At what age are symptom really evident in autism

[runikka]

Hi there

Hope all mums/dads/little ones are doing ok!

I just wanted to ask some more advice (sorry!!) about the symptoms of autism. We are still waiting for an appointment to come through for our little boy for an assessment. The last week or so has been very encouraging in the fact that he is answering to his name...sometimes! He is coming over to us and understands a few instructions. I watched "a different life" yesterday and obviously Rosie is a lot older than our little boy who has just turned 2 and I wondered when it really becomes apparent that there is a difference in behaviour. We went to a Christmas party with Daniel yesterday and he was playing with the toys and watching some of the children. He was still much in his own little world, didn't watch the entertainment and was running around on his own. However, I couldn't say for definite that this was any different to the other two year olds in the room. Some were watching, some werent!! I guess we are currently looking for tics/repetitive behaviour and Daniel does feet shuffle quite a bit, flap when he is excited and spin but I dont know if this is something that he would do at 2 anyway. I mean, just as experimentation of using his limbs. Yesterday he kept clapping and odd moments but we have taken to clapping and cheering when he does something that we are pleased about. This is because he likes the attention and often repeats what he has done ie: holding his fork at dinner etc. I am just in limbo at the moment and dont want to evaluate his every movement.

If you are still reading, thank you for listening to that ramble.
Kirsty

I noticed at 17 months that ds1 wasn't really pointing. Other than that he tended to blank other children (not hide from them, or be shy around them, just act as if they weren't there). Other than that he was very passive, and laid back and easy going, all of which were signs, but I didn't realise at the time.

How old is Daniel now?

Hi runikka

Sorry, I haven't got 'an answer', I think the age would vary a lot, depending on the type of autism, 'severity', though I'm less comfortable about using that term, and children who are autistic develop in different ways at different paces IME even more than children generally. It was at about 21/2 that we were slowly realising that there was something more specific going on for ds2 than just being very different from his older brother (which he is). But as you say, they're all doing different things at this age and it's really hard when you're looking for symptoms not to see them all the time, especially when you're not sure what you're looking for.
Hope your appointment comes through soon; be nice to have a bit of input from outside. Your clapping and cheering him, and especially that he really likes it and then repeats things sound great.
This is a ramble! Just wanted to say hi really , sure someone more knowledgable will be along, take care

Hi

Many thanks for your replies. Daniel has just turned two (last week). I guess the HV was most concerned but the fact that he doesn't point. He has pointed at something once (our photo on the wall). I however, am guilty of not pointing things out to him. I talk to him all the time, telling him what things are but when we are out and about, we tend not to talk so much, particularly in the car. I am guessing that pointing isn't a learnt behaviour tho. We are making a real effort to just share everything with him at the moment and it has had positive effects. That niggling concern is always there though.

Thanks again
Kirsty

Oh another thing is, for those with children that have autism/asd - how did your child cope with siblings. In our case, we have a younger daughter and we initially considered regression due to being put out by the new arrival. However, now he takes little notice of her unless she giggles (positive reaction), cries (joins in) or takes his toys (not recommended).

Thanks
kirsty

"I however, am guilty of not pointing things out to him."

Whoah! I do not want to hear the "g" word. If he doesn't point it is not because of you.

DS1 reacted very badly to ds2 turning up (ds1 was 2- rising 3 at the time). I would say he was depressed for about 4 months, stopped using the small number of words he had been approximating, and stopped playing with anything at all. Before ds2 had been born he'd loved to sit on my lap and read, but that all went, he'd throw books across the room if I brought them to hi. Slowly things improved after a visit to see Thomas- he came back home and went and found all his trains again, then when ds3 turned up (when ds1 was 5 and a half- and I was DREADING it)) he loved him from the beginning!

Hi runikka

I can't remember for sure when I suspected autism in my ds, but I knew from an early age that he was 'different' to the other babies/toddlers. I remember feeling jealous when
I compared other babies smiling and gurgling whilst my ds didn't seem to react much at all. He didn't go through the babbling stage, nor did he point. He was actually a very difficult baby/toddler, always crying and screaming, he never seemed to be content just sitting and watching others. In fact he couldn't have cared less of others being around, he was more interested in the furniture or the nearest door for a quick escape, once he could crawl he was off, he never looked back once for reassurance from mum. He didn't really enjoy cuddles, and never once held his arms up in anticipation to be picked up.

Ds1 was my first child so I first suspected that someting was wrong when he was about 15+ months. My initial fear was deafness. I didn't really know anything about autism then though.

I knew that ds2 had traits by the time he was about 4mths or so but didn't suspect actual ASD until he lost words at around 10mths and didn't regain them until over a year later.

Ds1 was around 2yrs 8mths when ds2 came along. At first he didn't seem to even notice ds2 was there - until the day I found ds1 rocking ds2's pram in an attempt to stop him crying. They've been fairly close ever since although they do have the usual arguments etc.

Ds2 was 3yrs old when dd came along. Again he kind of blanked her a little at first but now adores her. Dd has her 2 brothers wrapped around her little finger.

I first became concerned when DS was around 18 months, as he wasn't pointing and didn't have any language at all. He was also hyperactive and liked to hold gravel in his hands for hours at a time. The HV referred him to the CDC when he turned two, but because we moved house, he was only diagnosed with autism a couple of days after he turned three.

For months before the assessment I kept a diary where I recorded all the "non-autistic" stuff that DS did, like - showing empathy when a dog on the telly fell over and hurt himself, using sign language, feeding me raisins... Later I read this in a publication by the NAS: "... there is no single feature that, if not present, excludes either autism or Asperger syndrome. For example, a child with an ASD may make eye contact, speak with perfect grammar or put an arm round another child who is crying. Occasional behaviour such as this doesn't exclude an autistic spectrum disorder; it's the overall pattern that's relevant, not the intermittent flashes of "normality"." So that's what I was doing, I was recording "flashes or normality"... and finding excuses for strange behaviours, like "he's squinting at the lights because he's still experimenting with his senses".

I feel for you runikka, the uncertainty really is the hardest part. When I was in your situation, I was often so desperately sad... Now I'm full of energy and hope for my little guy, who is absolutely delightful and making fantastic progress on his ABA programme.

Hope your appointment comes around soon.

i knoew there was something "different" about DS when he was about 14 months.

when i took him the the HV i was just fobbed off with the terrible twos.
thankfully he went to nursary when he was 23 months and they also realised that it was more than just the terrible two's and boughtin an ed psych.

he is high functioning so it may be easier with children with more severe or pronounced difficulties.

I first thought that DS might be autistic when he was around 11 months after reading a description in a book - he flapped his hands and didn't respond to his name or any other spoken language - but I'd felt he was different for a while before that. I found the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT)around then and spent the next few months waiting for him to point, follow my point/gaze and show signs of imaginary play, but he never did - these behaviours are supposed to appear by 18 months. I spent many miserable months in fear/denial despite all this because my paediatrician had told me she didn't think he was autistic because he was "too responisve" so a diagnosis at the age of 2 1/2 was probably a relief. The waiting is the worst thing in the world, I hope you get an answer soon!

Hi again
Many thanks for your replies. Would you say that tantrums are more common in a child with autism. It is just I have noticed people mentioning the terrible twos etc Does anyone have a child where this isn't a tendency. Daniel has them from time to time but only really when he is tired or stressed (by crying babies). I have just chased up his appointment, being that we were told it would be within a month. However, have found out that, just over two weeks, the letter of referral hasn't even been typed yet

Our experience is very similar to Socci's, in both her posts on this thread. DS2 is a fairly passive, placid child and has never had a lengthy tantrum or meltdown. In fact, I've come to realise that he's unusually accepting for a child of his age (4) - his lack of temper is an autistic trait, iyswim. Having said that, as he's learning to communicate better he's definitely becoming more strong-minded - will now cry and protest if something isn't to his liking. For which I'm profoundly grateful, in a strange sort of way!

By the way - Homsa - I could have written your post. That is exactly what I did and how I felt when DS2 was 2 - 2.5. And how I feel now too!

ds1 (my severely autistic son) was the most laid back of the 3. He gets very cross now (he's 7) but over compulsions he has and obsessions. I don't remember him tantruming at all. I could take him anywhere and everywhere and he would sit happily watching everything going on aroound him. People used to comment all the time on how happy he was. I realise now that his "extreme passivity" as it has been described in resports was a symptom of his autism in his case.

I first noticed that ds1 was different at 12 months when for his 1st bday he received a singing rocking horse and rather than rock on it he was looking underneath it to see how it worked!

But he was essentially normal until 14/15 months when he lost all his language and completely went into his own world. Bt 18 months I was asking other people if they thought he was autistic. Everyone said 'don't be ridiculous' (people tend to say that. they don't want to hurt your feelings. But fgs it would be nice if people were honest so you can get the help you need)

By 20 months I informed my HV that I thought he was autistic. She was horriied by how detached he was at her assesment. We saw a speech therapist who said he was the most severe child she had ever seen and we sould start PECS (picture exchange communiction) immediately. At 23 months he was diagnosed by a community developmental paed with autism. This was on my 25th birthday, and one of the worst days of my life. We followed this up at 27 months with a private diagnosis of Autism from Gillian Baird.

As jimjams said, please don't use the 'g' word! In fact when you wrote that I felt like crying because its the sort of thing I used to say to myself. 'I don't point things out enough', 'I don't talk to him enough' etc etc.

Please realise, if your son is autistic it is not your fault. It is a genetic condition. There are things you can do to help. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT.

Since then...? We started teh gluten free/casein free diet before diagnosis and noticed an improvement. We had a urine sample test done at Sunderland which was inconclusive. We started ABA therapy at 2rs old and ran a full time programme for 3 yrs. For the last 18 months or so we have also done RDI therapy.

Sorry I have ranted on. I really hope your boy is ok. But if you continue to be concerned don't take no for an answer and make people listen to you.

hiya am new here so sorry if this is all wrong, i have a little boy, just turned 5, whom i am fully expecting a diagnosis of aspergers syndrome soon, they keep fobbing me off, is it runikka that asked about tantrums, thinking about it, i dont really remember him going through the usual terrible 2's tantrums no, and he also was a very placid little boy who was (and still is)quite happy to sit in front of the telly most of the time, infact he now controls it completely lol. someone has just told me about this site cos of these boards, they are great.

Welcome to the SN board, mum24boyz.

thanks, i think i might be around quite a bit.

Hi mum24boys, another welcome to the site. there are lots of us around with kids with ASD.

Hi Dinosaur

Yes, you kindly replied to my original thread. I read from one of the other threads that you were currently having assessments for DS3. I understand that your news wasn't what you wanted to hear but hope you get all the help and support you need to bring your little one on!

With Daniel we have had some break throughs in the last few days. Nursery have noted a vast change in character since he srarted wearing glasses. He is answering to his name, copying other children and bringing things over to the staff. He is also full of mischief and understanding "NO" but cheekily ignoring it. These are all positive signs for us but I am still very aware that he needs assessment and look forward to it with both anticipation and dread!

Best Wishes to everyone
Kirsty