Autism or normal toddler behaviour?

[Nervyy]

Hi all, my DS is 17.5 months and I am slightly concerned about some of the behaviours he is presenting with.

1. DS doesn’t speak. He babbles sometimes / makes a lot of noises, but doesn’t copy sounds or words when encouraged.
2. He spins in circles looking out the sides of his eyes and will also run up and down looking out the sides of his eyes at fences / radiators but also just any room or object!
3. likes spinning wheels on toys - pram / cars etc but will also use them ‘properly’ - push them around etc
4. only points to things he can physically touch (objects/pictures) wouldn’t point to something out of reach
5. has taken to putting objects at eye level and just looking at them ? like the telly remote / my phone / a lid on the arm of the sofa ?
6. won’t wave bye or hi but with enough prompting will wave out of context..

all that being said.. he is a happy little lad, affectionate, claps and hi fives, responds to his name often (not always), great gross motor skills and doing well with fine motor, seems to have good understanding (knows 8-9 colours, can point to a large number of items in books or real life if asked such as where’s the cat? Helicopter? Apple? Etc. makes good eye contact (most of the time).

do these signs always mean autism or can toddlers do these things and then grow out of them?
my main concern is the spinning / running whilst looking to the side as I don’t see other toddlers doing this (although I don’t see many toddlers!) but he also has a lot of bumps because of it!

Just hoping to get some advice / view points / experiences of others please :

Have a look at the MCHAT test and see what the score is. Have you talked to your health visitor or GP about your concerns?

Yep, straight to the health visitor.
My little one wouldn't speak or make much eye contact. He started flapping his hands at 2 years old.
He would lie on his tummy.and kick his legs backwards constantly for half an hour to 40 mins. I knew there was something different.
Tommy was baby number 5. Lol.
At 34 months the paediatrician said after 45 min appointment he was certainly autistic as he had not tried to get my attention once or spoken. Tommy has been on the ASD assessment waiting list for 75 weeks to get an official diagnosis. However, his school identified him as having special needs and he gets wonderful support.
But these things you see maybe don't mean autism necessarily. It could just be when he's ready to do more, he will. Try not to worry......I know its hard.....one appointment at a time xxx

Sounds very like my son. He still does the side eye look and close up looks at stuff at eye level. It was around 2 he started to regress. Diagnosed autistic, just after he turned 5. He has always been verbal but was semi-verbal until he was about 6. Talks so much more now. He Doesn’t always answer to his name. I have to put things to him in a certain way to get a response. Such as, instead of saying “W, can I ask you a question?” I have to say “ W, can I tell you a question?”… makes me chuckle every time, but it works. He says yes and sometimes answers, sometimes not.

Anyway, I digress. I would absolutely raise your concerns with his health visitor.

Thankyou! I did try the HV but they said I had to wait until his 2 year check. I’m chasing again as it’s really affecting my mental health 😞 I love him so much.. this unknown is really hard

Hi OP,
how is your Little one doing now
going through something similar with my 14m old