Perhaps not autism

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This is not about me; I am sure of my diagnosis. For the longest time, though, I thought someone else was on the spectrum (but mildly so). He still could be, of course (no official diagnosis of anything right now), but I am beginning to wonder if it COULD be something else. This is just to satisfy my own curiousity really, as it is not overly important for him right now, but I am wondering if there is something other than autism that would make someone have a language delay, be unresponsive as a baby/toddler and not want to be picked up. Today he is very sociable, but a bit awkward, and he does have strong interests. I am still leaning toward mild HFA, but I am wondering, is there anything else that would cause those things as well?

Speech delays are not exclusive to just autism. I was surprised to find many people with ADHD had longer speech delays than me.
The unresponsiveness I'm unsure about. I was that way and I would have been mod to high functioning.
I would say HFA as well.

Sensory and auditory processing issues come to mind for language, unresponsiveness and not wanting to be picked up--those things can be part of autism (or ADHD), though....

Each of those items can be outgrown as a child.

Speech delays are not uncommon, depending on the severity. It is also not all together uncommon for babies to prefer to be set down and not held all the time. These issues on their own are no big deal, but combined, they can be quite worrisome. The fact that the child has shown such improvement is fabulous.

I have seen several kids that seemingly "outgrow" their autistic traits. When this happens, it is often assumed that the diagnosis was incorrect. But not always as scripting and training can teach kids to mask these traits easier as they get older.

I think it's great when this happens because it shows that IF there is a genuine ASD involved, the child has had some great therapy and training. Either occuring naturally in their lives, or organized therapy sessions. And that the child has been responsive to therapy, however it has occured. Great stuff right there.

Well, sensory processing issues can cause a kid to not want to be touched (tactile hypersensitivity), and to be unresponsive to certain stimuli (visual or auditory hyposensitivity). And of course auditory processing problems or oral motor problems can cause speech delays.

But my guess would still be HFA. You don't have to not be sociable to be on the spectrum - the 'active-but-odd' social pattern is usual for higher functioning autistics.

I have a friend who has autism, severe HFA but he sees himself as low functioning but he loves to socialize. He isn't shy and he talks to lot of people on the phone and online and in real life. Having lot of social interactions and loving them doesn't mean you have good social skills.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

This is quite true. He is sociable, but I wouldn't say he has good social skills. He has to do things his way, and he always has to be right/the best (and this can lead to frequent arguements with his peers even though he is generally very sweet).