Cant wait for dx, what do you think of my son???

[mamadadawahwah]

I have to wait four months for my son to get diagnosed with anything. He is just two with speech delay.

I wonder whether those of you, particularly those of you whose children have an autism dx could advise what you think of my son

He seemed perfectly normal till 18/19 mos when i noticed he wasnt deveoping any words. He had mama dada and buh bye. Now at 24 months he still has no words except his "own" words. he babbles constantly. He mirrors me in facial expressions, will try to sing along with me, will try and mimic me in saying the numbers of alphabet. He loves kids, but dosent really know how to play with them. He goes to people very readily. He dosent stim except for some hand flapping recently. He makes believe the remote control is a phone and holds it to his and my ear.

The list goes on. He is inquisitive, loves cupboards, wrecks the tv and video, looks at books constantly, loves television, has to "into" whatever i am doing. But he dosent point, dosent follow my finger or look when i say look.

He wont go and "get" things if told. He does love to be held and will come running if i say "come to mama" with his arms stretched out. Sleeps well, never been sick. No vaccinations of any kind. Loves playdough, sand, and building blocks. Loves all toys, loves rough and tumble.

He looks like the gerber baby (americans know who this is and he is very big for his age. He tries to tell other children "stories" but its all babble.

Can someone who "knows" please put me out of my misery??????? Heartfelt thanks to you

During my sons initial assessment with SLT, she said memorising alphabet words etc, is useless. Lots of kids can do it, but they dont understand, they are like parlour tricks. I dont know whether to disagree with her or not. Memorising at least shows a child can listen and remember.

You are right mamadadawahwah that having this ability gives you some skills to work with, but it is also quite an autistic trait too.

I agree about the alphabet etc being useless when they can't even say yes or no. During ds2's Psych/SALT assessment they were shocked when he gave them a demo of what he could do wrt counting, shapes etc. Lots of "Did he really just do/say what I thought he just did/said???" Wonderful if you're into having a child who can perform tricks but b*gger all use when he's screaming on the floor because he doesn't realise that I can't read his mind and guess that he wants a drink of milk.

Very interesting responses. Saker, yes my son sounds like yours!I personally believe its developmental delay as he is very immature in some ways. He falls and will get right back up on the chair. The mother toddler group i go to were great in watching him and telling me what they thought, but no one has actually come out and said anything. Its me that is doing the diagnosing and comparing. he is very clumsy and is very very big and tall, he looks like a five year old. He falls constantly and has bad balance. However, in mother todd group today, he played for real for the first time by singlehandedly stacking the last three rings on the cone. Then he clapped to himself.

I have to stop thinking about this until his assessment with CDC or will end up a secret drinker or something.

Playgroup teachers pointed out today that my son sweats a lot from the head. I have hypothyroidism and wonder whether his bigness and sweating might be an indicator. Anybody know anything about this?

It's interesting that although my son is not autistic he still overlaps with some of the behaviours described by the parents of autistic children on here. So he doesn't always answer questions, he has to be prompted to say bye and hello, he has a good rote memory although he doesn't know his alphabet and shapes and was slow at learning colours. There is a difference in play though - he does the running commentary thing when playing, and he introduces relationships and emotions to his play. So he has mummy zebra and baby zebra and mummy zebra tells baby zebra not to do something or he says the tiger and the panda are friends that sort of thing.

Thinking a bit more about the play thing, I'm not describing how my ds2 played at age 2, but how he plays now so it's still quite limited compared to most 3 year olds. However he has usually played appropriately with toys.

mamadadawahwah, your description of your ds is ringing some bells with me. My ds, recently dx-ed with ASD, had speech delay at 2, he is also very big for his age, was on the 99th centile at birth and has stayed there. He eats like a horse. He used to fall over constantly, and sometimes seemed almost like he was drunk - his legs would give way under him.

He didn't babble - he used to do something they call 'open vocalisation', which is mimicking the intonation patterns of speech without any vowels - quite hard to describe, it's kind of like a Whitney Houston warble! .

I used to take him to a music group every week. He loved it, would join in with all the songs and the actions. But in between each song he would run round the room, play with the electric sockets and open all the doors. Now at 3, he knows the alphabet, can count to 100, and knows the name of every one of the 100 Mr Men & Little Miss characters.

I agree with you that being able to memorise things is better than not having a good memory. But we were taken aback when at the first paed assessment he piped up "CBeebies website at www dot bbc dot co dot uk slash cbeebies". He could definitely say more than he could understand.

BUT, none of these things really mattered to the paediatrician. What mattered to her, in making a dx, was what she saw at his nursery - it was the way he interacted (or didn't) with his peers that made up her mind.

Oh becaboo, wish I hadnt read your thread, cause that is my son all over. I am writing this through my tears and am kicking myself for coming back to this forum cause yesterday I was sure ds was just speech delayed. Every day changes, now i think he has autism.

Maybe you could put me out of my misery a bit and tell me more about your son. I am on the waiting list for any assessment and i dont think i can make it till then. Was your son dx'd with severe asd or what? What do you think of the dx, did you agree, what are your child's expected abilities by say 4 or 5 or do you know. I'm gutted.

"Open vocalisation", glad that has a description cause i didnt know what it was. Its like singing with intonation that dosent make sense. If i say the alphabet to him, he copies the intonation but dosent really make the right sound. Must look that up.

Becaboo, did you have any autism the family, or do you have any idea what may have caused your child's dx?

many thanks

mamadadawahwah

I'm so sorry you are going through this. When it was first confirmed that my son was developmentally delayed I could think of nothing else. I felt sick with it. I couldn't see how I could wait for the assessments he had lined up. All I can say is that it does get better. Whatever your son's dx or problems there will be things that can be done, and you will get used to it.

It's hard at the beginning when there's no-one to talk to. Do keep posting here.

beccaboo - your post about your son reminds me of DS1 at toddler music group - there was a sort of little ramp at the back of the room and he used to run up and down it obsessively!

I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to make you panic. I won't say don't worry because obviously you will . But hopefully you will see a professional asap and get some answers.

Ds has been diagnosed with mild asd. The consultant even went out on a limb and said she was 99% certain he would be able to lead an independent life. It was nice of her to say this, although I'm not sure she can really know this, possibly she was trying to make us feel better.

In any case, he has made enormous progress in the last year. He has gone from having 10 words to speaking in 5-6 word sentences. He is at a mainstream nursery and doing well.

We've just had some psychometric tests done which should give us an idea of his IQ, but he seems to be reasonably bright.

I really don't know what caused it. He had a difficult birth, and a course of antibiotics at a few weeks old. He had DTP etc in the first few months, but no MMR. My husband has a cousin who I think probably has (undiagnosed) Aspergers.

If you want to contact me via CAT I'll happily give you more info.

dinosaur - I used to get so embarrassed, especially when he decided he liked the box that the teacher kept all the money in. He always tried to take it home with him! The worst thing was the disapproving looks from the other mothers, so judgemental.

mamadadawahwah, just wanted to say I really feel for you just now. We have been through something similar with DS1, now 6.

He regressed and lost words, by the time he was two and the HV came for his check he would not interact with her and when she asked about his speech all I could say was "he used to say ..." and it dawned on me then that there had been a big change in him. She set the wheels in motion for him to see a paediatrician at the Child Development Centre, SALT, a hearing test and a pre-school advisor who would look at whether he needed any extra help in playgroup/nursery.

It was a very upsetting time, I think I cried everyday for almost six months.

In the end my DS1 was diagnosed with a speech delay and was eventually discharged from SALT at 4 1/2, they said he had almost caught up.

The post about Beccaboo's DS running up and down the ramp at music group rather than joining in would have been my DS1 too, he had and still has bags of energy, I did try taking him to M&T type groups but was embarrassed as he would not join in with songs etc but would rather run rampage round and round the room.

He didn't play well but would copy, still make me sad to remember teaching him how to cuddle his teddy but he did do it after being shown. He would rather put a car on it's roof and twiddle with the wheels than push it around. There are still aspects of this in his behaviour he is totally obsessed with security cameras, lights, house alarms and wires. I truely still don't know if he is 100% NT.

I suppose what I wanted to say was it could and very hopefully will turn out to be nothing or almost nothing but I know how worrying the whole process can be, everyone on MN will be here for you to help you though.

Mamadadawahwah, I know it's pointless telling you not to worry, because we all worry about our children, and it's SO much worst with your first as you only have a peer group to compare them with, not siblings, which can make a huge difference.

I believe that what they don't tell you in any books, is that the developmental spectrum from 1-3 years can be massive - I have several friends whose children have been diagnosed with lang delay at this time, only to wonder what all the fuss is about by the time they get to school. Children are individuals, not robots!

I am a primary school teacher with ds1 (8) and ds2 (5). They both have friends who started school with next to no language, who are now perfectly 'normal'. IME we can all become a bit obsessed with labelling learning difficulties anyway. Many young children exhibit some ASD symptoms - eg obsession with routine, memorising bizarre facts. At the end of the day, you have a lovely son you can interact with. If he does have learning difficulties by the time he starts school he will have help to deal with them. A good headteacher can channel so much funding into special needs that even severely autistic children can enjoy 'normal' school. I would try to concentrate on the positive aspects of his development and enjoy your time with him.

I hope this post doesn't sound preachy - it's hard to hit the right tone when typing. I just know how quickly kids grow up, and if you spend all your time worrying, you won't enjoy his childhood!