On the wait list for speech therapy and to see a ped - 18m

[Mrsremlab]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for others that have been in a similar situation to mine and my husband's. I always knew deep down in my gut that my little boy (J, 18 months) was different to others, but I just thought it was a quirky personality. We have recently had another baby who is 5 months old. I was so caught up in the newborn phase it hadn't occured to me that J was rather behind by the time he got to 15m.

The biggest red flags J has are

• no words, he babbles, but mostly shouts ahhh all day long.
• no pointing, clapping (only spontaneously), or waving.
• responds to his name very little
• eye contact isn't very good, but fantastic if I'm singing him a song bless him.
• flaps his arms when he's excited or over stimulated
• LOVES things that spin or bubble/flowing water. He will stand and flap near a waterfall all day if I let him!
• has been described as a loner, loves to read books on his own and removes himself from crowds to be alone.
• acts as if his sister doesn't exist

Other than that, he is the sweetest boy you've ever met. He absolutely adores his dad. He's a very happy little boy.
I gave the HV a call who came to see us. She did the ages and stages questionnaire with him and a few others, and in her words "he failed them all spectacularly". Very sensitive!

To cut a long story short, they wouldn't take action until 18m. 18m has approached and no action was taken so I self referred him to speech and language therapy, the HVs took notice and also referred him to see a ped too. We are expecting to see both by Christmas or early next year.

Should I be expecting a diagnosis of autism? The m-chat says he is very high risk, all the resources from the autism website point towards it, but my family are very adamant it's not autism and he's absolutely fine. My gut says he isn't whatsoever though, but obviously I want him to be ok. Thanks for listening.

Definitely sounds like it may be autism, but 18 months is very little, too little for a diagnosis. I'm a specialist speech and language therapist, working exclusively with children with autism in the private sector. It's best to take a preventative approach, rather than a "watch and wait" which is more common in the UK.
The best advice I can give you is to look into PECS training and start doing PECS with him. ABA is a brilliant approach, with great results. If you can afford it look for someone to do ABA at home with him for a couple of hours a week. VB MAPP is a really good evaluation to use.

Thanks for the great recommendations. I'll look into the costs of ABA and look into PECS. What is the usual age for a diagnosis? Will we still be under the pediatricians eye even if they don't diagnose him? Sorry for the questions.

I'm not in the UK so don't know how diagnosis works there. I'm in Paris and here diagnosis for ASD is around 3 years. I know several children who have received a diagnosis at 2 years 2 months. 2 years 6 months is common too.
I'm pretty sure the pediatrician would see your DS again to follow his development.

They may well not diagnose yet as he is still so young. I imagine they will see him at regular intervals though (6 months or so). Whether it’s autism or not, you know that his development is not typical so you can start to work with him now. There is a lot you can do and it will not be harmful if he is NT. Books such as An early start for your child with Autism or More than words may be helpful.

Oh, and something on sensory strategies if there are any sensory issues. You don’t mention any but they are common.

We didn't get Dx until nearly 4, but I think the paediatricians first mentioned autism as a possibility at about 3 and I think they were thinking about it before that... so even if you don't get a formal Dx until later hopefully you can get a steer before.

We've done a bit of ABA ourselves at home (getting advice from an ABA firm via Skype twice a month) and found it a good way to think about breaking down the skills needed to build up into communication/conversation over time. A bit like physio for communication! The support available seems very limited until they get to school, and even then it's support for education but not really for home IYSWIM.

See if there is a Portage service near you too? We haven't used that but I've heard great things about it.

Also look up Walkie Talkie speech therapy on YouTube - she has some really useful videos on encouraging verbal communication - making it really engaging for kids (sounds like your DS is very engaged by singing and bubbles/water and other stuff so that's a good start - he sounds lovely!).

We have been waiting for speech therapy for over 7 months now the waiting list is ridiculous, we have been under the paediatrician for a year, my little boy who is 3 in January has now gone on a waiting list for the autism team.
My little boy has no language we have now started PECS with portage if you have portage in your area please see if you can get them involved there amazing

I'm so sorry the wait list is so long for you. I hope you get seen soon! I have just got a letter through the post with a number to ring on Monday to book him in, luckily they say the average wait is 8 weeks. Thanks for the advice! I will look into portage. Is it a free service?

Portage is free it's accessed through health visitors, they used play therapy and have started to introduce PECS with my little boy