Parents of ASD kids - can I relax once pointing starts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can a child meet all the milestones and have ASD? That's impossible.

OP, I'd wait till he's two before I would relax. There is a regressive autism.

My child met all of his milestones, but has HFA. He hit all of the language milestones on time, but he didn't use language for...anything. He could use 2-3 words sentences, but didn't He knew the names of animals and their sounds, but he didn't produce language spontaneous to talk about them. He could ask for orange juice, but only did it a couple of times. He could point at something, but only did it a couple of times. He could engage in pretend play, but rarely did so. (Maybe once or twice). My pediatrician did a Denver Development checklist with him at every appointment, and he passed, but he still has HFA.

OP here, thanks for sharing. At what age was your DS diagnosed?

We started working on DX at 5.5; he was diagnosed with ASD at 7. As it turns out, despite hitting his language milestones, he has substantial language impairments in both receptive and expressive language. We had various DXs before ASD, including: MERLD, ADHD, semantic pragmatic language disorder. His symptoms got more like an ASD as he got older it became clear by 7 that is what is going on.

[Anonymous]

My ASD child pointed and was not diagnosed for certain until age 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can a child meet all the milestones and have ASD? That's impossible.

OP, I'd wait till he's two before I would relax. There is a regressive autism.

My child met all of his milestones, but has HFA. He hit all of the language milestones on time, but he didn't use language for...anything. He could use 2-3 words sentences, but didn't He knew the names of animals and their sounds, but he didn't produce language spontaneous to talk about them. He could ask for orange juice, but only did it a couple of times. He could point at something, but only did it a couple of times. He could engage in pretend play, but rarely did so. (Maybe once or twice). My pediatrician did a Denver Development checklist with him at every appointment, and he passed, but he still has HFA.

OP here, thanks for sharing. At what age was your DS diagnosed?

We started working on DX at 5.5; he was diagnosed with ASD at 7. As it turns out, despite hitting his language milestones, he has substantial language impairments in both receptive and expressive language. We had various DXs before ASD, including: MERLD, ADHD, semantic pragmatic language disorder. His symptoms got more like an ASD as he got older it became clear by 7 that is what is going on.

Thanks PP. Sounds like my son who, despite hitting early/ on time language milestones, is now clearly impaired when it comes to pragmatics, affecting receptive and expressive communication. But my son didn't point and follow a point by 1 and had a few other red flags, hence the early Dx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ASD child pointed and was not diagnosed for certain until age 6.

Thanks PP. It sounds like you suspected something before then. Did he not meet enough criteria for ASD diagnosis before 6, or was he diagnosed with something else first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. You cannot relax and rule out autism bc your child points.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. You cannot relax and rule out autism bc your child points.

This

Do you have a source or anecdote to share? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ASD child pointed and was not diagnosed for certain until age 6.

Thanks PP. It sounds like you suspected something before then. Did he not meet enough criteria for ASD diagnosis before 6, or was he diagnosed with something else first?

She had terrible behavioral problems and tantrums (and very poor sleep), but no language delays or repetitive interests. My understanding is girls are much more difficult to diagnose than boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can a child meet all the milestones and have ASD? That's impossible.

OP, I'd wait till he's two before I would relax. There is a regressive autism.

Because it is a spectrum. The avg age for being diagnosed with ASD/Level 1/Asperger's type is ~10 yrs old. And a significant number are never diagnosed or diagnosed as an adult.

Thanks, that's in the back of my mind, too. FWIW, an expert told me that those people would have been diagnosed as toddlers today. Parents didn't know to look for signs like pointing, etc.. Ten years ago even they weren't doing M-CHAT at checkups, so it's no wonder that people with mild ASD weren't diagnosed until later, or never.

Pediatricians are doing M-CHAT at checkups? That's a great idea!

/s/mother of a ten year old and a twelve year old

Yes, I believe it's become standard practice to do M-CHAT at the 18 month checkup.

M-cHAT isn't fool proof. I'm a pp with the kid with Asperger's and DS passed M-CHAT with flying colors. The pediatrician and we did not notice anything out of the ordinary except for DS's love of ceiling fans. Would have been nice if we had an inkling earlier but we did not notice anything until DS started preK and he would not play/engage with peers... And that was the only main issue that made the school suggest an evaluation other than that DS was well behaved and met all milestones on time. DS was diagnosed at 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can a child meet all the milestones and have ASD? That's impossible.

OP, I'd wait till he's two before I would relax. There is a regressive autism.

Because it is a spectrum. The avg age for being diagnosed with ASD/Level 1/Asperger's type is ~10 yrs old. And a significant number are never diagnosed or diagnosed as an adult.

Thanks, that's in the back of my mind, too. FWIW, an expert told me that those people would have been diagnosed as toddlers today. Parents didn't know to look for signs like pointing, etc.. Ten years ago even they weren't doing M-CHAT at checkups, so it's no wonder that people with mild ASD weren't diagnosed until later, or never.

Pediatricians are doing M-CHAT at checkups? That's a great idea!

/s/mother of a ten year old and a twelve year old

Yes, I believe it's become standard practice to do M-CHAT at the 18 month checkup.

M-cHAT isn't fool proof. I'm a pp with the kid with Asperger's and DS passed M-CHAT with flying colors. The pediatrician and we did not notice anything out of the ordinary except for DS's love of ceiling fans. Would have been nice if we had an inkling earlier but we did not notice anything until DS started preK and he would not play/engage with peers... And that was the only main issue that made the school suggest an evaluation other than that DS was well behaved and met all milestones on time. DS was diagnosed at 4.

Good to know, thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

My DS with ASD was pointing before 1 and was capable of joint attention. Just less than most kids, which I didn't know. In fact my DS was and is hyperverbal. I definitely understand your anxiety OP and why you're asking. Those are all good signs. Enough not to spend time worrying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS with ASD was pointing before 1 and was capable of joint attention. Just less than most kids, which I didn't know. In fact my DS was and is hyperverbal. I definitely understand your anxiety OP and why you're asking. Those are all good signs. Enough not to spend time worrying.

Thanks, PP. It sounds like his ASD is mild?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP already has an ASD child. Do not flame her for being concerned about her second child.

+1. Wow, you guys are harsh. Why even post?

[Anonymous]

My 16 month old doesn't point or wave. If my 10 month old did I would be as cool as a cucumber.

[Anonymous]

Serious question, my 19 month old DS (born at 34 weeks 5 days, spent 11 in nicu) does not point, or wave and only says "uh oh". At 18 month appointment, pediatrician recommended that I get intervention evaluation. I called them (in VA), and they said because DS was born early, I should wait for until he is 21 months for an evaluation if he is still not pointing or words have not increased. Should I have pushed harder for an immediate eval? After reading this post, I am seriously concerned. Also he does not follow you pointing either. And he screams out a lot. A lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question, my 19 month old DS (born at 34 weeks 5 days, spent 11 in nicu) does not point, or wave and only says "uh oh". At 18 month appointment, pediatrician recommended that I get intervention evaluation. I called them (in VA), and they said because DS was born early, I should wait for until he is 21 months for an evaluation if he is still not pointing or words have not increased. Should I have pushed harder for an immediate eval? After reading this post, I am seriously concerned. Also he does not follow you pointing either. And he screams out a lot. A lot.

Yes. Call them again and insist on an evaluation, get a referral from the pediatrician if needed. It's so weird they'd pick 21 months out of a hat.