Autism concerns - almost 20 months old

[mammamia91]

Apologies for the long post but I've got some concerns about my little boy and I'm getting sick of being fobbed off by all of my family as being 'over anxious' so need some advice from somewhere.

The main thing that is worrying me is the fact that he has never really pointed - he will point to something in a book e.g. a dog if I ask him where it is but does not point to show me things or to request something. He doesn't really bring me things to show me either, he will bring over a book that he wants me to read to him or a toy that he wants me to switch on but not really bring things over just to share if you know what I mean. He does wave and say bye-bye and will join in and clap when he sees others clapping.

His speech is OK he has quite a lot of words at the moment and he does show some joint attention with his toys. I sometimes have to say his name several times before he responds. He also seems to be funny about loud noises, we went to a farm the other day and went on a tractor ride and he cried all the way round, we put this down to the noise.

The lack of pointing has worried me for a while but he has always seemed quite interactive and engaged so I wasn't overly concerned. I had another baby 8 weeks ago and it is since then I have noticed some other things. I feel like this is spoiling my enjoyment of the new baby as I feel so anxious and worried for my little boy all the time and am constantly googling.

As I said l have tried to raise my concerns with my family and they've all been very dismissive and think I am being silly but I feel as a mum
you know when something isn't right. Would just appreciate some advice from people who have been there!

Hi there! My DD is 4 and was Dx'd autistic about 6 months ago. She is lovely, fun and a total joy and we have a lovely life together (just want to put that up front!)

She also didn't point when she was little (except to things in books) and that was one of the things that the experts focused on. However, she also didn't wave or say bye bye until much older than your DS. Like your DS she did have (what seemed to us) good joint attention (and still does) - but she can go off in her own world and need her name calling several times (or, more effectively, tap her shoulder, put the thing I want to ask her about in her hand, etc.) She is very engaged and interested in the world - she just gets very focused on one thing at a time and can find it hard to switch focus (not a bad thing but obviously needs slightly different parenting!)

Your DS definitely doesn't sound like an "obvious" case but I also think parents' instincts often have something behind them and are worth investigating. Even if he isn't autistic, if you investigate you will end up understanding your DS better and parenting him better.

In our area there are "drop in" speech and language clinics (they send an SLT to a local stay and play and you can just turn up on the day and book half an hour). That was our "route in" to (eventual) diagnosis. If you Google "children" "SLT" and your borough/county (or similar) hopefully you'll find details of how to access SLT in your area?

Hello, I am Mum to a 15 year old with autism.

Like you I suspected something wasn’t quite right and I think my family thought me overanxious.

Some things you say sound like red flags but some things do not. Then again autism is a spectrum so all autistic children are different .

The lack of pointing can be an issue but he has speech. Is the speech functional. Can he ask you for a drink or tell you he is hungry? My son didn’t speak until he was 4 but had a good number of words at 12 months which he lost.

I think your best bet is to speak to the HV or GP and ask for further assessment. Some GPs are not very clued up on autism, the much younger ones seem better. Again HVs can differ but there is an assessment called CHAT which can be done at 18 months. It’s not a diagnostic test but can give a guide to whether further investigation is required.