I mentioned on the "Quiet baby" thread a while ago that I've been having some concerns about ds2 being on the spectrum. Our portage worker has spoken to the Paed about him (she sees ds2 every 2 weeks or so when she visits ds1) and has put him on the waiting-list for a referral. In the meantime we're back on the "Is he/isn't he?" rollercoaster. One day he seems fine and I think I'm worrying over nothing. The next day I'm 99% certain that he's on the spectrum.
Ds2 is now 17 months and still doesn't talk. He had a few words at about 10 months but these have disappeared. He does babble though, which is more than ds1 did at the same age.
I've had another look at the CHAT test and I'm fairly sure that he would fail. His pointing is almost non-existent. If I am holding an object in my hand and say "Where's the X?" he will point to it. If I put the same object down and say "Where's the X?" he just looks at me as though I'm speaking in Martian. He doesn't seem to be able to follow a point and has never pointed at something as though to say "Look at that!" There's a certain element of shared interest as he will bring toys/objects to me, but he tends to throw them on my lap and toddles off again.
His 'thing' is round objects, circles, and anything that spins - and yes that includes the washing machine. Watching the fan spin round is another favourite past-time, as is turning his cars, walkers etc upside down so that he can spin the wheels. He likes his toys but doesn't really play with them. He prefers to carry them around with him.
He is extremely active and rarely stops. He is almost fanatical about climbing and has an amazing ability to balance on the most unlikely surfaces - which has knocked several years off my life on more than one occasion!
He has hypersensitive hearing and likes to look at things from odd angles. His favourite activity is to spin round and round while looking out of the corners of his eyes. Thankfully he doesn't have sensory issues with his hands like ds1 does so his fine-motor skills are pretty good.
I wouldn't mind so much if he IS on the spectrum ( although obviously I would prefer him not to be) but I just wish I knew one way or the other. Back to waiting for that appointment I suppose....