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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Thank you all for your responses.

I should clarify or give examples of what I meant by he doesn’t know how to play. From what I understand, cognitive development can’t be measured directly so they use play and social interactions to gauge how cognitive development is progressing or not. At 17.5 months, DS does not put things into a container. Forget about shape sorters. He plays by spinning things (a small plate, a lid, a ball) and loves picking and dropping those things. He likes the baby musical toys that lots up. That’s the extent of his play. Tried reading to him and after two pages, he would close the book and treats it as a toy.

He is in an all day preschool (daycare center) in the toddler’s class. His teachers reported that he is unable to do things the rest of the class does. Painting with a brush for instance , or other sensory play like running a toy car over whipped cream. His PT and teacher from early intervention visit him at school as their approach is a coaching model. I can see why the developmental pediatrician puts him at 9 months as far as physical and cognitive development is concerned.

I just feel like there is something more to this global delay. I understand “intellectual disability” is a nicer term than “mental retardation” and it is very general umbrella term for a number of things. He is too young to get evaluated for a lot of things but if I read the early symptoms of intellectual disability, he seems to check all the boxes.

Some of the questions that were asked of us include if it was a normal pregnancy and yes it was. No alcohol consumption or drugs. I was asked if he has seizures, and no he doesn’t. He doesn’t wake up screaming either (apparently this happens if there is swelling in his head).

He is otherwise a more or less happy baby. Very sweet and loving, to us parents, at least.[/quote]

Schedule an ADOS evaluation ASAP. There are plenty of autism flags, and the pediatrician’s dismissal based on eye contact and affection is truly ignorant. Plenty of autistic children are very affectionate and attached to parents and have good eye contact. Obvi I’m not diagnosing your child online, but that’s my recommendation for next step. ASD early intervention is critical, usually covered by insurance better that other therapies. If he has autism, a DX will help you tremendously in providing the appropriate therapy Birth-3 therapies aren’t nearly enough. Good luck.[/quote]

I agree with this. My child with an HFA dx (and the very delayed motor skills that often goes along with that) was extremely loving with us and also declined to do all the activities the other kids did in daycare. I retrospect, a combination of very poor fine motor skills with just not being motivated to do what all the other kids are doing. [/quote]

Disagree with the ADOS suggestion. PPs, they are estimating his overall cognitive and developmental level at 9 months. An ADOS would be a waste because if he has trouble completing the activities there is no way to tell if it is because of autism, or because he has the skills of a 9 month old. A diagnosis of autism is only made in a child with delays if the social delays seem beyond the other delays. There are still a lot of social things a typical 9 month old is not doing yet. The ADOS just doesn't have that kind of specificity.

No one is ruling out a diagnosis of autism forever, but an ADOS is unhelpful at this point.[/quote]

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