Signs of autism/asperger's in my child?

daska

Van1971 wrote: »

Don't let them fob you off, they can easily diagnose from age 3. early intervention is very important and he would need a statement at school. After the age of 7 the brain is less flexible. If you are concerned, push push push for a referral.

OP ~ my son is autistic and walked at 10 months, I don't think it matters. However my son was not a smiley baby. He would laugh, but not smile back at me. He babbled but that stopped when he was 13-15 months and he also stopped eating. He doesn't flap, never has done.

Fobbing off... We fought the blind ignorance of Early Years for 2 years. When he turned 4 we went private, not to jump the waiting lists, just to get permission to get onto the waiting lists. And I did a parental application for a statutory assessment because EY had refused on the basis the Educational Psychologists were "too busy". DS2's school are providing 30 hours/week 1:1 support out of their own budget and I have DS2's proposed statement sat by the PC as I type this. We're due to see his new Paediatrician in March and the EP's report identifies several markers for ASD so I think it's fair to assume we'll be asking for a ******** good explanation if we don't get referral then!

pimento

Don't rush to label your son.

My son was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was twelve after me pushing for seven years. The Education Authority refused to statement him so he got no extra help and all the label gave him was grief.

When he started sixth form college he made me keep quiet about his diagnosis because he was sick of everyone thinking he was the odd kid.

He's now in his second year at university studying Politics and you'd never know he was an different to any other 20 year old.

Try to chill and take it as it comes.

JC9297

pimento wrote: »

Don't rush to label your son.

My son was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was twelve after me pushing for seven years. The Education Authority refused to statement him so he got no extra help and all the label gave him was grief.

When he started sixth form college he made me keep quiet about his diagnosis because he was sick of everyone thinking he was the odd kid.

He's now in his second year at university studying Politics and you'd never know he was an different to any other 20 year old.

Try to chill and take it as it comes.

Your son sounds like the sort of child I was thinking of, may have been a bit different but until fairly recently would not have been labelled as autistic.
Just interested to know why you pushed for a diagnosis for so long, had the school given an indication that support would be forthcoming if he had a diagnosis? He's obviously managed to do well to overcome his difficulties without support from school.

QuackQuackOops

Tyler2011 wrote: »

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

No, you shouldnt be worried. He sounds like a normal child in every way.
Most kids dont talk until after the age of one and they usually start walking about 14 months too (average)
Not all kids crawl. Quite a lot of children miss crawling out of developement.
Rocking and flapping arms is normal. Its his way of being excited.

Nothing sounds out of place. Just enjoy him as hes going through a wonderful stage right now.

pimento

JC9297 wrote: »

Your son sounds like the sort of child I was thinking of, may have been a bit different but until fairly recently would not have been labelled as autistic.
Just interested to know why you pushed for a diagnosis for so long, had the school given an indication that support would be forthcoming if he had a diagnosis? He's obviously managed to do well to overcome his difficulties without support from school.

I pushed for extra help. The scool were on the phone to me all the time. He was disruptive and repetitive in class, didn't read until he was nearly nine, the school said he'd exhibited "inappropriate behaviour" towards a teaching assistant. He takes everything literally, can't look anyone in the eye, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the things he's interested in and no interest in anything else.

The school referred him to the child psychiatrist who couldn't say for sure what was wrong but while all this was going on, we moved house to a different area. The diagnosis took place just after the move and it was only then that I found out that our current EA doesn't statement for Aspergers.

Having the diagnosis did nothing more than prove me right as it was the thing I suggested when he was first referred to the SENCO at his primary school after his first two weeks there. It certainly didn't get him any extra help.

His father also has Aspergers.

Savvy_Sue

pimento wrote: »

The diagnosis took place just after the move and it was only then that I found out that our current EA doesn't statement for Aspergers.

In fairness, statementing shouldn't be about diagnosis - although sometimes it helps / short cuts the process, because if a child is deaf / blind / unable to walk then there isn't really room to debate whether or not they have a need for additional help.

Statementing should be about what the needs are, regardless of diagnosis. DS1 had a sort-of diagnosis at 12, had not had any help until then and got on fine without help until GCSE exams, when in a big panic we had to push for extra time in the touchy feely exam subjects. He carried on being fine through A levels (still extra time allowed, but he needed it less when not doing touchy feely stuff). And he got through 1st year at Uni OK too.

Then there was another panic, as his tutor felt he needed some extra help, and he didn't have a Disabled Student Grant to pay for it, so he had a fuller assessment which came back with a 'fragments of Aspergers' diagnosis. But he still got the help.

It is a shame that the SENCo in the new school wasn't willing to get help organised, but it should have been according to his needs, not his diagnosis.

jellyhead

daska wrote: »

We've been told repeatedly that DS2 won't be referred yet because they won't diagnose under 7. Yet friends of ours in a different part of the country have a diagnosis at 2. It seems ASD assessment is another post code lottery.

The paediatrician at the CDC (child development centre) used to mention a long 'interview' about autism (it's an assessment process that takes a few hours, I think) but he always said my eldest son was too young for it, and they preferred to do it at 7+. At age 7 he said he thought my son had made good progress and didn't need a label. He'd been statemented for nursery and school and had had occupational therapy, play therapy, speech therapy and some sessions with the behaviour psychologist. He'd been assessed by the educational psychologist and the school were putting him in catch-up classes and handwriting classes where appropriate, so he'd already had all of the help he was ever going to get without actually being labelled.

My youngest is currently being assessed. He was referred by school when he was in year 1. It's a slow process with roughly 6 months between each appointment. We had the initial one and are waiting for a follow-up. By the time he is 7 the doctor will already have made his own observations, collected reports from the school nurse (who referred him), current teacher, last year's teacher and the SENCO at school, got results back from blood tests and looked at the questionnaires he asked me to fill in.

There are other developmental disorders that they diagnose earlier than 7, and referring for speech therapy, occupational therapy etc. can happen before age 7.

Have they assessed your DS2 for other things, checked his hearing or speech etc?

jellyhead

Tyler2011 wrote: »

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

Both of my boys have absolutely enormous heads, but as they get older nobody really notices and their heads look okay now, even on eldest who is very underweight, I did worry at first that he would always look like a lollipop but he seems to have grown into his head.

The questionnaires I've filled in (CAST and Early Social and Communication Development) don't mention crawling or walking, if that helps. Other parents talk about it a lot, but the health visitor told my sister that it doesn't usually mean anything if your child is a late walker or doesn't crawl. My cousin's baby wasn't sent for assessment until she was 18 months old, because the health visitor said that before 18 months they don't worry about not moving. Both my boys are being assessed for autism but both walked by ten months, whereas the late walkers that I know aren't showing any signs of any development problems.

The questionnaires that the doctor got me to fill in ask about speech. CAST asks was the child talking by 2 years? The other one is split into sections by age, and in the 'usually noticed between 18 and 24 months of age' section it asks Did your child seem uninterested in learning how to talk? Between 12 and 18 months it asks have they begun to show you what they want by either using words or pointing, and in the 6-12 months section it asks do they babble, and do they hold up their arms when they want to be picked up.

Going on that it doesn't seem that a lack of speech is considered a problem at the age your baby is now.

In the 2 year check the health visitor decides who to send for speech therapy and/or hearing tests. She sent my friend's boy for speech therapy but she said mine didn't need it because when she got a book out he could point to things and make the sounds. He never used speech for communication though, it was only when he had a book that he made any noises.

So, my youngest didn't talk and he was always very flappy, but he didn't get a referral until he was in year 1 at school because the general feeling is that mild delays can sort themselves out. Even with my eldest who as obviously 'different' from birth no referrals were made before he was 2.

daska

jellyhead wrote: »

Have they assessed your DS2 for other things, checked his hearing or speech etc?

Yes, he had a hearing test way back when he got expelled from the Montessori, it was all ok but we're wondering whether we should push for another one, there are still some odd sounds in his language. S&L did a formal assessment which concluded he had severe language difficulties - which to be fair might have confused people who spent little time with him as some aspects of his expressive language give the impression that he's far more advanced than he is (a lot of rote-learned sentences). And he already has 30 hours 1:1 out of the school's budget because it's not safe for him or anyone else for him to be in school without it. He's come close to killing me twice and he wasn't being aggressive either time! He has sensory processing problems. But nothing else concrete at the moment.

jellyhead

30 hours of 1-1 but they won't assess him?