I feel your DD has ASD what was she like at 3?

[Windybobbin]

Just as the title says really. I'm pretty sure my daughter has a form of ASD and I'm interested to hear how your daughter's were at the same age.

I am in this exact same boat with my DS who is 3yrs also. Watching with interest. Will add he has hear impairment also but we are starting to worry there is more going on...

The main things that concern me atm are:
Lack of interest in other children
Isolated play
Poor eye contact unless playing counting tickling games for example
Echolalia / scripting / singing.
Very physical, sensory (loves running, lights, soft things)
Started chewing things a lot

He is also very good with numbers and letters.
He is very affectionate.
He is verbal though mainly used to get what he wants rather than other forms of meaningful communication.

Thanks Chasingmytail your DS sounds quite similar to my DD.

Does your DS (or anyone else's who reads this) have obsessions? My DD doesn't obsess over any of the subjects often stated in ref to ASD (car makes, dinosaurs etc) but instead is obsessed with certain dvds and when playing can recite all the words. This is pretty much the extent of her playing. She has very little interest in playing with other children I think she has a much better time inside her head.

My DD is 3 and we found out this week it is likely she has ASD or some form of communication disorder.

If you look at my other thread I've put the main things that seem to concern them. I am still very new to this but my understanding is that at its core it's about this "triad" of problems (social, communication, and social imagination) and about repetitive or rigid behaviour resulting from that. But the specific ways it manifests can be very very different across different children.

Basically DD is very affectionate and has good eye contact etc with family/people she knows well, but tends not to join in with other children. At first I out this down to her being behind physically (she is hypermobile) but there seems to be more to it than that. In terms of communication she tends to use bits of grown up language she has picked up, isn't great at asking for help, and more generally mainly uses language passively (e.g. to describe what is going on in a story or what happened at school) rather than actively (to say she is hungry or wants a toy). Although this is all changing all the time, each time we go back and she isn't doing x concerning thing any more it feels like they find something different to be concerned about instead. So I guess it is unusual development, rather than any fixed set of behaviours. She does also wave her legs when she gets excited, and sometimes heel walks (this comes and goes).

Anyway, am also watching with interest. Have you had any sort of assessments yet or professional feedback?

On obsessions, I would say my DD has definitely been obsessed with books before. When she was really small she always wanted stories and wasn't much interested in toys. At the time we put this down to her motor problems. Recently she has wanted story CDs a lot (asking for the same story several times a day for a few days and then changing to a different one). The last few days she's been doing that less but very interested in jigsaws instead. So I guess you could say obsessions but they change over time in waves...

Yes Windybobbin DS does likes certain dvds especially a nursery rhyme one and he can recite all the songs. He also has story books which he can recite without prompting. As far as toys he loves anything with lights or music but also quite fixated with his shopping basket also water (watering plants). Do you have any dx for you DD yet?

No I have no diagnosis I'm just trying to get the kick up the butt I need to go to the GP to be honest.

I think the problem is I have a tendency to normalise her behaviour until I see other children her age. I found this list : www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg128/chapter/appendix-c-signs-and-symptoms-of-possible-autism#table-1-signs-and-symptoms-of-possible-autism-in-preschool-children-or-equivalent-mental-age and my daughter matches the majority of the symptoms. It's a bit of an eye opener.

I should also mention she has a great talent for art and can read all letters, phonics and numbers up to 100 so it's not all bad .

Yes my DS also great with alphabet, numbers and phonics! How is your DD with communicating with you? DS seems much better with family than the people he sees at nursery. For example he will often ask me for things he wants or bring things to show me but apparently never does this at nursery. He also likes me to play with him and will want to do jigsaws together or play hide and seek etc. Again apparently just plays on his own at nursery... Just wondering if your DD was similar and what sort of things she will do / say to you?

oh and snap about normalising behaviours until you compare...

DD plays independently for hours only involving me if she has lost something. Her play largely consists of reinacting experiences and things she has seen on her fave DVD. At toddler/preschool play sessions we attend she will play repeatedly physically on play equipment instead of joining in with singing (hurts her ears) or playing with other children. If they approach her to play she often ignores them or will only nod or shake her head then carry on doing what she was doing before. She only really wants me if there is something she doesn't like.

She has a ridiculous memory and can recite whole books and DVD scripts. I think this helps in love of letters and numbers. Dd prefers non fiction books .

She often refers to herself in the third person "I think 'Tilly ' wants a sandwich" instead of "can I have a sandwich please?".

Except Tilly never wants a sandwich because Tilly lives on about 4 foods (the Drs DO know this).

If she sees, hears, smells or feels something she dislikes she will freeze and cover ears and eyes until either the stimulus goes or she shuts down to sleep eventually. I have to physically carry her past things she dislikes in streets because she will not walk by them and will drop to floor to stop moving.

I would still say she is very loving, I've never felt unloved and she makes eye contact with me and adores our pets. She has no proper friends and doesn't seem to mind.

Rightly or wrongly I would class these as ASD like behaviour, would anyone else agree?

It is definitely sounding like you have enough to warrant a GP referral. How is she at communicating with you when she chooses to? Can she talk in full sentences? Does she understand her feelings. For example 'tilly is sad'? Would she understand your feelings for example if you were cross or sad?
My DS mainly talks in 2 word phrases or echoed sayings that he has learnt off me and he just selects the one he remembers (although in the right context it is not his own if that makes sense). He would not be able to understand feelings although he will say when his brother cries that he is sad. I believe he thinks crying is sad...rather than understanding that baby cried because he FEELS sad....it's so tricky as I think at this age it's hard to tell to what level the AS may affect them. I constantly worry about him and how he will manage at different stages of his life and wonder if some of the things he struggles with now he will develop and grow out of or just learn to handle better...