Panicking - does my other twin son have autism too?

[Laurajay84]

My 3 year old was diagnosed with autism a couple of months ago. A couple of autism professionals have mentioned how unusual it is that his identical twin brother isn't on the spectrum too and it has got me very worried.

We always were confident that my other son was completely NT as he is the opposite to his brother in almost every way. Very typical toddler, spoke on time, has a wonderful imagination, loves people, great eye contact, no motor skills issues, etc, etc.

However, recently we have noticed that he does repeat little phrases every so often out of context and will wake up in the morning talking about the same thing he was talking about the day before. He used to have a lot of echolalia but that has now practically gone and he has moved onto delayed echolalia. He will also have one sided conversations and, say if i walk into a room, he will say 'hello (his name)' before i even get the chance to say it.

His receptive language is very good and he can hold a basic short conversation - I'm just not sure if I should be worried about the rest of the issues? Will he grow out of these things as well?

I don't know whether I'm overthinking things because I'm so aware of autistic traits?

I've just done the MCHAT and got a score of 0 - low risk, which is what I suspected really. He has no other behaviours apart from the echolalia. Could it be that he just has this one trait? I'm so confused.

ZZZZ I know that you have twin boys. Does your other son have any autistic traits?

I agree about asking for assessment. Personally I'd ask for salt assessment and see what they say as its language your picking up on.

Either way information is power so you can work out what's next from there.

Laura I'm not sure if the MCHAT is suitable for 3 year olds. I remember reading that it was for up to 30 months only.

My fraternal twin boys were diagnosed at 2 within a week of one another. I initially thought my older twin was NT and when I did the MCHAT he was low risk. A few months later it was clear he wasn't low risk but I still didn't think he had asd.

I think it's definitely worth asking for an assessment. Depending on where you live you may get seen quicker as he has a brother with asd. Good luck Laura.

i have twins but mine are boy/girl - boy was very typical asd and was dx quite early on whereas his sister was dx at aged 11 - i would never have said in the early years she was asd but looking back now it was clear there were signs there but as a girl she hid it better.

I have 4 year old twin boys both of whom have ASD although it presents quite differently in them both. They are either best friends or physically fighting. The fighting is normally triggered by something competitive...who gets something 1st , who has something the other one wants, who gets to somewhere first. We have been doing a lot on kind hands using visuals and separating them to calm down. I cannot leave them unsupervised in a room unless they are both engrossed in a kindle or similar.

How much is this 'normal' brother behaviour? Any tips gratefully received.

I have fraternal twin girls who were both diagnosed HFA at 7, both with very similar anxieties/behaviour. They are 9 now and are either best of friends or fighting too. I'm so glad I'm not alone! I'm going on a course next year and hoping to learn some strategies to help me manage the melt downs and some of the challenging behaviours. Its run by the NHS, perhaps ask your HA if they run similar in your County? Good luck.