Speech report, does this sound like autism?

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Hi, I have just got my youngest DS's speech report, does this sound like he is likely to have an ASD? Or could it just be speech related?

Informal findings highlight the following areas of stremgths and need:

Attention and listening:
In a one to one situation DS was able to attend to adult directed tasks for a very brief period of time. He presented with fleeting attention and needed gentle prompting to remain on task.

Receptive language:
DS' understanding of instructions at a 1 word level is inconsistent. When presented with 2 objects/pictures he has a tendency to reach for the 1 that he likes as opposed to the 1 named.

Expression:
DS was observed and it was reported by mum that DS will vocalise to comunicate. He has a very limited reportoire which consists of the following reported words, car, no and choo choo.

Social interaction skills:
This appears to be an area of particular concern to the family. DS demonstrates limited eye contact and facial expressions. DS shows little awareness of people in his direct environment. Mum reports he does not wave goodbye or smile to greet familiar adults.it is reported he struggles with changes to his routine, sometimes covers his ears, screams when outside on a sunny day and generally falls over and struggles with his balance.

Summary:
DS presents with a speech and language delay. Further assessments are required in order to ascertain the impact of this delay. Intervention has been provided in the form of written advice and a programme to be implemented at home.

Just to add, DS is 20 months old, and his elder brother has aspergers syndrome. He has started to drag me to what he wants and place my hands on him when he wants me to pick him up and take him somewhere. Could this be just because he cant talk though? thanks in advance.

For what it's worth, it doesn't sound particularly like autism to me, but at 20 months it's a bit early to tell.

I feel differently to veritate, to me there are a few red flags,

Fleeting Attention,
Inconsistent understanding,
Little eye contact and facial expression.
Choosing the prefered object rather than requested one.

Only my opinion of course and I am only a parent. On there own each of those things wouldnt be a concern but with the language delay and your concerns mentioned in the report I think I would be requesting an assessment.

The taking you to what he wants can be because he cant tell you what he wants but it could also be because he sees you as a tool to get what he wants. IYSWIM.

In my area siblings of children with a diagnosis are pushed up the waiting list to make sure parental concerns are taken seriously.

Sorry if that is not what you wanted to hear and as I say I could be way off the mark but it would never hurt to get it checked out.

Good luck

Hi, thank you for your replies. He has already been accepted into the child development team, and the long term assessment and intervention team, so that is great, but I am aware that it will be a long wait.

His paediatrician referred him for the speech therapy, she thinks he may have autism, but I am not so sure. Some days I think he is and some days I dont. I don't see the paedaiatrician again till the end of march and I am very impatient so thought I would come here for opinions.

When he pulls me to where he wants me, he doesn't make eye contact he just drags me there, and if I don't do what he expects me to do, he places my hand where it needs to go. If I still don't do it then he has a tantrum

I also have a child who doesn't have autism but has a speech disorder so it is confusing to me as to what is normal development and what isn't.

Sounds like it could be autism there are certainly a few red flags there.

Yes I think so too, would it be likely to be aspergers even though he has a speech delay, or would it have to be autism? My DS with aspergers appeared to have normal development as a toddler so I guess it would probably be autism.

Also on the assessments that the pre- school support team have done with DS they have marked down that he completed one of the tasks even though he didn't. He had to place a matching teddy in a bag after the pre-school support worker did the same with the matching teddy, DS didn't copy her and put in in the bag or pick it up, but he did look at the matching 1 so she put down that he could do it. Does that matter do you think. She tried to make him do this task numerous times then eventually said that she will put down that he can do it because he obviously knows which ones match.

Sounds a lot like my ds's initial speech report he has asd. I think generally the diagnosis now is all under the umbrella ASD. From what I know aspergers doesn't present with speech delay (although someone may be able to state that for certain)

Ds was older when he had his first speech report done and all 20 months is young I think you know when something isn't right.

When working with non verbal preschoolers eye gaze is an important form of communicating needs and wants.

I am not sure I would have said he was able to match but maybe that he was showing signs of it. Then again I dont know him.

I am glad you are on the list at the cdc, they are the best places because they get everyone involved in assessments under one roof.

Good luck