Does this sound like SN/ASD?

[YellowEllis]

My 11 month old has been referred by my health visitor for early intervention. I know it's silly and sorry to make another thread but wanted to make one in this topic as I just can't relax. If he is, of course we will deal with it, but it's the not knowing. If anyone here has an autistic child, or a child with delays/SN does this ring a few bells as what your child might of been like as an infant? I really am worried so any opinions would be great. Thank you.

• Makes good eye contact
• Smiles back, smiles first quite often
• Giggles at funny sounds, dances, tickles etc
• Babbles (bababa and dadada sounds, but mainly makes noises like hmm, throaty sounding sounds, ahs and uhs and lots of squeals and raspberries
• Lifts arms up to be picked up
• Crawls well, sits up unassisted for several months, pulls to standing well, cruises around furniture like a pro
• Answers to his name most of the time
• Looks at me when I say no, doesn't always stop what he's doing but it does seem like he's registering me
• If I hide somewhere fairly obvious and say where's mama he crawls to find me, giggling and smiling. If I say come here he does come in my direction but normally gets distracted by something en route haha
• Giggles and smiles at peekaboo, won't cover his face with hands or muslin but he will imitate peekaboo by hiding behind curtain
• Will take toys out of basket/box but won't put them back in
• Does look over when playing, but doesn't bring or show me things
• Cries at any fall or bump even if tiny/doesn't quite fall - wants to be picked up and cuddled every time
• Kicks his legs (seems to be only when excited) will shuffle his legs on sand and in buggy. Smacks both his hands on tables and highchair sometimes.
• Fully fed on finger foods. Has gold and bad days but is generally really good
• Has not yet clapped or waved
• Can't yet hit two toys together (has done it by accident but not on purpose)
• Has not yet pointed but for past few days holds his hand in a point with index finger but only at his side not actually at anything
• Doesn't copy any sounds, faces or actions I make
• Follows me if I leave a room
• Will play independently but does look over at me fairly regularly
• Mainly cruises furniture, turns pages on books or just puts things in his mouth in terms of playing
• Have not noticed any sensory issues is good in buggy, in sling, at park, on beach, in water etc
• Sleeps well
• Occasionally headbangs only if he finds himself sitting really close to something, will do it a handful of times then stop
• Hates nappy changes screams and tries to roll away
• Smiles and giggles at the dog lots

Oh and he bites us fairly often.

Sorry last thing I forgot. Occasionally, if playing on floor/crawling he will lie flat on one of his ears, just for a few seconds then crawl off. Only rarely but more recently.

Did the HV saay what her concerns were?
Doesn't sound at all out of the ordinary from your description

Thank you for your response. I feel so clueless as I was happy with his progress until I spoke to her so it's just thrown me. The lack of imitation and gestures was her main concern, also the fact he doesn't always answer to his name (he does quite a lot) and the occasional head banging.

I don't see any concerns at all, it seems like your HV is being very over cautious. At 11M everything sounds age appropriate. At that age (and older) if he responds to his name 50% of the time then that would be considered as good name response.

Thank you Aladdinmum. That reaffirms what I was thinking prior to all this.

Hey i just wanted to say my son of almost 12 months old is exactly the same. He doesnt babble at all but uses growls, grunts and vowels. Hes started using finger pointing in last few weeks so yours might start very soon. I am hoping hes just behind on verbal communication but i have been worrying the same thing xx

It doesn't sound very worrying to me. However, I would still advise you follow up on the HV's concerns, just in case. I never thought DD was autistic, but it turns out she is (and probably I am too). The main indication was lack of pointing (but she didn't point to show us stuff until she was much older than your DS! She would point at things in books if I asked her e.g. "where's the cat?" which confused me, but apparently that's a different kind of pointing). A lot of the indicators are quite subtle and it really takes an expert (and probably an older child to be honest) to confidently make a Dx.

My DD is 6 now, doing well at school, happy and funny and interested in the world. I think she would have been OK without a diagnosis, but it definitely has helped in some respects, and I'm hopeful it will be helpful if she hits problems in the future.

Even if in the end it's nothing at all, or even if it's very "mild" - or even if he's not autistic but has some traits, all these assessments still help you learn about your child and how to parent them and support them better. So although it's terrifying it's a good investment of time and mental energy.

I've never really got the answering to name thing. My 3yo DS often doesn't answer to his name and everyone seems very confident he's neurotypical .

Thank you all. Hoping everything turns out okay

Hiya. This doesn't sound like an autistic baby at all to me (my eldest was diagnosed at 3 and always demonstrated asd traits)
However!!!!
I would follow the health professionals advice and support just incase you are missing anything. They won't be out to "get you" in terms of diagnosing (it's expensive and over run service!) So don't worry about that x.. but from what you have said he sounds very " normal "

doesn't scream autistic at me, but, hey who knows. I missed dd until she was 8ish. (I think i was in denial as she was supposed tobe the NT child, and ds was much more in your face autistic) (she was well into school age before I really remembered signs, though I do remember she did not point or ask to be picked up or wave goodbye as when I was filling in the form for ds I remember thinking she did not do it either... if only I have beenmore alert at that point it would have saved a lot of hassle)

go with the health visitors concerns, if there is anything, it is good to go early, so take her up on the referral.

There's nothing that immediately leaps out as a red flag.

My DS is autistic and at 11 months we were only just starting to pick up on things:

Obsessive interest in doors beyond normal toddler behaviour - repeatedly opening and closing doors on toys for hours at a time.

Didn't respond to his name and generally didn't seem to understand any words said to him.

Patchy eye contact. Not bad with me but extremely poor with others

Extreme light sensitivity. Screamed his eyes out if sunlight shone into his eyes whilst out on walks. Couldn't sleep unless in pitch darkness

However, these were just our observations - the list of potential signs for ASD is vast.

I would say 11 months is extremely early to have any indicator. Many ASD signs can also be attributed to just being a toddler! It's easier to tell around 2.5-3 years. And our Ed Psych told us that you usually can only really start to tell how someone will be impacted long-term at the age of 8 or 9 because symptoms change and evolve during the early part of childhood.

Nothing there screams autism to me either, but he is very young. Our son was two before we realised things weren't quite right, and three by the time we were certain he had autism.

But I agree if the HV has some concerns, go along with her, as far better to be investigated and reassured everything is fine or there needs to be some sort of early intervention, than to suspect something is wrong and be fobbed off, which is what happened to us. Our son wasn't diagnosed with autism until he was nearly 8.

Hey, my son is 11 months and literally the exact same as your son- every point you made is him. I did raise with the health visitor my concerns and she said that the name thing could be there’s something better going on. My son doesn’t point yet but I think is getting there as he uses his arm to gesture to reach something he’s interested in. He can follow a point but it’s sometimes patchy. Hope everything’s ok (I’m sure it is)

Another person here saying I would go with the assessment or referral process, because the queues are always l-o-n-g and if your DS is autistic, it might (or might not) become more apparent during the waiting time. My DS was dx at 5 and I could never, ever have believed it at age 1 if someone had told me he might be autistic. By 18 months, we suspected a speech delay, which was confirmed at 2, but even then the professionals all said it was other stuff causing that, and a paediatrician at age 2.5 saw DS and categorically wrote in her report there were no signs of autism. So I guess my experience is that autism can look very different to the quite narrow categories of traits we usually see listed. And if you'd DS is autistic then it will be a gift to him and to you to know this at an earlier stage. Best wishes with it.

The lack of imitation and gestures was her main concern, also the fact he doesn't always answer to his name (he does quite a lot) and the occasional head banging

these were some things in a long list of other far more concerning issues (no speech, no understanding etc) which got us a referral. However, DD was 3 at that point, not 11 months.

where are you? I guess US? You certainly would not be referred (or get a referral accepted) in the UK for another 2 years.

Just go with the assessment but at that stage, I.would not be overly concerned.

I'm not thinking there is anything to be concerned about from your description. Not at 11 months. It seems very, very early for a HV to be expressing concerns, too.

Obvious disclaimer, I've not met your dc, and she, presumably, has