Signs of autism/asperger's in my child?

Tyler2011

My son is 1 years old next month, and although I know it's very young to suspect either autism/asperger's. There are a few signs he's showing that I just can't get out of my mind.

He's isn't crawling - only shuffling along on his tummy, or not saying any words, or trying to stand etc. He babble's and smiles a lot and also responds to his name which I know is a good sign but i've also read they CAN lose that after 12 months.
A couple of other things is that he rocks back and forth a lot, especially when trying to get him to sit still (to feed him in his high chair) and he'll flap his arms/hands a lot, almost in a tantrum (again, especially at feeding times). Also his head is slightly on the larger side in proportion of his body - I haven't got it measured in a while but when he was smaller the Health Visitor's did measure it at the clinic and did note it was a little bigger that average but he might grow into it, so to speak. Yet when I look, I still think it's on the big side and it's not just me because a couple of people have said so too - but not in a nasty way.


Should I be worried? (I will mention this to Health Visitor at his yearly viewing but just needed some advice)

P.S. sorry if this isn't about money saving etc, just not sure where else to post and saw a few others that wasn't to do with money so hope this is ok

Gingham_R

Hiya

At the moment, all that sounds within the expected range in my opinion. However, any worries are worth mentioning to the GP or health visitor.

concerned43

my DS has autism and did not have any of the things you describe - he was crawling by 6 months and walking at 10 months!
the only thing that happened to him was that he stopped eating at 1 and his speech was delayed.
By all means talk to your health advisor about it to reassure you.

mummyroysof3

no advise but just wanted to say that my son was very late walking etc and aged 2 was referred and now has been diagnosed with a global learning delay. he walks a lot on tip toes, flaps his arms and makes noises but doesn't talk. i suspect he could be autistic but am under the impression that he is still too young to be certain tbh.

Candy53

My autistic son displayed all those things at one year. I kept being fobbed off by the health visitor and was always told 'He's only a late developer'.

Do push to get this looked into. I had to. Autism is hard to diagnose, especially at that age, as it's so intricate, and can have so many different levels, but the medical profession need to be made aware.

Candy

sassyblue

Hi Tyler, everything you've mentioned sounds normal to me! some babies do have big heads, rock themselves and flap their arms about, l'm sure he's fine.

I remember asking on another forum when my DS was 3y.o because he would only eat with a certain piece of cutlery, drink out of a certain cup and was an awkward little so and so - again all normal. These little people like to keep us on our toes.

LittleMissAspie

I don't think it's possible to diagnose it that young. Nor is there any treatment so just keep an eye on him and make sure that he is happy

indebtinsussex

my friends son was exactly the same, and just bypassed the crawling and went straight to walking about 19/20 months.

my daughter doesnt say any words yet either and shes 14 months, just babbles a lot, however, unlike when my son was a baby, I'm not going to stress or worry about it, it'll happen when it happens.

Ignore the books about what children should be doing at different ages as they are awful, also ignore other mums bragging that their little darlings were walking and writing essays etc by the time they were two months, they're just full of cr*p.!

Mupette

Books were written to tell you what age your child should do things..

Your child will let you know when they are ready.

londonsurrey

If he's got a big head (not in a bad way!), it's perfectly reasonable for the little mite not to be able to lift it properly yet.

Eye contact, or reluctance to do so, is one of the possible indicators. At the end of the day, it's about having a triage of impairments for a formal diagnosis. Any single "symptom" is not a problem in itself. If you look at ASD, a lot of the behaviour is actually that of a stereotyped male! It's only because all the behaviours, taken to an extreme, and the inflexibility in deviating from them, that it becomes a problem and becomes formal ASD.

Seanymph

My youngest daughter didn't talk until she was 4. The odd word, but not talking, no effort to, no babbling. Just smiling, shrieking with happiness, and never ending smiles.

I was beside myself.

She's about to take her A Levels in Maths, Biology, Chemistry and German.

Turned out her sister and I were anticipating her all the all the time (elder sister) and as they shared pre school, then a classroom, she never really had to speak

You will know your child better than anyone, and if you are worried, then pursue it. If your worry is because of other people's benchmarks, comments, or perceptions, and you are confident your child is happy then don't. One thing if for sure, your littley will group up regardless, whether you worry now, or wait to worry in a year....

I wouldn't be looking for labels in one so little though - it's amazing how fast they play catch up when they start. I wished many times for my lassie to shut up over the years once she started there was no stopping her!