Signs of Autism?

Post Reply New Topic

firstly sorry if this is in the wrong forum or this gets asked a million times on here, i was having trouble finding a forum that was relatively busy. anyway

I have a son who is 2 years 7 months, We have had worries about his speech, took him to get his ears tested etc and they told us that they seem fine, this was around 7 months ago now and he has improved, for instance he he can say thank you when given something, and potty when he needs a wee, but sometimes his speech can seem very slurred, he will say bye bye and wave to people and his eye contact is brilliant. but the health visitor is due to come visit us on tuesday and the last time she was here she said that he does have the odd sign of autism, he does sometimes line his toys up (but does also seem to play with them normally) but our main concern at the minute is the tantrums he is having, he will just go off into a rage and sometimes we don't know what he wants, he will start banging his head with his hand and hitting his head against the floor. another thing i've noticed is that he does flap his hands sometimes.

my boy is loving and gives plenty of kisses and hugs so i'm unsure if i'm looking into things he does too much, considering his age. what do you think?

My son does similar things. He lines up his toys but will play with them too. He also has tantrums where he bangs his head against things, including the floor. My son flaps his hands and even his feet. My son has classic autism.

The fact that your son has good eye contact and will say thank you when given something is a good sign but there are definitely red flags there. He needs to be evaluated ASAP so that he can begin early intervention if needed.

who do i go to for this?

[Moved from General Autism Discussion to Parents' Discussion]

It is hard to say. A lot of things can cause tantrums. Lining things up (but still playing normally) is kind of ambiguous.

My 7 yr old son has severe social delays and is exceedingly snuggly, and always has been. That is a good portion of what he gets into trouble for, right, now actually, is trying to snuggle the people he wants to be his friends. Having, good eye-contact doesn't rule it out, either.

You son could have a mild case in the Aspie range and not show more signs until later, or it could be absolutely nothing.

Do you have any other concerns? How is his verbal and nonverbal communication? Does he flap hands or have unusual responses to sensory stimuli? Is he a picky eater?

What causes the tantrums? Is it related to poor communication skills, sensory issues?

What part of the world are you in, Gavin123?

I would agree that an evaluation might be something worth doing - but don't be alarmed. If your child is found to be on the autism spectrum, these things you are seeing are his way of telling you that he needs some specific supports, like maybe some help learning how to communicate his needs rather than just being frustrated. There is lots of help available all over the world.

One place to start is to google your country name and "Autism Society." They should point you in the direction of more local resources.

In the States, I'd check with your insurance carrier. We had a very good experience with a diagnostic assessment by a hospital-based multi-disciplinary program headed by a developmental pediatrician (also sometimes a pediatric neuropsychologist.) They also offered social workers, speech therapists, and occupational therapists in the same place. Look for that in your insurance's find-a-doctor website.

Sometimes, pediatricians are not as attuned to the signs as we'd like them to be - ours missed my son's diagnosis completely. If you've mentioned your concerns to your pediatrician and didn't get a specific answer, I'd recommend a specialist.

I think the main thing you need to think about for autism is communication (or lack thereof). How does he compare with other kids his age?

If you are genuinely concerned I'd definitely look into having him evaluated.

It's iffy. There are some good signs there. From what you've said, it sounds like his speech development is currently within the normal range, he's sociable and makes eye contact, and he often plays typically with toys. All of those make autism less likely.

But he does also seem to have some autistic traits - lining things up and flapping. My biggest concern however would be the tantrums and self-injury. Whether he's on the spectrum or not, that's a major concern, since he's unhappy and he might hurt himself. (Banging your head against a solid object can cause brain injury, or sometimes damage to the retina.)

What I recommend is that you keep a diary. Whenever he has one of his tantrums, describe the situation, what happened just before the tantrum, and what you did in response to it. This should give you some clues about what might be causing it. He might be getting frustrated trying to communicate, or he might be overloaded, or he might be wanting attention - whatever is causing this, once you've figured it out, you can try preventing the situation and/or teaching him alternate skills for dealing with it.

I just want to give a small cautionary tale...before my daughter was diagnosed, I placed too much emphasis on the things she could do, to the neglect of the things she couldn't. For example, she was affectionate and smiled a lot, had decent eye contact (mostly) and loved to play with her brother, and I tended to focus on that and not on her tantrums, toe-walking, toy-lining, head-banging, space-outing, flapping, etc. For her, I think looking at her deficits painted a clearer picture of her underlying neurology than looking at her strengths. In my experience, the earlier you start addressing the core deficits, the better the future results. Your child might end up just being a shadow, but I still think shadow kids can benefit from having someone help them with their deficit areas.

Good luck!

Take the MCHAT test, it's pretty simple but covers all the key areas, my son aced it and not in a good way (18/23)

https://m-chat.org/mchat.php