New to all this and need some help!

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I am a 31 yr old mother of two. I recently brought my son in for his 18 month well child check up and asked the doctor about a few concerns I have with my son. Mainly: no speech, sensitive to fabrics, nonstop eating, and horrible attachments to me and his father, as well as very bad temper tantrums. I also asked directly if it could be that my son is Autistic. I didn't know very much about it at the time but have since learned much more about it nd could add a huge list of symptoms my son displays now that I know more. The doc says it most likely is not autism though my shrink thinks it is based on what I have told her about my son. My shrink has also just diagnosed me with autism and is sending me to a neuropsychologist to see just where I am on the spectrum. The pediatrician actually thinks he has infantile bi polar spectrum disorder. The doc did make laundry list of appointments for many other specialist and we have started going to them. The speech language therapists is scheduling 45 sessions over the coarse of 6 months and says my son is 6 to 9 months delayed in speech. She says at this time he is too young for a diagnosis( not so sure about this one) and that he should be watched for autism and as well should an occupational therapist, and his Audiologist thinks he is autistic. I really can't get any answers from anybody on what to expect or how to help this process along. Any info would be much appreciated. Feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed at the moment.

Well, autism spectrum disorders run in families, so if you have autism it's very likely your son has at least some traits of it.

Your story is not uncommon, especially in a kid that is 18 months old. You are on the right path, though...get him into speech therapy and occupational therapy if possible. It doesn't really matter if he has a diagnosis at this point, as far as "what to do" is concerned.

My daughter was initially recognized as autistic at 22 months. She has matured a lot and is much milder than she initially was. My friend's son was non-verbal at the same age with a few minor "spectrummy" things going on. He got speech therapy and today (he is 5), he appears to be pretty much typical.

All this to say it is really early to predict the future. But you are doing the right thing by setting up therapy to help him learn to compensate. That is exactly what you should be doing now.

Keep posting here. There are many of us who can help you through this as we have all walked in your shoes (including a number of parents who also have autism).

If medications come up somewhere, I would suggest being extremely wary and cautious there. Children need nurturing, and masking symptoms when actual causes have yet to be determined can produce undesirable results making the work to be done even more difficult during days ahead.

I am very cautious of meds of any kind for anybody no matter the age for the reasons you stated and because I have been put on the medication roller coaster before. It was horrible, but thank you for saying so. Others who see that comment could be very helped by it.

Inthistogether- Thank you so much for the words of support and encouragement!! I will be here an aweful lot I think, lol. We live in a small town with not much to offer in the way of services or support, so I will be doing a lot of figuring it out as I go along.

It's nice to know I am not alone in this...

I am a little shocked that the pediatrician would float infantile bi polar spectrum disorder. Honestly, I did not know that such a diagnosis even existed. This does not sound like it should even be possible to diagnosis a child that young with bi-polar. In my experience regular pediatricians are useless for any of these diagnosis anyway. The only thing they can do is help screen for things and refer you to a specialist. They do not have specialized knowledge in anything like autism and I would guess not "infantile bipolar spectrum disorder," either.

Your options depend on where you live. If you live in the U.S, every county should have a zero to three program, for assisting with diagnosing and lining up therapy if needed.

How is your child at joint attention tasks, like pointing things of interest out to you and looking at what you point to, instead of at you? Does your child have any stims, like spinning or hand-flapping? Does your child try to use you as a tool, like placing your hand on things to prompt you to do things?

The pediatrician isn't qualified to diagnose bipolar -- in fact, the diagnosis of "childhood bipolar" is being removed from the DSM-V (which defines mental disorders.)

The recommendations from the speech therapist sound appropriate. You can also check out hanen.org, they have a program to help parents teach their kids to talk, it's called It Takes Two to Talk. There is also a good book by the same name that you could use in conjunction with the current speech therapy. (I hear the program goes beyond the book, so it is still worth checking out.)

If you are in the US, you want to contact Early Intervention, as ASDMommy said. They should do a full evaluation and will likely pay for some therapy. If you want/need to pursue a diagnosis on your own (or Early Intervention doesn't have their act together), look for a developmental psychologist or developmental pediatrician who is trained to perform the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale) and possibly the ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised).

You can also find your nearest autism society to meet other parents in your area (in person or online) and find out what diagnosticians and therapists they recommend. Possibly there is a chapter of TACA (Talk About Curing Autism) or Autism Speaks in the nearest big city.

You might also see if there are any ABA or Floortime therapists in your area.

I thought the same thing. I went to college for about 2 yrs for psych and philosophy. They don't teach much at the bachelor's level in the way of treatment but they do talk about many of the disorders that are very prevalent and are listed in the DSM. Bi polar at that time couldn't be diagnosed in anyone younger then 18. To answer your questions, my son does no pointing, won't follow what you are pointing at, only says about 5 actual words, babbles nonstop, and he does use me or his dad as a tool. He has come up with his own gestures that we have had to try to figure out, when we don't he has a melt down. Yes he flaps his hands and touches his fingers together. He also beats his head into things, both in play and when upset in any way. Thanks so much for the info.

I do live in the U.S. but in a very small town in northern Minnesota, not a lot here medically speaking. The doc did send a refferal to Early Childhood Intervention over a month ago and I haven't heard from them yet... maybe I will just go ahead and call them. Also still waiting on the approval from insurence for OT and been waiting for the clinic to call with his psychology appointment. Their is so much to keep track of already!! ! Thank you all for all this information, I felt so lost and overwhelmed and the people at the clinic weren't all that helpful or understanding!! Again thank you!! !! !

Just a word of caution in regards to the insurance, if they deny any of the services you are seeking find out why. Ours was denied at first and when I asked repeatedly why, I finally found out that it was simply to do with the diagnostic code the pediatrician had used. When I contacted her and asked to have the code changed to autism, she did it and we haven't had a problem since.

Also, call your local school district. They may well be the ones administrating early intervention anyway, but in either case, see what they have to offer - most school districts in the US offer diagnostic preschool for special needs children. The school, for instance, probably has speech therapists.

Here's a state agency that may help you http://www.ausm.org/

OK, this raises serious red flags for me. I have never heard of an 18 month old being diagnosed with bipolar. Diagnosing a mood disorder pretty much requires that the child be verbal so they can tell the doctor how they're feeling. An 18 month old can't say that they are depressed, suicidal, not able to enjoy anything, etc, nor can they say they feel all-powerful, have racing thoughts, feel like they can do anything, etc. I don't see how you could possibly diagnose bipolar in a preverbal child.

And besides, the only issues you mention here that is related to bipolar disorder are tantrums and possibly sensory and eating issues. Which are more 'peripheral' to bipolar. The primary symptoms are episodes of depressive, manic or mixed states (mixed means signs of depression and mania at the same time, such as being hyperactive and suicidal). Tantrums can occur due to mood swings, but a kid who has tantrums without any other sign of mood problems is not bipolar.

Sounds like you desperately need a new pediatrician. I'm actually really shocked at this. Bipolar disorder is a serious condition that is typically treated by some fairly heavy-duty medication. It really alarms me that a doctor would consider diagnosing an 18 month old with it, especially on such a shaky basis.

That's not true.

There is no diagnosis of 'childhood bipolar', never has been. It's just bipolar disorder - it's the same diagnosis regardless of age. And they aren't changing the rules for diagnosing children with it.

Childhood bipolar disorder is a real, and serious, condition. It's also very rare. And people who've been diagnosing any kid with severe tantrums as bipolar are not following the DSM-IV criteria in the first place.

Severe tantrums are a sign of a dozen different conditions. They can occur in bipolar disorder, but they can also occur in autism, ODD, OCD, ADHD, PTSD, RAD, and a whole pile of other conditions. It's the psychiatric equivalent of a high fever, basically. To figure out what they have, you need to pay attention to what causes the tantrums, as well as what they act like when they aren't tantrumming.

Thank you so much for pointing that out, I couldn't come up with the right words to say this. It is the same but some doctors like to add the word infantile to it in order to deflect the argument from some parents that thier is no such thing, at least that is what my psychologist said about the issue. I agree that it is a huge red flag from the pediatrician but in his defense he did go ahead and make all the proper recommendations and did not just give him the diagnosis.

My little one is moving right along with all the appointments and assessments. He has had so many and we still have more to go. He is getting comfortable with his Speech therapist and is becoming familiar with the lady from Early intervention. He has seen his OT once and so far doesn't seem to care much for her but we shall see after a few visits. He saw his audiologist again and the fluid in his ears is going down and is not a barrier to his speech anymore. He has shown little to no improvement in his speech or his attitude as we were all hoping for. We are currently working on a family plan and and individual therapy plan for him as well as putting together a sensory diet. We are still waiting on his appointment with psychology but the doc wanted the other assessments to be passed along to the Psychologist when he goes in for his first visit. All involved are recommending a behavioral therapist in addition to all other therapies.

I want to say a big huge thank you to everyone that posted here. Without your input I would still be lost and probably in a very severe meltdown loop. I can not tell you how much you all have helped or how grateful I am that you were all here to help. I also have to say that Wrong Planet is very much a "home" for me and without it my family would be lost and feeling a lot worse off and isolated then anyone needs to feel. THANK YOU from the very bottom of my heart.