How early and what type of signs for autism

[Anonymous]

DH is very concerned about DS who is 14 months re: autism, because it runs in his family. The pediatrician and I have assured him DS is not showing signs of autism - he is very engaging, babbles a lot, approaches us when he wants to play or wants something. But DH is concerned. How early can you see signs? What should we keep an eye out for? I didn't realize just how worried DH is and just want to try and assuage his concerns. Many thanks.

[Anonymous]

we saw the signs with our son as early as 4 months. The developmental pediatrician saw it at 13 months, it was diagnosed at 24 months.

it depends on the form of autism, how severe, etc. Right now your son sounds perfectly fine to me. I know it is hard not to worry but as long as he develops on track, doesn't regress, doesn't lose verbal skills altogether, I wouldn't be concerned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we saw the signs with our son as early as 4 months. The developmental pediatrician saw it at 13 months, it was diagnosed at 24 months.

it depends on the form of autism, how severe, etc. Right now your son sounds perfectly fine to me. I know it is hard not to worry but as long as he develops on track, doesn't regress, doesn't lose verbal skills altogether, I wouldn't be concerned.

May I ask, what did you see at 4 months? And what did the ped see at 14?

[Anonymous]

my son didn't socialize at 4 months, he didn't smile until 9 weeks and seemed very withdrawn at 4 months. he just layed there and stared in the air.

those staring spells continued and the ped noticed his repetitive behavior along with severe developmental delays particularly in speech and cognitive development. he didn't babble at all, had lost the few words he had acquired and wasn't socializing the way he should have.

at 24 months he was still barely babbling, had no words, withdrew from people and had cognitive delays. he was obsessed with certain objects and could not respond appropriately to social situations. he still can't.

[Anonymous]

If you're concerned (or to ease your husband's concerns), you can download a copy of M-CHAT online to use to evaluate your son. The M-CHAT stands for the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers. It is used as an early intervention screening tool for autism spectrum disorders. Most pediatricians or family doctors screen toddlers at their 18-month check-up. Some parents notice other signs or a lag of developmental delays and/or milestones and ask that the screening be done earlier, say at the 12 month or 15 month visit. My 27-month-old son was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) at 23 months. He walked at 9 months and babbled and such just great! But, at around twelve months, things slowed down. He never learned to point, and the "mama" and "dada" he had learned had disappeared. I'm a pediatric nurse, so at fifteen months when he wasn't talking, I knew there was a problem, and my pediatrician agreed. I called my county's Infant and Toddler Program and the evaluations all started. He can now say a handful of words and points at everything. It's a slow start, but it's better. Autism Speak's website is pretty informative about signs of autism if you're just curious to look. www.autismspeaks.org. Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

Hi-
This is a little off topic, but I just wanted to give you my two cents on a related concern.

If your family genetics show that your children may be vulnerable to having or developing autism, it is generally a good idea to separate and delay vaccinations. This is what I did for my second son after my first showed developmental and learning delays.
My little one got all of this shots and we had not problem with schools, but we only started administering them after 6 months and then one or two at a time every two or so weeks. You have to have an agreeable doc of course.

Some people think there are subsets within the population with a negative auto immune response to the onslaught of vaccines that we have added to the first 18 months of our children's lives. I am not at all against vaccines, but wanted to give my son's system a chance to first develop and then respond to each challenge separately. If there was a negative response, I felt I was in a better position to identify which vaccine was causing it.

It was inconvenient for sure but put me at ease.

You might want to know if your husband's family with autism showed symptoms since birth or only later, at around 18 months.

Good luck
!