Early intervention possible autism

[Chickenandegg8]

Hi,
My little boy is 9 months old and I feel he has quite a few flags for autism.
My nephew is on the spectrum, low functioning, non verbal, pretty much zero interaction with anyone.
I was wondering what experience people have of early intervention? Has it helped at all? I’ve contacted RGO for an initial assessment.
I’m so concerned my little boy will follow the same path as my nephew I want to get him all the help I can as soon as possible.
Thanks

There’s a book that you may find useful while you’re waiting to access formal help. It’s called An Early Start for Your Child with Autism: Using Everyday Activities to Help Kids Connect by Sally Rogers.

I didn’t really have concerns about my son until he was two but I’m sure there will be other posters on here who had similar concerns to you at a younger age.

Hi chicken.

What kind of flags are you seeing? 9 months is very young. Do you think you could be seeing flags partly because of your nephew? Because my DD is autistic (and I had spotted nothing unusual with her) I was pretty paranoid about my DS and saw lots of possible flags, even though (still at 2) nobody else seems to have any concerns.

I'm afraid we didn't spot DD's autism until much later, so I don't have any knowledge of early intervention, but she is nonetheless doing very well with supports that we've put in since then (and now, aged nearly 5, at the moment doesn't need any material special supports).

Even if your DS did turn out to be autistic he would be his own person and inevitably different to your nephew. From what I've seen and read nearly all autistic people do in the end find a way to communicate and interact with their families and enjoy family life, especially once sensory issues/triggers can be recognised and minimised.

I'm not saying don't keep an eye/seek assessment, but do remember to enjoy him too. I do regret a bit my worries with DS because it wasn't really constructive in the end and even if he does turn out to be autistic too my worrying won't have helped anything/changed anything.

Hi, my DS was diagnosed aged 6, but I remember mentioning it to the HV at his 13 month check-up.

Now DS is 8 and thriving, but we're requesting an assessment for DD2.

Because I knew there was something slightly different about DS, I was reading about autism etc from an early age. I think the things that really helped were: believing him when he says he's scared or upset, even when these seemed like massive overreactions; being as explicit as possible about anything like instructions or affection (I tell him I love him all day every day!); trying to make sure he is supported through any transitions (this can be as simple as telling him we're turning the tv off at the end of this programme, or as big a deal as making sure he gets extra time in next year's classroom at the end of the summer term).

Basically, just make sure his individual emotional needs are met - you can't expect a child with ASD to be as resilient as most children to start with, but with this very supportive start, it can make life much less difficult for them.

He is now very confident most of the time and manages absolutely fine in a mainstream but small and supportive school.

Being autistic isn't necessarily a bad thing - many of the problems come from being expected to be normal and treated as deficient or naughty when that doesn't work. So as the parent, if you spend the early years reinforcing to the child that they are safe and loved by being sensitive to their needs, that will make a huge difference.

Have a look at the Transforming Autism website. It's a bit full-on, but the idea that the main thing autistic children need is to be contained emotionally is very powerful.

Hi,
I ordered that book the other day thanks! Hopefully will give me some good tips.

My main concerns are
He’s started looking at lights, shadows etc when he’s tired.
He’s just started to look at the ceiling fans in the gym, admittedly not for long, 20/30 secs but will keep checking them every so often!
His eye contact can be great when he’s not distracted, but when he’s playing sometimes it’s as if I’m not there. On some occasions he will keep ‘checking in’ with me whilst playing, then others totally ignore me no matter how much I try to interact with him.
Eye contact with other people/babies is great.
He doesn’t respond to his name every time.
He very very rarely claps, no waving or pointing.
On the other hand he does sometimes initiate peek a boo and will sometimes copy if we blow raspberries, stick tongue out.

He also babbles.

I feel like he’s a bit of a mixed bag.

I’m much more aware of the red flags because of my nephew definitely but just feel something isn’t quite right. My other half thinks I’m being totally paranoid!
Just want to get him as much help as I can as early as possible. My nephew had no help no therapies nothing until he started school at 4 even though he was diagnosed before 3. He was originally diagnosed as aspergers and was just left to get on with it and I often wonder if that’s why he has ended up so unable to interact/ communicate with anyone.
Thanks

I think if you are a very responsive parent, that is a form of early intervention. Talking singing playing cut down on screens (not recommended for babies/toddlers anyway) I think all Allfed suggestions are very good. Have you googled ABA? I think most parents do a form of it without thinking. An acquaintance's child diagnosed with severe autism at 1.5 years non verbal, non responsive, headbanging screaming etc said that ABA worked miracles, once she worked out what the process was and enlisted support from therapists trained in ABA. But that was a severe case, her child wasn't doing any of the things your child is managing, no smiling not connecting at all.Her child is now 5, walking talking playing happy although still delayed and still "has autism".

Ds2 has a diagnosis (late, at 7) and I think parental input early on was crucial, but it doesn't have to be a professional therapist, who does that "intensive" intervention. Ds2 needed a lot of attention and "connecting"/talking, listening to, routines, patience, but we did it without knowing he had autism. we felt he was quirky though, for want of a better word, other people thought him odd and badly behaved/spoilt, we didn't.

Thanks for your responses everyone.
I’m glad to hear your dc’s are doing so well.
That is all I hope for my little boy if he is autistic.

Totally agree with Nettleskeins.

We actually do have an ABA service even though DD doesn't have severe problems. It is very controversial and there are adults who had ABA as children who found it abusive, so it's really worth reading up on it. It's roots are really horrible (father of ABA, Ivar Lovaas, was a horrible human being with some truly horrible views).

Having said that, we've found our (distance) ABA advisor very helpful on breaking down tricky tasks into smaller pieces (e.g. how to help DD learn to actually play with other children in the playground - which she really wanted to do but she had no idea what to say to them), building up to turn-taking through games and other activities (e.g. using the "You Choose" books to practice conversations and asking questions), and also helping her understand and think through her emotions (e.g. they suggested keeping a dairy which DD loves and now she is nearly 5 she is even starting to write in it herself rather than getting us to write/draw pictures in it) and I think is a really useful way to process what's happened in the day and different things to try for anything that didn't go very well.

So as with most things, a lot depends on your therapist, and as Nettleskeins says a lot of it is probably just how you would end up parenting anyway, but it can take a long time to figure it out without outside help.

Your DS does sound like he is doing very well though. I think 9 months would be very early pointing (even DS, who points like crazy, didn't start doing it until closer to 1 I think). This site suggests anywhere from 9-18 months is within "normal" range. With DD (who is autistic) I think it came way later (probably
closer to 2.5 or 3):
www.playingwithwords365.com/the-importance-of-pointing/

you see, I knew nothing about pointing, and I think if someone had asked me if ds pointed as a toddler I wouldn't have known one way or another. But reading that link on pointing, well, we did all that "naming" stuff whether he pointed or not, and essentially intervened to get "joint attention", if that is what it is called. I have a picture of him aged 2.5 pointing vigorously at a lake, standing on the shore. Perhaps that is the age he started to point out and name things properly.

presumably he was pointing at a duck or a swan rather than the lake itself

I do think you're expecting a lot for his age. 9 months is very early for stuff like clapping/waving/pointing. My (almost) 9mo just does a little waving, responds to peekaboo but doesn't initiate yet. My (NT) older son didn't point or clap till more like a year, initiated peekaboo at about 9 months.

Babies look at lights, shadows, spin wheels etc. It's when they don't move past it at a developmentally appropriate time that it becomes an issue.

for me, the red flags were sensory issues, around food. So ds2 didn't like the textures of a lot of his weaning foods, spat things out etc, wouldn't chew things. I had to adapt his diet to get him used to crisp textures using on the advice of a dietician quavers and meringues!!!!! he wouldn't chew pasta for example and he couldn't bear lumpy homemade mashed potatoes..

He was easily aroused from sleep,his sleep patterns needed a lot of patience and reinforcement, or he would have had three light naps and been very grumpy, instead we perservered with sleep routines by using a cot and a lot of feeding to sleep, patting, shushing. He always woke once in the night, and we co slept a lot with him but also noticed that he liked his space sometimes, so then we would put him back in his cot. So that was a lot of flags..he needed closeness, and then sometimes the opposite, space.

He was the most lovely adorable toddler, interested in so many things and so rewarding to spend time with. Please enjoy your baby!!! And don't worry, all will be well once you have that bond with him, it will never fail you.

With DD it was more social and communication. Socially if we went to a stay and play she'd always make a beeline for something nobody else was playing with, and if somebody came to join her she'd get uncomfortable. She would be interested in the other kids and what they were doing - but she'd stand and watch, not join in.

In terms of communication she's always been quite grown up in her language, and was very late to point and to ask for things (even though she had plenty of vocabulary to do it). If she couldn't do something or reach something she'd tend to just find something else to do rather than asking (she was actually the easiest baby/toddler ever! DS is much more demanding/dramatic!)

It just shows what a massive spectrum it is and how complex.

Things that I think, in hindsight, were red flags in the first year were:

Losing a skill - he learned to wave at around 9/10 months, did it for a weekend and then not again until he was around two.

When he turned one he started refusing to look at the camera and this continued for ages. He had been ok until that point. We have no photos of him looking at the camera on his first birthday, yet we do from Christmas a couple of weeks before.

He definitely pointed, though I’m not sure when that started, but actual joint attention (i.e. looking between you and the object) was rare and something that didn’t really come until much later. Even now it’s not at the same level as a NT child.

Between 1 and 2 the main thing was that he just didn’t seem to enjoy the same sort of things as other children - rhyme time, play groups, music groups etc. He would either want to leave immediately or after 15 mins or so. With the things he did enjoy, like swimming, he just wanted to do his own thing. He wouldn’t follow instructions or what the other children were doing.

He was at the later end of crawling and walking - 12 months and 16 months respectively and did talk but his language did not explode in the same way as other children. He had met his other milestones at the right time.

They are all so different but these are the key things I remember from the very early days.

All babies and toddlers exhibit autistic behaviours. You don't need an autism diagnosis to get the best from your child. What is this small baby doing that has you so worried?

Thanks for all your replies everyone!
I guess my main worries are his interaction and engagement.
For example I took him to a softplay this week and he looked at me twice in 45 minutes no matter how much I was talking to him, throwing him soft balls etc. It’s like I wasn’t there.
Same at home when he plays, he can have great days where he is very interactive and actually takes notice of me, others he can just totally ignore me no matter what I do.
I can roll a ball to him, he’ll pick it up and throw it back and look at me and smile, he’ll do this a few times then others he’ll pick it up throw it back but not look at me at all and that can go on for a good few minutes.
He also never looks me in the eyes when I have him on my lap and sing to him, he’s always looking round or at my mouth. Yet other times he has great eye contact.
He also doesn’t imitate much.
It just doesn’t feel right.

Maybe it’s just me, my daughter was sooo engaging all the time, copied everything, I know I shouldn’t compare.

It’s hard with my nephew I get very worried that my son will be the same.

If your son is autistic I don't think there is anything you could do with him at 9 months that would make a huge difference in the long term other than continuing to engage with him and encouraging him to engage with you. Maybe try makaton even 1 year olds can use it to communicate and if you use simple signs he can pick them up.