Is early diagnosis of ASD synonymous with greater impairment...

[Takiwatanga]

...?

My son was diagnosed at 2, he's now 4 and has come on a lot. At 2 he was described as significantly impacted by autism. He is still impacted, but not quite so much.

I am wondering if your children diagnosed with asd aged 3 and younger are impacted a lot by their autism? As in not HFA or aspergers (I know this term isn't used so much now)

I think the timing of diagnosis is often more to do with:
-parents being aware of normal/not normal development in young children
-parents acceptance that their child is having difficulties
-ease of getting concerns taken seriously / getting a referral
-waiting lists

DS1 now 13, was dx at just over 3 (3yrs 2 months) and there'd been a big delay in the assessment process due to a community paediatrician debacle. (Probably made about 9 months difference)

He had the ADOS and his scores were ASD range and the consultant paed said in years gone by he probably wouldn't have been dx until he was 7ish.

When I first got him referred to SALT at just 2 he had v little speech or interaction, didn't respond to name and had huge meltdowns. By the time assessment had come round he'd had a huge jump in his development.

He was pretty passive in primary until Yr6 which went a bit wrong. He's now in an ASD base in mainstream secondary, spends about 50% of his time in mainstream.

Ds3 nearly 6 was dx just over 4, his speech issues were milder in presentation though meltdowns off the scale. Things already going wrong in Yr1, he struggles across the board and I'd say is more affected than DS1 was at that age.

I think had DS1's speech issues been milder like DS3s, I wouldn't have been in the system with him at all. Maybe once he got to school and his social issues caused concern, but I could see his first school just thinking it was a parenting issue tbh.

And if DS3's speech issues were like DS1's I'd have got him referred earlier.

I agree with all the above really.

DD was picked up pretty early (by our nanny). She started to see Paediatricians when she was 2.5 I think (after her 27 month check) and was seen every 6 months with increasing certainty it was ASC each time until diagnosis when she was just 4.

Now at 4.5 I would say she isn't very impacted at all, and I think if she was at school without any Dx or inkling as Dobbins says they would have seen some anxiety issues but probably put it down to parenting. So if she hadn't been picked up at home would school have done it? I'm not sure... She never caused them any problems (though she did do things like hide under the table in a fire alarm that should have been a good clue if we didn't already know).

I have a friend with a DD who is also on the diagnosis pathway but doesn't have a diagnosis yet (at 4.5) despite far more severe behavioural issues than we've had because the medics they saw for a long time wanted to "wait and see". There are a lot of pretty random influences.

But I'm also aware that DD may well hit more problems later on as the social demands get more intense. By contrast there is another girl from her nursery who I suspect is autistic who was far far behind DD in terms of speech (and still is quite a bit behind), and has more sensory issues, so when she was young she seemed quite extreme, but she has always been more social than DD, so it wouldn't surprise me if her issues get less problematic to her as she gets older and DD's get harder.

I don't think there is any crystal ball, but from what I've seen and read I definitely think age at Dx depends on so many factors, and challenges can vary so much over a child's life, that it is very hard to make any strong link.

Thankyou so much for taking the time to reply, it's really interesting reading about your DC and their journeys too. We were very proactive in getting a diagnosis which I guess would have influenced things, ds was deffo presenting quite severe at 1 and 2 though too.. Whereas now he is definitely more able across the board, thiugh still very much autistic iyswim

My son is almost 20, he was diagnosed at 3 although assessment started at 19 months. He was originally at the milder end of the spectrum. 17 years on he’s at the very severe end of the spectrum. He’s non verbal, severe learning disabilities and has very little understanding. At 14 we added epilepsy and OCD to the diagnosis.

Thankyou Benji for sharing your experience.