10 month old with possible autism?

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Hi guys- I am new to this site- in fact I have never posted on a forum before in my life. I was hoping to get some helpful feedback on my son- so here goes! I am the mother of 3 precious boys. They are 5, 3 and 10 months old. I have recently been concerned with my youngest. He is showing some possible signs of autism. He turned 10 months old on June 5th. He is a pretty easy going baby. I will start by saying that he has suffered from chronic ear infections since he has been 3 months old. He has gone through 2 sets of tubes, and it seems this 2nd set has been working- he is now hearing 100% in both ears( we just checked at the ENT a few days ago) so I will start with the stuff he DOES do. He is crawling, pulling up , cruising around furniture, he reaches to be picked up,claps, smiles pretty easily. He seems very alert usually to what is happening around him, and to his older brothers. I am concerned because he is not babbling with consonants at all, does not point or wave bye bye, he doesn't laugh a whole lot, doesn't always respond to his name. His eye contact is good sometimes, but other times not so much. I was hoping for some feedback- our pediatrician and ENT seem to think this stems from his ears, but lately I'm not so sure- maybe you all can give me some insight...

No one on this website can diagnose your child; and if they could, they would need to examine your child in person.

That said, it may be too soon to worry yourself about the possibility of your child having an Autism Spectrum Disorder - but I am certainly not one to say for certain. Your best course of action would be to consult an appropriately-trained and licensed mental-health professional.

Not a doctor, but I am not sure how having ear infections (assuming that is what you mean by ear issues) would effect non-verbal communications. I don't remember the "expected" milestone date for waving but they don't get concerned about pointing until the one-year mark. Babbling it would effect, obviously.

Does he line things up, spin around in unusual amounts or have any unusual repetitious behaviors?

All babies are different, so I would give it another 4-5 months and see how he is then. My cousin didn't respond to his name at all when he was that age, and he got hyperfocused on things, and he didn't even have hearing problems. But he turned out to be an outgoing NT, not autistic at all. He's 20 now.

So give your baby more time. If he still seems delayed in a few months and you're concerned, then get him checked. But even then, it still might not be autism, could be some other learning disorder.

I'm not a professional, all that.

But it sounds to me as if, if autism is present, it's pretty darn mild. It's REALLY hard to make a diagnosis of a mild case at that early of an age. Looking back, I can see soft signs in my one-year-old self...

...but "normal kids" do all those things too, and it wasn't indicative of autism until I was 4 or 5 and always preferred playing alone to trying to join a group of kids, or until I was 7 or 8 and socially behind enough for it to cause real problems.

One can do a lot more damage with pushing a diagnosis than by taking a wait-and-see approach with an infant who has other reasons to be a little delayed and is exhibiting signs of (mostly) normal social development.

If it is autism, it's likely that you're not going to be able to do much about it until he starts to have an interest in at least parallel play (closer to age 2). In the meantime, keep watching and making a point to interact with him. That's going to help no matter how it turns out. And try not to flip out too much-- if it does turn out that he has a little of it, fairly chill about it is a better attitude.

I don't sense autism. I sense, perhaps, that he will "catch up" soon. Especially since he has a history of ear infections.

For at least part of the time, your son has experienced hearing loss. This will affect communication development of all kinds. I would wait and see if he catches up. It will take some time for him to process what he is now hearing well and put it all together.

My niece had hearing issues due to chronic infections as a baby/ toddler, and it affected everything. She spoke very late, and did not respond appropriately when spoken to. Eventually, they fixed the hearing issues and she caught up, but it took awhile.

If your son has had partial hearing for a good chunk of his babyhood, then he is going to take awhile to catch up too. His whole relationship to sound will be different at this point. Also, often babies who have health issues will be behind on hitting their milestones due to chronic pain. Also, many babies are not waving or pointing at 10 months yet.

I think you should wait a few more months before you get too concerned.

Sounds like a pretty normal 10 mo. old to me. Give it some more time, and enjoy this time while can. Kind Regards.

Kids are just different. Most of the time, things get ironed out by, say, age 5. Most of the time, it's earlier, though.

Even with me, who didn't talk till age 5 1/2. By age 6, I was an Aspergian kid who spoke with normal syntax. I was able to go to the store and get correct change. I was able to tie my shoes primitively. I began to be able to write. I could dress myself (I couldn't at age 5). I learned to ride a bike without training wheels a year later.