Can you talk to me about ASD please?

[FaceForRadio]

I'm a little scared of posting here, because then my concerns are down in black and white so to speak.

My first question though is, what exactly is ASD? Is it Aspergers? And is it a form of Autism? I'm sorry if that sounds really niave but I don't know enough about it to make an informed decision.

If I tell you a little about dd then would you mind telling me whether you think this is normal toddler behaviour or could is be possible signs of ASD?

Reading some threads on these boards, put together with my concerns then I wonder if DD may need to see a specialist.

DD will be 2 in October. From an early age she's been very into 'cups' putting them in rows, now she does this with all her soft toys and now likes to repeatedly point at each one whilst I count from 1 to 10 as she points.

If I build up the cups into a tower then her immediate reaction is to knock them down.

I try to get her to repeat the words I'm saying but she has no words yet, except Mama, but this refers to me or her dad. She often repeats sounds, her latest sound is Ga, or Ha.

She is very energetic, quite boistrous sometimes but terribly shy and scared in the company of anyone else really - even family members.

She tends to play on her own, preferring to run round things rather than sit and play.

She understands instructions very well.

Since she started walking - on her 1st birthday, she's quite taken to spinning on the spot but the odd thing is that her eyes seem to go into the corners, her head lowered and it's as if she is spinning in the direction her eyes are going - if that makes sense.

She eats very well, sleeps very well, and won't go anywhere without her teddy.

Sometimes, she goes into a daze and even when we say her name she just stares at something - if you stand in her line of vision then she'll move to see past/around you.

Does all of the above just seem like normal behaviour? Or is it something I should be speaking to GP about?

Maybe if you have experience of this then you could ask me things - to get a clearer picture?

As I don't really know what I could be dealing with I'm a little anxious.

Any words would help really.

Thanks in advance, and I apologise for my lack of knowledge here :)

More importantly, from a lot of posts on here dd can still lead as normal a life as any child.

All good advice :)

One thing I would say (because it tripped me up) is to check understanding of instructions. I thought ds1 understood instructions well because he would respond appropriately to 'get your shoes' 'put the toys in the box' 'give me x'. In fact he was responding to my cues such as points and outstretched hands and didn't understand intructions at all.

Hopefully investigations and time will result in concerns melting away. I certainly know children for whom that has been the case - and quite a few of them. In our case ds1 at 13 is what I imagined my worst nightmare to be - non-verbal, severely autistic. However, I was wrong, as he has a great life. He is very happy that school has broken up and is about to tuck into a fry up. We'll probably head outto the beach later with the dog and he'll spend a lot of this summer surfing.

I think I'm saying that I regret spending so much energy when he was younger worrying. Every child we knew of the same age has done better than him, so they didn't need to worry, and what I I
imagined to be a dreadful future has turned out to be good. It is impossible not to worry, but it's great that you're on the ball and ready whether there happens to be anything up or not. Fab that your husband is on board as well (that can be quite unusual).

Good luck - don't let anyone fob you off!

I'm on the iPod so can't check easily what has been said but the first signs website I mentioned earlier us a great resource - ESP the videos. You can take an mchat test there as well.

Hi FaceForRadio. Just catching up on your thread. You've had great advice already. I just thought I'd add my recommendation to More Than Words This is the cheapest source I know of, and don't be put off because it states it's for DC with ASD. If your DD doesn't have ASD there is nothing in this 'bible' that would harm her. In fact, a good piece of advice I have read on this board is that if you think your DC may have ASD, treat them as if they do have ASD, ie use the strategies that will help as they would help any child, especially one with a communication delay.

By the way, my DS2 was DXed with ASD when he was 3.5 and in retrospect he had many red flags at 2 but I was only concerned by his lack of speech. Unfortunately my DS1 had very delayed speech, unconnected to ASD, so I just thought DS2 was going to be the same and put all the other flags down to a different personality. You are being very proactive and whatever the outcome for your DD, she is lucky to have you on her side.

I'd agree with jimjams, it's quite easy to assume that understanding is better than it really is. If you ask her to get her shoes from the hall because it's time to go to the park, she may just understand the word 'shoes.' So she'll get them from where they usually are and put them on, because what else would you do with them?

Yes, the book More than Words is great - good luck with everything Face