my boy is 16 months showing signs of autism need advice!

[babymama22]

Hi everyone,
New to this basically have a 16month old son the love of my life he truly is amazing but he has been showing some signs of what i think is autism for a while hes always been hard from a baby but i just assumed because he is my first child i just assumed it was normal until my partner left us when my son was 8 months the change seemed to bring out his symptoms when he was around other children he acted very different from them he didnt seem to play the same as them as them he didnt interact with them and hes absoloutly terrified of other children specially babies his age its mainly the noises that sets him off i can be in the supermarket and if a baby crys or does a high pitch noise and then my son will start uncontrolably crying and gets very anxious also if a child were to come up and touch him he will get very very upset and he becomes inconsolable i was suggested to take him to baby group but hes got worse! he becomes very anxious and upset in different places that arent familiar aswell. Hes very funny with his food and has to play with a toy or his mind has to be occupied over wise he wont eat it! hes hyper active all the time aswell always 'full of beans' so to speak. he hardly sleeps at night and wakes up all through the night and sometimes he can have his eyes closed but moves around all night like he cant get comfortable he even does headstands in his sleep! he only says mummy and nana but doesnt say anything else he crawls but doesnt walk although hes pulling himself up! and trying! he doesnt point and doesnt wave although ive tried several attempts to show him hes funny about holding food and he wont have a cup to hold himself he also used to choke on even little bits of food he does the hand flapping. he loves being home in his own environment thats when hes happiest he likes lights and loves to spins wheels i dont know if this is relavant. has anyone else noticed this in there children/babies of my sons age?
thankyou x

Hi babymama, the lack of pointing and the food issue do sound as a concern. I would ask for referral to paediatrician. Also you can look up test online Mchat for autism and google autism red flags- however don't 'overgoogle' it may be several other things than autism too, such as sensory issues ( food). Don't let them fob you off if you have concerns. If you have some spare money you could also get a private psychologist specialuzing in early autism to asses him. Meanwhile you can look up games to promote shared attention, for example Giggle time is good. Good luck with everything.

www.autism.org.uk/working-with/health/screening-and-diagnosis/checklist-for-autism-in-toddlers-chat.aspx

I second babiki's advice. Have a look at the M CHAT test above, it will either reassure you or prompt you to see your GP/ HV and ask for a referral to a developmental paed. There's a bit of a tendency for GPs to say 'wait and see' so be strong, early intervention is very useful. You seem very switched on. There are lots of people on here who have been through this, so keep asking.

If, after CHAT, you still feel your DS may have autism then a good first intervention is this book More than Words

Even if he doesn't have autism, there's nothing in the methods of Hanen that would harm a neuro typical child.

There's something called attachment disorder which can mimic autism. To confuse matters further, its more common in dc with autism, as the asd causes then to be stressed and affects the attachments.

The reason I'm saying this is because, as well as doing the asd early intervention stuff like hanen, it might be worth looking at some of the attachment parenting stuff and 'babying' your little one. For an autism-prone baby who likes life to be predictable, the shock of one parent vanishing would be scary.

For my DS, it was the shock of starting school, he really regressed when he lost the comfort and familiarity of nursery and mummy. 'giving in' and treating him like a 2y old helped him catch up with his emotional needs

I second Ellen's advice about More Than Words - it was a real turning point for us with DS's speech, which is getting better every day.

I would push for a paed, and don't allow the doctors to fob you off to wait for the 2 year check. we were have also learnt that you have to spell it out to to doctors and paeds that you think it is autism.

I do believe that ASD can be spotted early, we had a lot of the signs that you see not the food though a quite a few others repetitive play, lack of speech, no eye contact, no pain
But I also think that there are a lot of other things that it could be rather than autism.

Whether it turns out to be autism, or something else, or nothing, seeing a paed will not do any harm.

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Agree with everyone here about a paed. But get speech therapy and portage too if you can. All a dr will do is diagnose, a good therapist might actually help

Yes to portage. I think you can self refer to portage too.

Also agree with norhing in hanan methods that would harm a nt child we were advised to assume dd was autistic, and to use some of the methods, as it wouldn't be detrimental if we did and she wasn't autistic.

thankyou everyone for your messages he is getting refered to a pediatrician as a health visitor came out and she agrees along with the gp he needs to be seen. so atkeast il have a better idea but i do feel in my opinion something isnt quite right with him. i dont think he has attachment disorder as hes a very loving child he gives me cuddles and kisses and laughs at me so not concerned there just hes terrible with other children and different places and every day tasks are much harder than they should be! also the sleep is an issue as he hardly sleeps atall ive heard children with autism do have problems with sleep. im jst waiting for some answers soon but thought id come on here just to see if anyone else has been in the same situation as me thankyou x

Sorry not to be clear babymama, I wasn't trying to suggest (another) possible diagnosis, just saying what factors seemed to help and hinder us when DS (asd) had a regression period.

Sleep being worse than ever was due to missing his nursery teachers, as he was nearly 5, but socially-emotionally he was only about 24 months. he wasn't attachment 'disordered' ie nothing wrong with it, but he was attachment 'delayed', because of his asd.

yeah its all so confusing at the moment as he shows alot of sign of autism so just waiting for the paediatrition apointment i hope it shines more light on it as i really want to know whats going on and help him in anyway i can really. some of the things u read im like oh yeh tht sounds like my son but then other things u think wel hes not like tht so possibly he has traits of it. i appreciate all feedback so thankyou mariam :)