Autism - what signs did you see in your children?

sulkisu

DS1 is 27 months old and I am worried tht he might be autistic. He has speech delay, but his vocabulary has grown significantly over the past few months. At 24 months he said about 25 words, he now has 99 (yay), he is not really putting words together although he did say 'telly turn on' this morning. He has been assessed as being delayed in expressive and receptive language.
He is due to start speech therapy soon. The therapist, my G.P and HV have all said tht they don't think that he is autistic, but I keep seeing little signs (perhaps I am just looking for them).

He has started to line toys up, although not excessively. He has five vehicles which he has just lined up bumper to bumper and then moved them side by side. He then dumped them in a pile in the settee. However, I also noticed today that he was looking very intently at the wheels of his car as he drove it along - only for a half a minute or so, but it started me off again .

He loves cuddles and hugs, he makes eye contact, and smiles, waves and always has done but only really started pointing at things a few months ago. He would show me things either by bringing them to me or taking me to them.
He eats a very varied diet (different textures, colours, tastes etc) and is not set in a routine.
He is fine with other people, playing, laughing and interacting but with other children it depends. A few months ago he saw another little boy at the doctors and ran up to him, and they just chased each other around for a while. At stay and play he will often stay close to me (although not always) but watches other children and will generally play next to them without necessarily acknowledging/initiating contact with them. However on the bus last week, a little girl in the buggy next to him tried to initiate contact and he just ignored her.

Even as I type this I realise that I probably sound like a neurotic mother worrying about nothing. Everything that I read about signs of autism in toddlers refers to very severe symptoms. I have asked for DS1 to be assessed for autism, if only to put my mind at rest but in the meantime, my question for those of you with autistic children is, when they were this age 24 - 30 months, what signs did you see that told you that your child was different?

Edited to add - he also walks on his toes sometimes and flaps his hands. Again, not excessively but he does it all the same.

runninglea

lack of co-ordination - such as catching a ball etc

extra-ordinary memory - such as knew every car name from the badge etc

Just a lot of small things that when accumulated make it seem that something was wrong!

julie03

lining up cars and watching wheels is not always a sign, my six year old does it and doesnt have autism, whereas my 10yr old never did it but does have autism

The signs in my son was language issues , not really playing with other children, prefered to be by himself, and problems understanding instructions, can't remember anymore at the moment.

Spendless

I'll start by saying I don't have autistic children. I'm sure someone will be along soon who can tell you what they did notice.

What I can say is, as my son had his 2nd birthday, we went to stay with extended family. They had a boy that was 6 months older than my son. I was amazed at how much more 'advanced' this child was at 2.5, he could talk in sentences whereas my son was saying odd words. 6 months later I was to discover my son was at exactly the same stage as this child had been. There was a huge difference between him being 24 months and 30 months.

I went on to have a girl later and she talked a lot earlier. I have read that this sin't uncommon, that girls language skills develop earlier and they chat a lot more. Don't think that ever leaves them.

Also playing side by side is completely normal. It's not that long since I was watching a programme about old toys and on it mentioned was the 4 corners open dolls house was developed just for that reason, when playgroups started springing up.

cte1111

I was worried that my son was autistic at about the same age as your son. He lined up toys all the time. He also 'lost' speech, e.g. he would learn a word and say it confidently then never use it again. He went from knowing about 20 words to using almost no discernible words. He also was a bit obsessive about anything with wheels, instead of pushing the doll's buggy, he would inspect the wheels endlessly.

However my son is now 6 and is not autistic. With some work from us, his speech eventually developed and he now has a good vocabulary and his speech is clear. He plays happily with friends, makes eye contact and is generally a happy little boy. He does still like to line things up and his room is always kept tidy (wish the same could be said of my daughter).

There's no point my saying try not to worry, as I know it's part of being a parent, but hopefully my story can help demonstrate that the signs you are seeing are not inevitably signs of autism.

NB it's interesting that another poster has mentioned knowing car makes - once my son did speak, some of his first words were to do with cars. After seeing a friend's car once, he would immediately be able to identify any passing car that was the same make and model - "that like Sarah car" he would say. I think it's just part of an orderly mind - my husband and I both studies maths so he's evidently got this from us.

alleycat`

Lining up cars and watching wheels i did as a child and i don't have autism.
Well i don't think i do anyway.

My DS did the same thing at around the same age. The only reason i know i did this is my mum and dad, both individually, commented on how he was "just like me" in that regard.

He, also, was very much into car "names" and talking about them if he saw the same make / model when out and about.

This was when he was about 3 but he is no longer interested just a couple of years further on.

I think a lot of that came from me reading "top gear" magazine to him mind you.

Some kids just do things at their own pace in their own way.

Artytarty

My son displayed the same "signs" as yours. I did worry a bit but I was comparing him to two older sisters.
Before you ad any further and get scared let me say he is NOT autistic.
He had/has the most phenomenal visual memory. Almost photographic. As a little boy he would say, remember when we went to such and such and you wearing x and I was wearing y?!!!
He drew detailed pictures, I remember the dead fox we saw lying on the pavement had to be drawn facing the correct way and granny's jumper had to be red and white.
He played with is toys, then took things apart and generally broke them. He cannot keep a pen with a spring in one piece.
Next year he will be a fully qualified vet. I wouldn't change a thing about him!

squeakysue

My son is 11 now but I have always kind of felt he is somewhere along the spectrum, he is so clever and doing amazing in school so I have never brought it up with anyone.

As a toddler he was very slow on speech, still not talking clearly at 5 when he was in reception. He would name cars by looking at them when he was a toddler, memorise a whole story from a book and be able to relay it to someone else. He has had some social issues and struggles sometimes still having tantrums and meltdowns that are not "normal". There are lots of other things that added together make me think that he is on the spectrum but as I say he is doing fine in life, he doesn't need any help or labels.

I would really try not to worry, easier said than done I know but your son is still so young, a lot of his behaviour sounds completely normal too.

neverdespairgirl

My son was slow learning to talk, too, and also lined his cars up.

Neither is something to panic about. In my son's case, I'm sure he lined his cars up because he was a city boy, and traffic jams are normal to him!

He's now 7, and definitely not austistic. Lots of toddlers do play side by side, rather than always together, and I wouldn't worry about it.

SingleSue

With youngest son (complex autistic), he was completely cut off from the world. There was no eye contact, no interest in the outside world, no language at all at age 24 months, would just scream and scream, he was absolutely obsessed with cars, would colour match and line match, routine bound (hence the scream and scream), abhored any kind of personal contact, sound sensitive, clothing sensitive and disliking any kind of change be it something we were doing or his surroundings, no matter how small.

He actually could do maths before he could talk, he would write the number initially, then when some speech did start, he would shout out the answer...maths sums was a way of calming him down and distracting. At the age of 5, he could say odd words but was not putting them together, by the age of 7, we were at 3 word sentences but only at a push...at age 15, he can talk the hind leg off a donkey if it is about his obsessional subject.

With middle son, I actually thought he had ADHD (that was his initial diagnosis) but he is a very high functioning Aspergic. The most obvious with him was his insistance on the same plate, bowl and cutlery, the obsessional watching of a particular film (I can never again watch Jumanji!), very very routine bound and had violent and aggressive outbursts. Still came as a hell of a shock though and I initially disagreed with them. His speech was unaffected and his eye contact although a little off at times, was not too bad.

Eldest used to line things up, still does to be honest and doesn't like hugs etc...but he is not autistic, just ever so slightly OCD.

pesky85

All the behaviour you describe sounds completely "normal" to me, I have a 3.5 and a 27 month old