I worry my 18 month old has aspergers

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My brother, father and I all have aspergers I am a ninteen year old woman and my son doesn't like to be touched or cuddled He is pretty difficult for his age, when meeting other children he seems slightly different, I don't know what it is, he rarely makes eye contact and likes doing things like taking things(saucepans) out of the cupboard one by one putting them on the doormat and then when he has done that he takes them all off the doormat and puts them back again.
he also has NO attention span!
He is my angel and perfect in my eyes but he is still quite a difficult child for his age!
any advise?

Congratulations on having a child who puts things back in the cupboard when he's finished with them!

Seriously, it's way too soon to tell anything and all young children are strange in different ways. Love him, enjoy him!

18 months is not too soon to suspect ASD. Just be on the lookout, if in addition to the little things you've noticed if he loses acquired language or starts missing milestones - those are big red flags for autism and PDD-NOS. If you notice those things you should notify the pediatrician and get the ball rolling if you think he'd benefit from early intervention. I could tell my son was autistic at 18 months and he was diagnosed at 2 years, he could have been diagnosed sooner if those around me had taken my concerns seriously.

If he does, tell him "welcome to our world."

What country are you in? Can you call EI/get an eval?

He could be. IDK what age kids are typically dx'd where you live but I was dx'd at 18 months myself in the early 90's.

Sometimes it can be diagnosed very young, sometimes it can't (with my son it could not have been). But I firmly believe that what a child needs most, either way (NT or AS or severe) is a parent who doesn't give up on him, tunes into his needs, and does her best to meet them. Engage with your child, learn his quirks, don't force overload on him, and enjoy him.

If you are seeing issues that seem appropriate for early intervention (I read none in your post), then bring it up with your pediatrician.

JMHO, of course.

I would disagree with your visitor. Early intevention is essential with autism, at least so say the studies.

Is your son speaking yet?

These days, parents seem to overreact about minor things their kids do. Like if their baby doesn't want to be held, it must be autism. If their baby won't eat what they are giving them, it must be autism. If their baby isn't playing with their toys the right way yet, it must be autism. If their baby isn't playing with other babies yet, it must be autism and so on. I just think these are all minor and it's too soon to worry and the best thing they can do is keep en eye out for more symptoms. Even articles on development keep saying every child is different so parents won't worry if the page doesn't fit their child to a T. That is good it says that so people will know it's not black and white and not panic when their child doesn't reach those mildstones like the articles say they would at that age.

Me, I am not worried about my son and my husband agrees he is normal so far. I was told kids don't start pretend play until they get to nine months and my son hasn't done that yet and he still pushes his toys on wheels around the room and feels things and put stuff in his mouth and doesn't really play with the toys yet so I am not worried and all babies develop at their own pace. Perhaps nine months is just a guideline. Some start doing it sooner and some do it later. Plus he doesn't always want to be held because he wriggles and squirms and then I put him down and bam he is crying so what does he want? I just ignore it and put him to bed thinking he must be tired because he is cranky. If he has been fed already he must be tired. But everything else about him is normal. I would rather wait until my child is months behind in his milestones before I start to worry but minor things I won't worry about. BTW my baby didn't eat everything and hardly ate when I started him on solids so I didn't force it on him and just fed him breast milk often than solids. I just figured he wasn't ready for solids even though they say to start your baby on solids at six months so I did and I was told by WIC to feed him three times a day but he hardly would take it. Now he will eat it because he is older. I could have panicked thinking he was having food issues so it must be autism since it's so common in them but every baby is different so he probably wasn't ready so he had very little.

Here is a list of warning signs for autism that you need to start to look at around 12 months of age but most do not get a diagnosis until after age 2 for classic autism and typically not until between 5 and 7 for Aspergers...but there are kids who are getting diagnosed earlier depending on where you live.

Does not babble or coo by 12 months of age
Does not gesture (point, wave, grasp, etc.) by 12 months of age
Does not say single words by 16 months of age
Does not say two-word phrases on his or her own (rather than just repeating what someone says to him or her) by 24 months of age
Has any loss of any language or social skill at any age.
The child does not respond to his/her name.
The child cannot explain what he/she wants.

Language skills or speech are delayed.
The child doesn't follow directions.
At times, the child seems to be deaf.
The child seems to hear sometimes, but not others.
The child doesn't point or wave bye-bye.
The child used to say a few words or babble, but now he/she doesn't.
The child throws intense or violent tantrums.
The child has odd movement patterns.
The child is hyperactive, uncooperative, or oppositional.
The child doesn't know how to play with toys.
The child doesn't smile when smiled at.
The child has poor eye contact.
The child gets "stuck" on things over and over and can't move on to other things.
The child seems to prefer to play alone.
The child gets things for him/herself only.
The child is very independent for his/her age.
The child does things "early" compared to other children.
The child seems to be in his/her "own world."
The child seems to tune people out.
The child is not interested in other children.
The child walks on his/her toes.
The child shows unusual attachments to toys, objects, or schedules (i.e., always holding a string or having to put socks on before pants.)
Child spends a lot of time lining things up or putting things in a certain order.

League_Girl if you son is under 9 months you are right there is nothing really to look for but subtle signs that could be nothing. Start watching around age 1 to 3 years. Also my classic autistic daughter (now age 6) babbled but it was different than other babies, I noticed that as she was my 5th baby, and she was still doing it at age 3 (she started speaking between 3 and 4 years old)....she also made animal sounds before she spoke actual words. We had one word at around 18 months "Ice" but she would go for a month or two and then say it again. She never pointed or waved but would take you by the wrist and put your hand on what she wanted. She did not respond to her name and spent hours lining up plastic animals.

When she was a baby she did not mind being held. I was into "baby wearing" I carried her in a sling a lot of the time but as she got older she got more tactile sensitive we and her OT worked with her, she is better but is not into being cuddled unless it is her idea, she is ill, or it is me, she is very attached to me. She will hold hands with the kids at school (shes not thrilled about the boys but will do it if her aide asks her, shes had the same aide for two years) but she does not like to have her face touched, this freaks her out. Of course we (me, my husband and my son and older daughters) can touch her and hug her far more than other people can, as I said, she feels more comfortable with us. On the other hand my Son, who is now 9 and was diagnosed with Aspergers at age 6 is like a velcro child, we are still working on teaching him that other boys his age dont really like to be hugged.

Just wanted to add that its funny how many things you remember you child did do before he or she was diagnosed that you didnt really think was a sign but you now know. Like my daughter when she was around 12 months she would hold a tiny piece of fuzz or thread or something she had found between her first finger and thumb for hours. At the time we just thought it was cute and she seemed so interested and intent on holding this thing. Sometimes she would go to bed with it and then finally drop it and forget about it until she found something else.

MCHAT test will give you a good idea.
http://www.firstsigns.org/downloads/m-chat.PDF