ASD in 2 year old girl?

[JustPondering]

HI, I have posted in this section before and got brilliant advice in regards to my 3 boys who are all currently waiting on an AsD diagnosis.

My Dsis has asked me to post for advice about my 2 year old niece. DN walks on her toes about 75 per cent of the time when barefoot which a peadiatrician put down to having bendy ankles. He was not otherwise concerned as she engaged well.

Dsis is getting increasingly worried however as DN has started to have massive tantrums, especially in public. She lines up all her toys and shoes and can only pretend play if she copies. She talks very repetitively repeating the same phrases over and over again. She has good eye contact and is friendly and engaging. She doesn't like certain noises.

Does it sound like DN could be on the spectrum even though she is friendly? She often shouts at adults and has started hitting her Mum.

DN is 2 years and 5 months old and is slightly delayed with speech, she has to see the health visitor again at 2 and a half to see if she needs speech therapy. She points and uses gestures appropriately.

Girls do present differently just so it is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

It is good that she makes eye contact and uses gestures.

The tantrums could be normal 2 yr old stuff as could the tip toeing but then again it might not be.

I think you and your Dsis are wise to be on the ball and keeping a diary might help to see any spot any behaviours outside the normal range.

Good luck

DD (5, autism) was a bit like that - repetetive speech, tantrums, delayed play... she can also have good eye contact and engage well (with adults that is, not with peers).

I think 2 might be a good time to do the
[[https://www.m-chat.org/mchat.php
MChat]] and see if it flags up anything and go back to GP.

how is her speech otherwise, apart from the repetetive phrases? understanding ok? she should be able to self refer to Salt if HV/GP are reluctant to.

She can say 5 word sentences but pronunciation is poor. Her understanding is OK, she can understand simple everyday phrases like get your shoes but if you asked her to do something novel she couldn't do it. She sometimes seems to just not quite get things

She has a huge attention span for TV but not for much else. She absolutely does not stop chatting and making noise and her voice is very very loud and uneven. Her sentences sound a bit like " I want MY tedDY!" The pitch is very up and down.

I don't think the M-chat would flag anything up but it wouldn't have done for my DS2 at that age either and he is waiting for add diagnosis and Maybe dyspraxia at the moment.

*asd

And although she can say 5 word sentences they are always the same ones if you know what I mean, she is very predictable and you always know exactly what she is going to say, the health visitor at her 2 year check said she wasn't putting enough words together and also she couldn't copy the lines and circles in the scribbling test.

so is she using rote learned phrases rather than creating novel sentences?

i looked at the Mchat (link above) the other day for my very quirky Dd2 and noticed that it is much more detailed than it used to be (e.g. if you tick concerns re play skills it will trigger a whole set of subquestions). probably worth a look.

I will do it later with Dsis. Dsis is sure something is off with DN and a few months ago I would have said no way but I am starting to agree, she is very like my 10 year old who it is looking that an AS diagnosis will be a definite, he was engaging as a toddler but very difficult.

Also DN is a very slow eater and only eats a very small
amount of her meals, she never ever asks for food or drink and would go all day without if no one offered it to her.

She can make novel sentences but they are rare and sound awkward.

well, we all know the gut feeling that something is up even nobody else wants to see it .

does HV or GP know that DN has cousins with Asd?

No they don't but I am going to suggest that she asks for an appointment with the GP that my children usually see and ask if it is possible to be referred to one of the peadiatricians that my children see and I can go with her.

I am a great believer in gut instinct just.

My Dd3 was really quirky when she started school but she learnt really quickly how to blend in and become invisible. This was really damaging for her and she used to have massive meltdowns before and after school.

It took a long time a diagnosis and a new school to repair the scars from that and now she is back to her quirky self most of the time.

She still masks many of her difficulties when she is away from home but not to the point of trying to be invisible.

Girls with Asd need careful nurturing IMO [I know boys do to] and sadly there are still many proffs who really dont get it.

Good luck