I'm suspecting Autism in my little boy (V Long)

[runikka]

Hi there

I wondered if anyone could offer me some guidance.
My little boy is about to turn two and for months now I have been aware that he is in his own little world.

We initially suspected a hearing problem but, today, a hearing test, has proven all to be ok. He developed a squint a few months ago and last week was diagnosed as long sighted. We now have glasses that he wears and, as he is prescription is significantly long sighted, suspect that this might influence a small change in his behaviour. However, I am convinced there is more to it than that.

He is, on the whole, a lovely little boy - reasonably well behaved and cheeky. However there are factors that concern me:

He tends to be in his own little world and rarely makes eye contact. I have now considered whether this could have been down to it being blurry up close but not sure!

He doesn't point things out at all, never has.

He doesn't answer to his own name very often.

He doesn't seem to understand what we say to him and cannot follow basic commands such as "bring me your book". "Where is your nose" etc

He babbles but maes the same sounds over and over
mamma, dadda, bubba and it is repetitive. He mimics but only very rarely and always words he is very familiar with as afore-mentioned.

He gets VERY upset by his little sister crying or any other child in distress and can be inconsolable.

He can be very clingy to mummy and daddy, not letting them out of his sight.

He can be very repetitive in play (although plays with a variety of things). He tends to always want to be carrying something like a ball/brick in each hand.

He doesn't acknowledge other children and doesn't join in play with them.

On the plus side:

He gets excited when he sees people he is familiar with.

He enjoys cuddles and tickling/rough and tumble games. He smiles a lot and will smile back at us if we can make eye contact.

He does play with toys and spends a lot of time investigating how they work. He loves looking at books.

He "sings" quite frequently tunes such as wheels on the bus. They are made up wih his babble but the tune is recognisable.

I would welcome any response as to anyone who has a child similar in personality be they diagnosed with autism,asd or nt. I would also like to know how you go about getting a diagnosis and if it turns out that he has one of these conditions, what can we expect long term? Is there a chance of a fairly regular life with the right support?

Many thanks
Kirsty

Hi kirsty,
My little girl is autistic, and also has downs syndrome. Whilst I can't say whether your boy is autistic or not, I would say listen to your own instinct. Have you approached your health visitor about your concerns? My first step towards a diagnosis was a referral to our local child development centre, where all aspects of her behaviour were looked at by specialists (paediarician, psychlogist, speech therapy, physio, ot) and they collectively reached a diagnosis. I can see what you mean about some of your suspicions, but equally these could exist in a child who does not have autism. I wish you well, and hope you get someone to help you soon xx

I think you need an assessment because of the

1. not pointing 2)doesn't understand what is said to him 3)doesn't acknowledge other children

The other things I wouldn't worry about too much, although the - Investigatiing how tooys work would concern me.

You need your son to be assessed by a developmental paediatrician- preferably by a multi-disciplinary team- procedures vary from area to area. My son was assessed over 6 weeks aged just under 3 by a multi-disciplinary team, he was seen by a clinical psch, a paed, a SALT, had hearing and vision checked and was observed in a nursery setting. After which time we were given the dx.

As for what to expect long term- it is very hard to tell in a young child. DS1 aged 2 looked very high functioning - in fact - aged 7 he still can;'t talk and is now classed as severely autistic, but I have seen other children do the opposite- go from apparently severely affected aged 2, to very high functioning/coping in mainstream with minimal support from about age 6. Really its very difficult to predict who will do what.

Where are you (very roughly- N,S,E,W) in the UK- you may be able to find some RL support from here.

oh -sorry - writing too quickly- the assessments may of course show there;s nothing to worry about- it's hard to judge from a website- but given your list I would be asking for a referral- even if it all came to nothing.

Message withdrawn

it is hard to say if your child has autism, in my experience (i have 3 kids with autism)autism presents differently in each child coupled with the fact that my three have all gone throu phases that all typical kids do, except my three seem to get stuck in the phases forever, does your child have any ocd type stuff? food issues?
how does he respond to changes of routine ?
it won't hurt the go to the dotors and ask for a referal to a developmental pead.
when you say he explores toys what does he do with them?

jimjams and tobysmum my dd has just finished her asessment at the CDC and has an appointment with the dev paed in Feb.
They wont go into her nursery to do a visit as we are under another council/borough and i dont know what we will do in that case.

Do they have to do a home visit/nursery visit in order to have a dx?

Sorry for the hijack btw

my son wasn't at nursery when he had his assessment , my twin girls were at nursery when they had assessment and they provided a report and came to the DX meeting, we didn't have a home vist during any assessment.

hi runikka, my ds1 is 4 and just diagnosed with aspergers which is high functioning autism. i think i might have sought help sooner if i had had his siblings first because i had no idea not pointing and other factors was unusual.ds1 is a very energetic and smiley boy who can appear 'normal' for short periods. at 2 my ds really didn't seem too different to his peers and his tantrums were certainly average, iwas just pleased he didn't wack friends children like others did . your ds language sounds similar to mines at that age, though he's yet to hold a tune! my ds1 has never played with peers, but at 2 playing alongside is really normal as is clingyness. Your ds's sight could accounnt for everything and he just needs to adjust to what he can see, but as you are worried i think you need to pursue this further.
i first saw my health visitor when my ds1 was 3 because his language was so confused and i was a bit concerned by his lack of play with peers and imaginative play. she found my summary that was similar to yours helpful and she referred us to a speech therapist and a paedritician. the salt was useless and the paed said to wait and see if he was a 'late developer'. i did my own research and found echolalia and reversal of 'you' and 'i' were common autistic features. so i went back to the paed and said no change in ds and obsessions with routine/ fear of others worsening. so the paed assesed him with 2 other doctors and a spcialist salt and they diagnosed aspergers. has to be said still coming to terms with this, but just reading previous threads on here is a comfortand he's getting lots of help at preschool with play now.
hope this helps lol luckylady

thanks onlyjoking and luckylady

jenk- the assessment nursery was actually in the CDC. He attended an assessment group once a week for the 6 weeks he was being assessed, he wasn't actually assessed at his normal nursery (although EP's etc did visit after dx).

Hi Kirsty, I would suggest you go to your HV, and be prepared to stand your ground if you don't think your're being heard. If it turns out that he doesn't have anything going on that might need addressing/help/support, you've lost nothing, you just look like a v. caring and concerned mum; and absolutely, what you describe could equally apply to a child without autism. If he is autistic, or if he has areas that could benefit from extra help in my experience the earlier the better. I was less clued up than you seem to be, and left a year between my first vague worry about ds2's speech loss, which wasn't taken seriously, and approaching my HV again. In my area there's actually a fair amount of early intervention provision that could have been useful to him, and this is where he was then referred for assessments, in a nursery/pre-school setting. As regards the long term future of a child diagnosed with asd, the range is so huge. There are certainly adults with autism living independently, and successfully, others with varying degrees of support, some with a great deal of support. We've tried to resist too much 'prognosis', I honestly don't believe at this age anyone can know what he'll be capable of, or good at, really any more than I can know for sure what my NT- neurotypical- dc's will be doing as adults. Hope this is not too rambly, best wishes to you.

Message withdrawn

Runnika - I agree with the others about asking for an assessment. Each area seems to have its own system. My 2 boys both had an appointment with the Paed to start with. He/she (different Paed for each) arranged for them to be assessed within about 3-4 months. All the assessments were done during a single week and on the last day they had a case conference to discuss the findings.

I must say that your ds sounds very similar to my ds1 at that age. The main difference is that ds1 didn't babble at all until around 6mths later. My first concern with ds1 was that he might be deaf as he didn't answer to his name at all and didn't react to sudden loud noises.

It's impossible to predict how a child will turn out but ds1 is now 6yrs old and in a mainstream primary school. He needs very little support during lessons. His language skills are now actually better than an average child of his age. OTOH he needs more help than an average 6yr-old when going out, at home etc. People who don't know about his diagnosis probably wouldn't even realise that he is autistic unless they had some experience of it.

Hi

Many thanks for your replies. I have just been trying to get our little man to come over by calling his name and he is just completely blank. He used to respond to his name but at the moment just wont!!

We are based in Sussex and have managed to get a referral to see a paed at horsham. Hopefully should hear before Christmas.

In a lot of the literature I have read it seems that children often arent affectionate if autistic/asd. However, Daniel loves contact cuddles/tickles and is more prone to clinginess than distance. Can the symptom not be present in some cases?

With regards to playing, he loves building blocks. Anything that plays music and has lights. Shape sorters are a fav too. He studies things with lots of detail and shape. He loves his nursery rhymes and book too! Not fond of tv and wont really watch it although he has one baby einstein dvd he adores and watching intently.

regards
kirsty

Hi Runnika. My ds has AS and ADD (diagnosed). He is very affectionate and cuddly. Its such a broad spectrum and each child is different.

I really sympathise with you as I remember looking at all the check lists and wondering so well. If I am honest with myself I always knew there was something different about ds however. You are doing the right thing pursuing a diagnosis. It will be painful but you will come out the other side and the sooner you can access appropriate help for ds the more chance he can reach his potential. It may be that your ds is just a late developer but its still worth chasing up appontments as it takes a long time to get them. Make sure you keep enjoying those cuddles, its a myth that all ASD kids are unaffectionate. My ds has had to be trained NOT to cuddle his teacher and LSA!

hi.

Sorry I'm a bit late on this one, but just wanted ot say your obviously concerned and I feel you should push for a referral for your son, even if it amounts to nothing in the long run.

Chat through your concerns [take a list it does help] with your Health Visitor or GP, ask to be referred to a developmental pead and a Speach and langugae therapist.

And ot answer ytour question - children with Autism and Aspergers can be very afectionate, as a condition it manifests in many many different ways, not all suffres have the same issues - they all have the same impairmentsyes, but they are all individuals who develop differently.

I hope you are able to get some answers soon, not knowing if theres a problem is awful, you question everything you do with and for your child...

I agree that children with autism can be affectionate. My two often give me hugs and kisses accompanied by an occasional "I love you, Mum".

runinka- ds1 - me severely autistic 7 yerar old is the most affectionate of my 3 boys. Even yesterday he kept coming over to give me cuddles, and will sit on my lap and snuggle up despite being almost as tall as me (he's up to my chest).The affection doesn't really tell you much (although enjoy it! ) We were told by professionals when he was 2 that he couldnt be autistic as he was too affectionate, so don't let anyone fob you off with that one.

Hi Just thought I'd add that my ds2 had a dx aged 5 HF/ASD which i wasn't expecting!
I hadn't been looking for any signs, didn't know much about autism I am ashamed to say and thought we just had behavioural difficulties.
HV started referals when he was 2.5 but autism was never really mentioned.
I wish I had know about MN and had asked for advice much earlier.
His issues became more apparent when he started nursery at 4 and had to spend more time with other children.
Ask as much as you can as soon as you can.