Autism in toddler girls.

[Shootingstar2289]

Hi all, I have a six year old son with ASD. His problems were obvious at this age but I have concerns over my daughter (20 months). She is more advanced than my son was at the same age but there's been a few things that have worried me:

1. Hand/arm flapping. Mainly when she is excited but she seems to to be doing it more and more.

1. Lack of speech. She babbles constantly and says a few works but far from where she should be.

1. Her understanding doesn't seem great.

Despite this she is an extremely, happy and affectionate child. She's doing things that my son didn't at that age (waving, pointing and showing me things for example). She also does imaginative play, like saying hello to a phone, brushing hair, playing with her toy kitchen. Etc. My son never did this.

But, I cannot keep comparing my two children. Just because, she is more advanced than my son doesn't mean she hasn't got a problem as autistic children are different.

I did take her to the Health Visitor. She didn't seem concerned and would only refer to speech therapy if her speech hasn't improved at her two year check. She seemed generally satisfied with her development.

My question for any Mothers with Autistic daughters. How were your children at this age? Should I be concerned?

Hmm, my nearly 20mth old girl is similar to the above, is there anything else?

Differences with autistic dd are:
Waves and points
Happy to see everyone, initiates smiling contac
Interested in her peers
More secure in separating when you m in the room she'll wander off
Babbles with good variety
Looks for eye contact to share interest
Flaps in excitement etc, but not when unfocused and with no obvious external reason
Not silent, lots of babble
Variety in play interest/ actually plays
Doesn't spin alone
Tried to get understanding, even if she doesn't she focuses

They are all different, but those are differences I can think of between my dds

The thing is zzzzz, I have also spoke to my GP who said I need to see the health visitor! Services where I live is shocking. My son wasn't took seriously until he was three and gone. He didn't say a word until he was four and a half and had loads of other issues.

Sounds very similar flippeduprightside. If it wasn't for the lack of speech, I wouldn't really have any major concerns. She is extremely happy, she does also play which is great as my son has never really played with properly. She also seems to try approach other children. I believe she struggles with this as I'm the guilty parent who never takes her to toddler group (mainly because the one in my village is rubbish and the nearest are 30 minutes away).

Thanks for your responses!

have you looked at the M-cha?

with her speech and understanding delayed and having an older sibling with ASD, I'd go back to the GP and demand a referral to paed. Awful how they are messing you about.

Fwiw , at 20 months, my DD (ASD and LDs) had only about 20 words but very little understanding. couldn't use the words she had for communication (i.e. she had the word 'apple' but would not use it when she wanted an apple). This was at that age our main concern. I was blissfully unaware of ASD and thought she was just slow to speak.

I suppose you had a hearing test just to rule out hearing issues?

I've been in a similar position, my DS1 was dx with ASD when was 3 and had slight concerns with DS3. I self-referred to SALT as although he had more speech and understanding compared to DS1 at that age, something still felt off. The first SALT said there wasn't enough to directly refer to the children's development clinic, but did refer on to the specialist SALT and the community paediatrician, as the combination of a slight speech/understanding delay and an older sibling with a dx was enough to warrant further investigation. DS3 has got the ASD assessment next week, it's been a slower process (mostly of our choosing) but I do feel I'd rather he start school with it done rather than waiting any longer.

So for all that waffle, I would self-refer to SALT and that may bypass the HV gatekeeping.

Thanks all for the replies. After the school holidays, I will take her to see the GP and hopefully persuade them to refer. (Cannot to before as DS is & doctors do not go well ao will go when he's back at school!)

The services in my area are very stretched. My son didn't say a single world aged 2 and it took nearly a year to get regular speech therapy and nobody took me seriously until he was gone three! ☹️

Hi I know it is a very old post but was wondering if your DD went on to being diagnosed on the spectrum? X