport - first word was Bus, second was Car. Also excessively interested in pedestrian crossings and lifts.

No proper play, just loved toys that made noises/lit up when you pressed buttons. Repetitive play like throwing/pouring sand. Fascinated with things like traffic lights, would point them out every. single. time. - same with lampposts.

Didn't really interact with other children (though he did more at 2yo than 3yo, which is probably because it was easier at 2yo as no conversation required). His interaction with anyone other than familiar people was very very limited.

Slightly delayed speech but within normal milestones. But you couldn't have a 'conversation' or anything approaching it, even non-verbally - there just wasn't that reciprocal to-and-fro communication you have with nt children or babies. Had some echolalia - would repeat back to you what you'd said to him, or just copy what other children had said.

Awful now, thinking back - can't believe I refused to face up to it and do anything to help him for so long

OP if you feel like telling us what your concerns are, I am sure there will be a huge amount of help for you

Very delayed smiling, was only interested in bright lights and shiny door handles. Lined up his crayons (still does at 15) , no imaginative play..ever. Delayed speech and physical stuff but when he finally started talking at 4 we he started monologuing us about his obsessions and hasn't stopped since .

He was very easy to live with tho as totally passive.. could be left anywhere with anyone because he didn't see the difference between strangers and family. Very affectionate in an odd way and still is. Not avoidant at all. I knew from a few weeks old that he had autism...

Very repetative. Could sit all day turning toy car wheels close to his face. No brumming, just wheel turning.
Didn't play with toys as they were meant to be played with. And if I or anyone tried to join in, he'd go berserk. Very much wanted to be left alone.
Cried. All the time. Endlessly. To the point where I cried in front of our GP saying "my child doesn't want me within 6 feet of him". He wouldn't let me cuddle him.
Lined stuff up, usually in size order. Had toys lined up all around the house and if I moved one, again, he'd go mad.
But....he DID point at things.

He hated me singing nursery rhymes. He'd just scream.

He was really pedantic about clothes. Would only wear one of 3 items.

Food..... Was and still is, shocking. No appetite.

He's 11 now. Great vocabulary. Reads well. Lovely little sense of humour. Very loving.

Faddy with food, ate nothing hot/warm at 2,

Hated bright lights and loud noises.

Carried around and or obsessively watched "Come Outside"

Wouldnt accept change eg had to have milk in a red cup at breakfast time and cereal in the Tweenie bowl.

Screaming meltdowns that would end in hysteria, the only way to stop it was to hold her.

Echolalia alongside little professor type vocab.

Offered a cheek for a kiss [still does this], never kissed us[still doesnt] despite being very cuddly and tactile towards me.

No speech at all.
Tantrums.
Great with really quite complex educational computer games.
Loved cause and effect toys.
Would tip the box of toys over his head, but not play with them.
Would run in 'circuits' around and around or back and forth, full of energy. (hyposensitive to movement)
Loved action songs, would copy actions really well.
Ran with his arms held up from his elbows and his wrists down.
No sense of personal space.
No sense of danger.

DXed at 3.5 with ASD.

Fully verbal at 12 months but never babbled and would totally refuse to try to pronounce a word he could not say exact so would say whole sentence but omit the words.

Facial expression plain straight Queen Victoria "we are not amused" look. Eye contact was always a hard over stare at the mouth not the face itself in a studious fashion.

Would not play on his own. Infact more interested in doing what we were doing chore wise apart from spinning a particular bowl with a wooden spoon, oh and mobile phones, house phones infact any phone :)

However he was full of "why" questions when out or at nursery so definately a curious little chappie but never happy with what we told him until he was satified he knew everything but the shoe size of whatever it was.

Like Agnes, dd2 was counting (by arranging magnetic letters), knew the alphabet but was non-verbal. TBH we didn't think there was anything wrong with her even though we already had dd1 on the spectrum (dd2 was totally different), we thought the lack of speach was due to her sister talking non-stop. We were very shocked when we took her for her 2 year check up and the gp said 'she's not responding like a nt child should whilst being examined' and he referred us straight to the pead and SALT, over the next 6 months her ASD became more obvious and soon we realised that dd2 was a lot more severe than her sister (even though dd2 was a dream compared to how her sister was as a baby). Dd2 was diagnosed with ASD at theage of 3, we have had a lot of help early on and dd2 is doing very well, she's now verbal and responsive and coping in MS school.

At 2? Blimey, she's only 5 and i'm struggling to remember

I would say quite delayed with her speech. Would still babble and not really attempt to construct sentences.

Was an absolute nightmare at toddler group, or parks etc. Would run round screaming and would push other children over and just run off. Wouldn't sing along with the nursery rhymes like the other dc's. Would just run in the middle and pull the other children down onto the ground. Home time was an utter nightmare. Usually she'd be wearing a fairy costume from the group and would scream and scream.........hit, scratch, bite, almost punch me, whilst i tried to get it off her. You can imagine why I hated going.

She started to spin and twirl unusually by that age.

I have to say though, things are different now. She's very caring, thoughtful and although she still hasn't grasped how to play completely appropriately with her peers, she's getting there

Oh and couldn't and still can't ride a bike/trike or scooter.

Oh and a really important one which I failed to tell you was the lining up of her toys. They were usually in order of colour, sex, type of animal, size...........it was quite incredible actually, but nevertheless, still concerning. She would and still does, focus on the smaller details rather than the bigger picture.

She has very repetative and random speech. She just didn't and doesn't communicate in the same way as her peers. She would come out of school and say something like "i've had such a wonderful day today mum. It's been so exciting. I'm very lucky aren't I" Now some might say that's normal, but when you hear the other kids come out and talk to their mums, it's very different. She'll usually shout to her classmates as we go out the gates "bye friends!! It was great to see you all!!" They're not nasty kids atall, but they're not really her friend and so will usually ignore her.

Poor eye contact (noticed by other family members, not by me)
Speech delay (if he wanted something, he could say the word, but there was no social type chit chat)
Rarely responded to his name
No aggression, thankfully
Other than that, he wasn't much different to other toddlers, in fact his asd traits are becoming more noticeable the older he gets (spies neat line of Beastquest books on the coffee table!)

I remember going to an asd parents 3 day event run by the autistic society. There was a moment when, we all kind of blurted "yes! He/she lines stuff up". It was what I term a "Close Encounters" moment. In that film, near the end, the "loonies" who've all been sculpting/drawing/building the mountain structure, see it, at the site. And it all makes sense for them.....

I'm like that about lining up. My ds did this from being 10 months old. I knew, even then, that he was different. Had I known anyone else who's child lined up, it'd have been an enormous co fort to me.

When stressed, ds still likes to line up things and gave things ie, Harry Potter dvd's in the correct sequence.

DS is now 3. When he was 2 he had:

No words at all (still has only three words)
Toe walking (very little of this now)
Very fussy eater (still sadly the same)
Ignored other children completely, while being friendly to adults (also still the same now)
Standing on his head (later turned into head banging which we are happily now getting on top of in his ABA programme)

DS2 was dxed at 2 1/2. At 2 he was:

Walking on tip toes
No speech
Hand flapping
Obsessive about opening/closing doors
Bolting at every attempt
Food phobia
irrational fear of being bathed
Strict routines with certain things

Forgot about the door thing, we had (and have) that too!