Do you think my 15 months old has Autism?

[laurajo24]

Can I just say that you sound like a wonderful, caring father. Your worrying is evidence that you want the best for your son. While I agree with most of the above posts that your son is completely normal, I do think it would be beneficial for you to visit your dr with your son. Only for your own peace of mind really. The internet will always throw up articles and experiences that will point towards things like autism if you search hard enough.

I had an upset tummy last week, googled it and the number one result was bowel cancer...

 

[suzib76]

Dear all,

Thank you so much for the swift responses and your thoughts. At this moment, my instincts are telling me he is more likely normal rather than Autism,...except for some slightly disturbing traits of having very very minimal eye contact.
Naturally, I care too much for my baby and would like to get earliest possible therapy if there is (as it seems early therapy is crucial to cure).

I have read that alot of you shared experience that my little one seems normal, especially in the case of not pointing. But I think most of you did not mention about not having eye contact or minimal eye contact,... is that normal for 15 months old?

Another thing to monitor for Autism cases, sometimes they regress or showed opposite development of certain behavioural traits? I will monitor this closely, and I will need to start trying to communicate and play more closely with my baby (arghh... I had been doing too much of a traditional dad role of just doing a dad's stuff such as driving family for outings, watching over him without engaging too many communication).

I have not been a very good communicative dad with my baby, maybe all this while I talked to him as if he is a bigger kid and he fails to understand me, I need to learn his mom's and grandmom's baby communication skills.

I don't want to draw a negative out of this but maybe the reason you aren't getting that eye contact you are looking for is because you haven't 'been a very good communicative dad'

How is he with mum?

 

[Angelbaby_01]

To be honest, I think you are reading to much into what he is doing. At this age they do things like this. If I compare my child and my friends's children whom are more or less the same age,to yours then this seems quite normal. I would only really be worried by the age of three if something didn't seem right. Also to remember, each child develop differently and they will improve in a few things first and then move on. Also, not all babies this age speak. Some only at 2 and maybe between 2 and 3.

PS. only a wonderful father would worry so much about his child's development.

 

[Annie77]

It is too early for a diagnosis to be made. Lots of the traits you mention in original post are fairly typical behaviour of a boy his age. Children that age do not play with other children, they are egocentric and inept at understanding others feelings. Also, repetitive play and mild obsessions are normal at his age.

What I am concerned about is your gut instinct - many parents of autistic children have a feeling from an early age that something is just different about their child. I guess this may be the case with you? The important thing to bear in mind until a diagnosis can either be made or ruled out is that your child needs you to be a parent, not an educational psychologist. Forget assessing him, love him, play with him and accept him for whatever stage he is at and most of all don't 'give up' and link everything he does as potentially abnormal behaviour.

People who are deemed disabled in our society are very often disabled only by society and its attitudes.

 

[marie-louise]

Ok I know I've posted before but I just want to share my experiences! It is about a year since Matthew first got noticed for his speech delay and that started the ball rolling for us, he has since had speech and language therapy,he seemed to not hear us so had his hearing checked,he is clumsy so he had his eyesight tested, he has seen a developmental paediatrician and we are still at the beginning of the diagnostic process. My son has some obvious autistic traits, he has severe echolalia so repeats everything, sometimes over and over again. He is obsessed with colours and is very literal with what he can say, ie. When he wants juice he will say orange juice or red juice, he won't ask a question or say I want. He has always been independent and will not seek me out if he falls or if something happens to him. I've always thought his eye contact was good but have been told that it is not what it should be. He hold his ears and hates some noises, he has routines and patterns of behaviour that, when not adhered to make him have an awful tantrum. We have been told by all the professionals who have dealt with him that autism is suspected but no one will be drawn on in definitively! I keep getting 'we have some concerns', 'we would like to keep an eye on him' I pushed the developmental paediatrician on it and she said that in her heart she believes that he does have autism but she says that, at this young age they have to be careful because all toddlers have some autistic traits that are a normal part of development. Therefore I want to prepare you for what you may face. Yes early intervention is important but, at 15 months you may not be taken seriously. That's why you should keep a diary of your concerns and let your hv or doctor know that you are concerned. Good luck!

 

[caz_hills]

Hi,

I read your post the other day and my first thought was, wow what a caring Dad! Honestly, you seem very attentive and caring of your child and that is wonderful.

I didn't post as to be honest I know so little about this. However, I do agree with the others that they do say that you can't really tell if there are concerns until they are quite a bit older. My newphew had some of the signs and he was checked at three and they said that was too young.

But I'd agree with others, maybe take him to the HV or GP and see what their advice is.

But honestly, you sound like a fantastic Dad.

 

[leelee]

What you have described sounds like typical toddler behaviour. But I would speak to the GP if were you, just to get peace of mind.

My friend knew her LO had autism when she was just 8 months old (her older brother is also autistic) and the rest of us (her friends, family) would have suspected when she was about 16 months old.

I would have known her brother had autism when he was about 22 months old but I wasn't living in the country at the time so probably would have suspected it at a younger age.

So follow your gut. No-one on here can tell you if your son has autism and from what you have said it doesn't seem like he does. However, it seems to be really worrying you so my advice is to get it checked out.

 

[_jellybean_]

I would take lo to the doctor at about 18 months. Better to be safe if something is going on, since early intervention is key, but it's difficult to diagnose even at 18 months because a lot of the red flags are normal toddler behavior. That said, listen to your instincts, and call you lo's dr if you have concerns. Here's an article I just read, and thought of your post when I read it. https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/16/health/autism-facts/

I knew a child who had SO many flags at 18 months, and changed a lot since turning two. I still think there's something going on, but it's likely not as severe as I had thought. That's why it's better not to jump to conclusions when they are so little.

 

[loris65]

Dear all,

Thank you so much for the swift responses and your thoughts. At this moment, my instincts are telling me he is more likely normal rather than Autism,...except for some slightly disturbing traits of having very very minimal eye contact.
Naturally, I care too much for my baby and would like to get earliest possible therapy if there is (as it seems early therapy is crucial to cure).

I have read that alot of you shared experience that my little one seems normal, especially in the case of not pointing. But I think most of you did not mention about not having eye contact or minimal eye contact,... is that normal for 15 months old?

Another thing to monitor for Autism cases, sometimes they regress or showed opposite development of certain behavioural traits? I will monitor this closely, and I will need to start trying to communicate and play more closely with my baby (arghh... I had been doing too much of a traditional dad role of just doing a dad's stuff such as driving family for outings, watching over him without engaging too many communication).

I have not been a very good communicative dad with my baby, maybe all this while I talked to him as if he is a bigger kid and he fails to understand me, I need to learn his mom's and grandmom's baby communication skills.

I don't want to draw a negative out of this but maybe the reason you aren't getting that eye contact you are looking for is because you haven't 'been a very good communicative dad'

How is he with mum?

I think that is probably the reason. He is still closer with mom, but lately he is slowly sticking more to me (while still close to his mom).
But I am still not a very good baby communicator.

He smiles more with his mum, but not frequent. When mom swings him around, he smiles, when I swing him around, he is not showing much emotion. Maybe, I am bad in communicating, or I had also read that Autistic baby tends to be closer to mum....( I know this is too much reading from me).

But even though he is currently closer to mum, at this moment the eye contact to mum is still very minimal. (and even less eye contact to me).

The only time he comes to me is -
- when I dress up to go out or he hears me carrying door keys
- when I have food
- when he feels asleep during day time. (strangely, I am quite good at patting him to sleep during day time with baby like soothing language, even though overall I am not a good communicator)

 

[loris65]

Once again, thanks to all for sharing experience, kind words, and encouragements..
This is a seriously wonderful forum, what a good find by me.
I wish I could contribute my thoughts to others some time soon in the future.

I have always been able to look at things objectively, and yes, I agree I should not worry too much, as the risk seems not high, but as some of you have said, I should probably pay a visit to a specialist to get a peace of mind, or rather have earlier treatment if it turns out to be the case for best possible chances of correction.

Anyway,...I will love my son the same whatever he is. I had told my wife, I don't need our son to be brilliant person, just normal and peaceful will do. I am Asian, from Malaysia, the culture here is quite competitive for Chinese, they always try to get the best education for their son, maximize their intelligence at early age and so on.
I told my wife many times, we don't need that, we just want a happy and peaceful son. Thats all...hehe.

And yes, about the advise, enjoy his growing up stage instead of being a doctor analyzing his every behaviour, thats a valuable advise. I only have one child, and time passes by so fast,...seriously,...its so very very true that this growing up precious moment is so very cute and beautiful moment, make the best out of it.
I had even bought my first proper camera (instead of using just phone camera) because of my LO.

 

[RachA]

You sound like a very caring dad

I just wanted to address the issue of eye contact as you raised that again.
My daughter has a speech delay which we are having speech therapy for plus other interventions. There is no sign of autism in her also she did show signs of it when she was younger. She was referred to the speech therapist at 2 years and saw her the first time at 2yr 3mths. If was flagged up at the first meeting that her eye contact wasn't good. I felt bad because I hadn't noticed due to a very demanding older child. Looking back though I can see that her eye contact was really bad. The first sessions with the speech therapist were all about teaching her to make eye contact and get her to listen properly to us.

Maybe see if you can try to do activities sounding this and trying to improve it.

 

[JimKelly12]

Hi Loris,

I know it's been over a year since you posted and I was wondering if you have any updates on your son?

 

[morri]

[.]

 

[Proud mother]

How is your little one? Any updates? I know it has been quite few years, but I was wondering because of my own little one.

Thanks

 

[SarahBear]

I was going to address this bit by bit, but you are just describing a toddler... Yes some things differ from standard time lines such as your child having zero words and sure he's not pointing yet, but he's being social at an age appropriate level, communicating, and not showing any signs of stereotyped, repetitive, or restricted behaviors or sensory issues.

 

[flipporama1]

Once again, thanks to all for sharing experience, kind words, and encouragements..
This is a seriously wonderful forum, what a good find by me.
I wish I could contribute my thoughts to others some time soon in the future.

I have always been able to look at things objectively, and yes, I agree I should not worry too much, as the risk seems not high, but as some of you have said, I should probably pay a visit to a specialist to get a peace of mind, or rather have earlier treatment if it turns out to be the case for best possible chances of correction.

Anyway,...I will love my son the same whatever he is. I had told my wife, I don't need our son to be brilliant person, just normal and peaceful will do. I am Asian, from Malaysia, the culture here is quite competitive for Chinese, they always try to get the best education for their son, maximize their intelligence at early age and so on.
I told my wife many times, we don't need that, we just want a happy and peaceful son. Thats all...hehe.

And yes, about the advise, enjoy his growing up stage instead of being a doctor analyzing his every behaviour, thats a valuable advise. I only have one child, and time passes by so fast,...seriously,...its so very very true that this growing up precious moment is so very cute and beautiful moment, make the best out of it.
I had even bought my first proper camera (instead of using just phone camera) because of my LO.

Update?