When did you first pick up the signs in your child?

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My little guy, Jamie, just turned 5 weeks old Friday. My fiance (his father) and I both have AS, so there's a good chance that he'll have it, as well. Is there any way to recognize signs of an ASD in an infant or child who is younger than two years old?

Congrats on the birth of your baby!

When I first had my little one I didn't really know about my own issues- I thought everyone more-or-less went through the same things I did. It wasn't until I started learning about my son's Autism that I started learning about myself.

The good thing for you and your fiance, is that if your child has autism, you'll be able to identify it early and find resources quickly.

I found this list of behavioural signs (on autism.net) that can be detected prior to the age of 2 years. Many of the symptoms can occur with normally developing children but of course if you have any concerns check with your child's pediatrician.

Fails to achieve any of the following milestones:
- Babbling by 11 months
- Simple gestures (eg waving) by 12 months
- Single words by 16 months
- 2-word phrases (a noun and a verb) by 24 months
- Loses any language or social skills at any age

-Doesn't respond when name is called
- Rarely makes eye contact when interacting with other people
- Doesn't smile socially
- More interested in looking at objects than at people's faces
- Avoids or ignores other children when they approach him

-Has odd or repetitive ways of moving hands and/or fingers
-Seems oversensitive to certain textures or sunds
- Lacks interest in toys, or plays with them in an unusual way (eg lining up, spinning, opening/closing parts rather than playing with the whole toy)
- Has to perform activities in a special way or sequence

I hope this helps.

Hi, Webmd site
this site lists some of the signs and advice for "at risk" infants. They say the signs that your child may be autistic can be seen as early as 6 months.

Hindsight says this is certainly true for my son. 6 months was the age that he was big enough to pull away in protest of being held or cuddled. I wasn't able to "rock him" anymore. He had developmental delays too, didn't speak, didn't react to being talked to, didn't crawl, didn't walk on his own until he was 15 months. All of these things in and of themselves weren't cause for alarm. We weren't too worried because my husband had the same traits. Husband didn't speak until he was 4.
Pop had other traits that aren't considered autistic traits but all parents of autistic kids complain of them; not sleeping or not sleeping through the night or not being able to be put down for bed-picky eating habits, preference for drinking over solids, or reluctance to graduate from "baby food" to regular solids.
We had his hearing checked at about 20 months, on the insistence of the family doctor because of that "acting deaf" thing and not speaking. It wasn't until he was 2 1/2 years that the doctor referred me to a pediatric neurologist. I was insulted and cried in the parking lot-not because something was wrong with my son. Because the doctor suggested something was wrong with him. It wasn't until a couple weeks later at the neurologist when I first heard the word "autism".

I just have to add, that the eye contact thing can be desieving..... My son has great eye contract but has a very flat affect. That was something I missed when he was little as I was just used to it.

Lainie

I just bumped a previous thread on this.

I will have to say that those early list of autism signs may not hold up for a child with Aspergers, because there may not be a noticeable language delay early on. At least that has been my experience, although my son is still only 4 and has so far only been dx'd with PDD-NOS. (But because he would rather discuss nocturnal animals than go to the park, I am pretty sure that he's an aspie )

My son babbled on time and spoke his first words at 12 months. His language developed normally except for the fact that he did not respond to conversation that did not have to do with his special interests. He is in speech to work on pragmatics / social language, but he is your typical little professor and speaks like an adult.

Our early signs were physical delays, weakness, and motor planning issues(head lag when pulled by arms to sitting was an early delay that I dismissed at 7 months but that he still has trouble with today!) and sensory issues. Plus look for any extraordinary talents, like speaking words waaay before they are supposed to be able to, naming numbers, letters, or words before they can actually speak, or being able to sort and pattern when they are infants without ever being taught.

I don't think I have to worry about physical delays. He's been rolling over since he was 2 weeks old. There's always the possibility of regression, though, so I'm not ruling that out. He's been having what I interpret to be seizures, but we haven't taken him to see the pediatrician yet, so I can't really be sure. (But I will be calling them tomorrow.) That's mostly why I'm asking about this; because I've read that it's common for people with ASDs have seizure disorders.

Because the symptoms of AS/Asperger's are largely social/behavioral, it is very difficult to identify it before your child is social, which begins to occur between 18 months and 2 years.

I've read your posts in a few places, and I don't see anything to indicate that your 5 week old infant is in any way unusual. What is happening that you identify as seizures? Identifying seizures in newborns happens to be right in my line of work as a NICU RN.

My biggest question is, what benefit do you see in identifying Asperger's or AS so early? The label can be helpful for children who are old enough to benefit from therapies, but before preschool age, my personal opinion is that it's better to learn who your child is as an individual than as a subset of a larger diagnostic community.

I think a good example is the parent of a 2 year old whose child is melting down on a regular basis. If the child has AS, the parent may make the assumption that the child is melting down due to transitional issues and address them by limiting transitions. However, if the child is melting down due to the age-appropriate discovery that the world does not, in fact, revolve around them, then the further restriction of exploration would do more harm than good.

I think in both examples given above, a 2 year old would most benefit from the parent who is thinking neither of "my child in the terrible twos" or "my child with Asperger's" and instead focused on "my child Jane" and wondering what set off a given individual meltdown.

Congratulations, you lucky thing! There is nothing like a new baby!
Probably what you are interpretting as seizures is just immature muscle movment. What does it look like?! If you are in doubt, you should see a doctor ASAP!! No new baby should have seizures, ASD or not.
When did you and your partner show signs of AS? This could be predictive of your child.
In my son (HFA), the first signs were bad eye contact, crying a lot, and sleeping badly. Your baby at this point should be using a lot of time staring at your face.
Small babies also mimic facial expressions, which is quite fun to see - try poking your tongue out - he might copy this. But this is just fun to do... not a AS test!
Any way - enjoy your baby

While I was growing up, my mom treated me like I was a total brat. She knew that I was a "spirited" child (a phrase used in one book she read) and she knew I have/had difficulty with things, like interacting with peers or sensory issues, but her view was that I should just suck it up instead of actually working with me to help me understand how to deal with those problems. She knew about autism and what the typical signs are, and she told me one day, "I always thought while you were growing up that you had autistic traits." When I finally found out about AS and asked my mom if I could see a psychologist, and she went to two meetings, she didn't seem interested in finding out how to help me with things, she would just vent about how I wouldn't hug her (and the reason I wouldn't wasn't because I have AS, it's because she's emotionally abusive and I found most of her behavior towards myself and others disgusting.) I don't want to be like this. I don't want to think that J might be acting out on purpose when it's something else. I realize now that I'm going the total opposite way, and that it's not good to do what my mom did or what I'm doing now, so I'm definitely going to tone it down.

About the seizures, though, he did have one that was easy to tell that it was a seizure; his eyes rolled back and his arm shook for about 2 seconds. He did this twice and hasn't done it since. He's been doing this other thing, though, where his eyes would move around like he's in REM sleep but his eyes will be open, the corners of his mouth would twitch, and his tongue would thrust out of his mouth. I looked on YouTube for videos of this, and the boy in one that I found was doing these same things.

I don't want to frighten you, but if you feel it is a seizure you REALLY have to get it checked out fast!

It's hard being a parent and finding out how you want to do things. We all make mistakes. My Mum did, and I definately have. At your son's age, all you have to do is follow him best you can, feed him when he is hungry, talk to him when he is lonely, let him sleep when he is tired. Let him know the world's ok and that you love him

I'm definitely getting it checked out. I called the pediatrician and no one was there, but I'll be calling them tomorrow.

I noticed something wasn't right immediately with my daughter, the very first day she was born, because she screamed instead of crying. Lucky for me (note sarcasm) she continued to cry by screaming through her entire infancy and until shortly after she was two. The next curious thing was her need to be against something, usually with her feet, in her first days of life. We thought this was from being used to being in the womb, but she's four and still does it. Then the lack of interest in toys for the sake of their intended use, and a preference for more utility-type items or things that "worked". She would spin wheels on toy cars, play for the longest time with a baby toothbrush, etc. Then the head banging, screaming at certain noises, recoiling at the feeing of grass, dirt, sand or certain fabrics - especially tags. All of this was well before two.

the seizures could just be fever-related......

I really didn't notice it with my son until it became clear that his speech was seriously delayed. He was my first child so I didn't really know what normal child development was. He was always fussy and would have meltdowns, but, there are NT infants/ toddlers who are fussy and meltdown easily. He also made excellent eyes contact with me. So I never really put the pieces together until he was older and started doing a lot of rocking/ stimming/ head banging,developed intense obsessions, and remained non verbal for a long time.

My daughter I noticed immediately because she did not make eye contact as an infant. Starting around age 1 she would make fleeting attempts at eye contact but never hold it more than a couple seconds. She still avoids eye contact. She also melted down easily, hated being taken out, touched or looked at by strangers, and is pretty much non-verbal.

Children should start saying a few words by age 1... so if by age 1 1/2 your child is not saying any words, you might want to consider an early intervention evaluation.

I thought of that, because I had a febrile seizure when I was two, but he wasn't/isn't sick. But we'll be taking him to the doctor, so hopefully it'll get figured out then.

Same with my son-- he screamed instead of crying. Even though he "cried" (screamed) non stop the first few months of his life, I never saw actual tears come from his eyes until about 4 or 5 months.