Probable ASD 20 month old requesting drinks

[JustPondering]

Hi, my DS is 20 months old and is probably on the spectrum according to his paediatrician. He has recently started to request drinks by placing his cup in my hand and then running to the sink. Is this a good sign or is this how a child with autism might request something?

Sorry I seem to be over analysing everything he does recently, I thought this might show some sort of social imagination.

I'm afraid that sounds typical for ASD to me but a good sign that he is communicating and getting his needs met. My DD didnt do that until later

I thought that may be the case, but it is good that he is requesting at all I guess, much easier than the screaming and guessing what he could possible want

He gets very mad if that drink isn't immediately made for him however.

yes..my DD didnt do that until she was over 4, and after that her interaction came on in leaps and bounds :)

I agree with Fanjo, It is a good thing because he has realised that you are able to meet his needs.

At the moment he is using you as a tool to get what he wants but that can lead to using you for sharing interest.

It is also positive for if you want him to go to nursery because he will be able to communicate his needs to staff members who wont be able to read him the same as you.

We use objects of reference alot with a LO I am working with, in the hope that she will start to understand what is expected of her and also hopefully one day she might bring something to us to communicate her needs.

Good luck

It's good to know that interaction came on well after she started doing this! :)

He already goes to nursery one day a week, but doesn't request anything there but his needs are usually met anyway as he is in the toddler room still, don't know what will happen when he moves to the pre-school room when he turns 2 though.

I show DS an object everytime I ask him if he wants something, like drink, snack, car etc, so I guess he has learnt that cup means his drink is on its way

Another thing I was curious about, DS a while ago was walking on his tip-toes on and off, but that stopped but now he stands on his toes and flaps when excited and does a few steps on his toes and also stands on his toes and rubs his head against the wall when mad. Has anyones DC done this, only toe-walked when excited or angry?

Yes Dd3 only toe walks when lost in her own world or excited/angry.

It is becoming less often as she is getting older. She is flat footed and has shortened achillies tendons due to hypermobility but not sure if this is related to the toe walking.

Behaviours change regularly in our house, I think it is to keep us on our toes

DS is also flat-footed due to hyper-flexible ankles. My DN toe-walks on and off and my Dsis was told it is common in flexible families.

I was taught to encourage eye contact whenever this type of request is made and to say a simple sentence, eg 'Do you want a drink?' Also to aim for eye contact when you hand it over, even if you have to hold the flipping cup in front of your face!

Ha ha I have to hold a favourite toy on top of my head so he will look at the camera

He apparently has OK eye contact with me but not with others the pre-school support worker said. But at times he will not look at me no matter what, especially if he is focused on something.

He doesn't make eye contact when he hands over his cup though, he just places it in my hand and runs over to the sink making happy noises like 'ah ah'

Sounds good for a neurotypical 20 month old. My NT DS only just started doing this and is 21 months old. To be fair, he's picked this up from his unusual sister, who has a severe speech delay, but I'm pleased with it and have no worries about him at all (and neither do the speech therapists and educational psychologists who see him when he attends his sister's appointments). Eye contact can be encouraged, particularly with transactional behaviours like you describe. Maybe look into PECS as that will encourage communication and eye contact (or at least it does they way we do it). We use chocolate buttons a lot to encourage DD to do things like make eye contact.

DD didn't ask for a drink even with gestures like this until she started speech therapy just before her third birthday and quickly started giving us the cup meaningfully. That was six months ago and now we have three word sentences and beautiful commentary, if not proper conversation yet.

I would say this is quite good, like someone else mentioned once my ds learned about asking for a drink (this was a few months back and he is now 3) he has improved massively in communication since then. It shows they have grasped the idea of communicating something to get their needs met, so once that part has clicked with them then should improve from there

That's good to hear :) He started speech therapy a couple of weeks ago and the therapist mentioned taking pictures of everyday objects on the I-pad or similar and showing him these things when I need him to do something and so he knows what is coming next. So far he just seems amazed that these things are on my tablet