Autism - what signs did you see in your children?

Frith

I didn't know that about mispronouncing words! I couldn't roll my r's till I was about 10 (still lapse occasionally). My 12 year old can't say th but I think that's because his hearing was poor for a couple of years til he got grommets.

Small son (Aspergers) can't quite say th properly but its barely noticeable.

He doesn't play act much but he did used to have his own "kitchen" - some shelves under the stairs with a tea service and little saucepans from Ikea. He quite liked asking for my order and bringing me out pretend meals.

Another big thing is, if you want to talk to him, you HAVE to say his name first otherwise he won't realise you are talking to him. School have to remember to do that too.

Spendless

Both mine were mispronouncing certain letters to a late age. I only noticed in DS when I decided to arrange his books in alphabetical order and asked if he wanted ones that started 'The' under T or under the next word of the book. That's when DS told me that he thought the word was pronounced 'Le'. No idea why, can only think it was due to some French he'd been taught. He was around 7 at the time too. :eek: DD was in reception and starting to learn her key-words when I noticed she had a lisp and was saying th instead of s. As her aunt also has a lisp, I got her an appt with a speech therapist. I have slightly impaired hearing and hadn't noticed either child speaking these sounds incorrectly, so queried it with DH who told me he'd noticed but never said anything cos he thought it was cute (rolls eyes!!).

So to me, it seems like your son is being referred at quite a young age for speech development, but what do I know. :rotfl:

daska

The mispronunciation can be due to a hearing problem but is often a sensory issue to do with problems distinguishing different noises, especially if there is a lot of background noise (tv, washing machine etc.) DS2's dad has a PhD but still pronounces lots of words wrong because he says them 'as written', it doesn't seem to matter how many times I repeat them correctly he never manages to pick them up. (But he still insists DS2 must have inherited all his sensory/ASD problems from me ROFLMAO)

heartbroken

With regards to lining things up and spinning wheels look up 'schemas' which are a normal part of play and development. Fascinating stuff.

pigpen

daska wrote: »

The mispronunciation can be due to a hearing problem but is often a sensory issue to do with problems distinguishing different noises, especially if there is a lot of background noise (tv, washing machine etc.) DS2's dad has a PhD but still pronounces lots of words wrong because he says them 'as written', it doesn't seem to matter how many times I repeat them correctly he never manages to pick them up. (But he still insists DS2 must have inherited all his sensory/ASD problems from me ROFLMAO)

Way back in the olden days (60's mainly) the government thought this was a good way to teach people to read.. they soon saw the error of their ways which was too late for some children.. I don't believe it was rolled out nationally because of this small problem.

Unhappy_Oak_land_customer

Just to be different - I do have a son diagnosed at 9 with aspergers, while he has many complex issue now as a toddler he was a delight, he spoke really early on and in many ways was easier then my other children,he needed routine etc and we just adapted, his problems only became more serious when he started school at 5.
In fact the nursery school he had attened were shocked when i told them of the diagnosis.They just thought he was stubborn.
I must mention is my son was fascinated with trains from a very young age - this was his first obsession and quite a common one for children on the spectrum.

neverdespairgirl

Unhappy_Oak_land_customer wrote: »

I must mention is my son was fascinated with trains from a very young age - this was his first obsession and quite a common one for children on the spectrum.

But also quite common for boys in general, I think, not a sign to worry in itself?

emsywoo123

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

But also quite common for boys in general, I think, not a sign to worry in itself?

DS (29 months) is currently obsessed with Chuggington on the TV and Thomas the Tank on the iPad. Have to be really strict with limiting the time or I fear he would be there all day!!

And no autistic spectrum suspicions with him, so I agree.

JBD

My daughter has classic autism. She was diagnosed at 2 1/2 years old. Some of the things we noticed -

Very withdrawn. Used to sleep a lot in her buggy. Didn't like adults talking to her. She didn't meet her social development milestones at 10 months (not sure if these are still assessed?).
Didn't play with toys at all, or show any interest in them unless they were things she had seen on TV.
Was obsessed with TV, though was petrified of some things eg tellytubbies feet, cows.
Would continually spin round without getting dizzy.
Would get obsessed with certain objects eg plastic ties. Would flick them continuously. Now flicks her fingers.
Loved dummies, she used to rub them on things to get a static feel.
Was non verbal ,now very limited language.
Very delayed on learning and development.
Loved water, rain, very windy weather to an excessive degree.
Became very bad at sleeping as a toddler.
Didn't socialise with other children at all. Very afraid of babies and young children crying.
Didn't like being with lots of people eg parties.

As others have said, it was really just a lot of little things that seemed strange.
I also wouldn't worry the lining up of cars. I believe this is a normal part of development.

edeneve

HI...I'm a mum of soon to be 7 and a psychologist who has worked with kids with all kinds of issues, autism, aspergers etc....I got into it as one of my sons at 18mths started showing strange behaviour and was very advanced for his age. He was tested and they agreed that he was advanced and it was frustration issues....eventually he did grow out of it and he's due to go to uni this year.

Another son was quiet as a baby/toddler, was a lovely smiley easy baby...but when he got to about 5/6 started noticing odd behaviours, OCD type, only using same cup, needing routine more than others, obsessive behaviour and not very sociable...he was doing well at school so just watched him rather than go through endless medical tests etc.

He was and still is very different to his siblings and i do believe he has aspergers, and at 17 he believes it too. But he is gifted in maths and science and is doing exceptionally well, was on a uni weekend course for gifted students at 14 and won a 02 ig ideas competition funding for an idea he had. He is now on course hopefully to go to Oxford next year. By channelling his strengths into an area, rather than focusing on his weaknesses (which are social skills and obsessive behaviours) he hasn't needed a formal diagnosis and it shows that these can be overcome. By about 14 he finally did become a little more social, he now has friends that he goes out with, he is an aquired taste (sounds awful but his egocentricsm makes his personality quite arrogant, unemotional and he comes across as a know it all) but i think people have come to know him and accept him. he's very much like Sheldon off big bang theory. I used to be a uni senior lecturer and can see him spending his adulthood working in that area, I knew a lot of lecturers who were probably borderline autistic/aspergers who were excellent thinkers and teachers but hid behind the door of the ivory towers with poor social skills.

Unless your son is a danger to hiself or others at this age I would say wait it out, as mothers we tend to worry far too much and most of the time if we learn to adapt to them it gives them a much better chance in the world than being stuck with a stigmatised 'label' early in life.