Signs of autism in toddlers

[Mumssupportingmums]

Hello everyone,

I hope this is a safe place to post my thoughts on for some advice.

Me and my partner feel my son may be showing some signs of being on the spectrum, my partner is a teacher so recognised a lot of signs in kids at school.

What was signs for you in early days? Toddler years?

ours are…

• Cannot cope when routine changes
• Hates getting things on his hands and has extreme meltdowns at times
• Cannot cope in large social situations with other children
• get fixated on things and it’s hard to change his mindset without a meltdown
• Does give eye contact but can sometimes look to the side if wanting to avoid it
• If doing a task like stacking books, he has to stack specific books and also if they fall he cannot cope and will again trigger a huge meltdown.
• Doesnt like physical touch of other kids and some adults (not too worried about this one though)

Now I know a lot of these could be toddler years. So I hope no one will answer with … ‘that’s just toddlers’ just looking for your experiences with your kids who have been diagnosed on the spectrum to see if you had early signs and what they were.

thank you 😊

My daughter is very obviously ASD her assessment start weds she is 4 and she presented with:

Delayed speech and communication- uses echolalia

No interest in playing with other children

No imaginative play only stacking and ordering

Likes routine

Cannot cope in unfamiliar situations or over crowded places

Sensory issues such as not liking to be wet and so stripping clothes off

Hyperfocus and is unable to transition between tasks easily

Difficulty sleeping

She has no sense of danger, she runs off and climbs really high

When she was younger up until very recently she did hand posturing and would just look at her hands at different angles for ages.

It does sound like your child has autistic traits possibly other things which go alongside ASD such as sensory.

I would recommend speaking to health visitor to do referrals wait lists are huge and if he's struggling with transition now may also struggle when in school. You know your child best xx

I second speaking to your HV if you are concerned.

Have you looked at the M-CHAT?