Is 20 months too early for diagnosis?

[CJBS2011]

Hi my little boy has hyper mobility and wears splints and is doing brilliantly! So proud :)
We have been referred for multi discipline assessment as paediatrician thinks there is something else - as his speech is delayed. ASD has been suggested as has a some set of genetic problem - he has had full blood test and we are waiting results.
Just wondered if anyone's children were diagnosed with ASD at 20 months or around this age or if they showed any behaviours early on and then went on to be diagnosed?
Thank you xxx
Happy Friday!

No. DS2 was referred at around that age. The earlier the better, if there's obvious difficulties.

CJBS - I would grab it with both hands. Having said that, diagnosis wont change anything unless you push for services or fund them yourself.

Dd went for multi disciplinary assessment at 17 months and got the diagnosis a week after her second birthday.
Dd had a regression and lost all of her skills at 12 months,she never made a sound or laughed or smiled or clapped or waved for six months then. Once Retts had been ruled out via chromosome check and because her brother has autism then an autism diagnosis was what we expected tbh.

DS3 was seen by the Paed when he was 21mo and referred for ADOS. There is such a wait that his ADOS is not going to be done until next month, when he will be 28 months old.

So it's far better that they refer now, as waiting lists can be very long in some areas - it's not unheard of to have a year or more wait for the actual assessment.

Not too early for accuracy. Not too early for intervention. Probably far too early to suit UK services.

Beware 'wait and see' (unless they specify exactly how long for and what exactly they want to see) and beware 'he'll 'probably catch up, come back if not'

Dd saw the exact same team that had seen ds 7 years earlier. That was useful because they knew me and I knew them and they knew I had a good grasp of what was typical or not. Dd at 17 months was so far removed from NT and had a GP documented regression that there were no doubts once all the chromosomes were checked and the mitochondrial diseases ruled out. The paed and I had (retired) an open and honest relationship and so after the MDA he asked me what I wanted. Did I want gdd, social communication disorder, hypermobility and speech and language disorder now with a view to an autism dx at three on review or did I want autism now?
I opted for autism there and then (not ASD because autism in our LA is a more weighty dx) and a referral for statutory assessment that was in place before she was three.
Dd has undoubtedly thrived due to early intervention admittedly not from services offered through health but because of a home based early intervention programme I put in place.

ds2 diagnosed with classic autism at 22 months - signs from around 9 months but started being monitored by the consultant at 13months. Bloods came back clear.

Early intervention (portage, sn nursery, S&LT and music therapy) all crucial in getting him to where he is today, so take anything and everything that gets offered

I would second portage,it is fantastic if you can get on to it

Could I just hijack this slightly and ask - who should I be approaching to ask about portage? I've only come across it here on mn, nobody round here seems to have heard of it. Can a HV sort it out?

DS2 about to have his multi-disc assessment, we 've suspected ASD for a long time now, and he's 2.4.

Health visitor should be able to refer you Here's the link for them

Thanks, eatyourveg!

Thanks so much for your replies - he is being 'discussed' in the area hub meeting next week- hopefully we will get a MDT assessment soon after - they seem very on the ball! First set of blood tests came 'normal' today still 4 weeks to go til genetic test results come back. Wow this is a whole new world so I appreciate your comments. X