Also, intense fascination with Thomas trains that did not ebb, lining cars up in rows, and a love of spinning.

Anonymous wrote:

At its heart, autism is a social communication disorder. Joint attention and the inability to read nonverbal cues are two of the best indicators in children who are very young (although there is one poster whose kid has Aspergers and she says he has great joint attention, most scholarly papers and autism experts list this as a key deficit.)

My child with AS had great joint attention...sometimes. Just not as often as other kids. Same with eye contact and social referencing. So it's not just being capable of joint attention but how often. Mine could be difficult to engage, had strong preferences and interests from an early age, social difficulties, sensory issues and generally sensitive, poor sleeper, difficulty with change and transitions, fine motor weakness and some coordination difficulties, advanced verbal skills, exciteable fun but demanding kid. All observed before age 2 in our case.

At a few days old, screamed until red-faced when nursing didn't work out, could not be consoled. The lactation consultant said she'd never seen such an easily frustrated baby. He was really unresponsive to consolation and once he got upset he couldn't calm down. My friend with an HFA child my son's age said her baby was kicked out of the hospital nursery because he was "too disruptive." Both our kids had unusual sensitivities in toddler hood. My son's first word was "Bright!" as in, that light is bothering me, it's too bright.

Our ped was utterly useless and the day after my son was diagnosed (by a dev ped after a full assessment) we were in for a routine appt and the ped argued that ds did not have autism and he could just tell.

FWIW, both my son and my friend's son are doing very well in late elementary school, academically strong and socially appropriate if a tad quirky, but well liked by peers. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one can diagnose your kid over the internet. Start with your pediatrician. Read a good book on child development like Touchpoints.

Also, check the CDC milestones for old your kid is. If they show the signs under "Act Early," then definitely talk to your pediatrician and early intervention services.

Lack of eye contact alone doesn't mean autism. Tantrums don't necessarily mean autism. Sometimes these things are age appropriate.

Our pediatrician was useless. DS with HFA passed all the autism screenings given by the pediatrician. Most pediatricians are not "good" with diagnosing HFA. Thus most kids with HFA are not diagnosed until they start school.

+1

This practice has a really great checklist that might be helpful:

http://www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html

Anonymous wrote:what is joint attention?

Joint attention

http://foa.sagepub.com/content/19/1/13.abstract

Joint attention is an early-developing social-communicative skill in Which tWo people (usually a young child and an adult) use gestures and gaze to share attention With respect to interesting objects or events. This skill plays a critical role in social and language development. Impaired development of joint attention is a cardinal feature of children With autism, and thus it is important to develop this skill in early intervention efforts. Several interventions are described that involve teaching joint attention to young children With autism. These interventions focus primarily on the forms of joint attention; hoWever, they only partially address the unique social function of this behavior. DraWing on the joint attention literature, as Well as extensive intervention literature from the field of applied behavior analysis, We describe a set of strategies that could be used to teach and support joint attention, function as Well as form, in young children With autism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At its heart, autism is a social communication disorder. Joint attention and the inability to read nonverbal cues are two of the best indicators in children who are very young (although there is one poster whose kid has Aspergers and she says he has great joint attention, most scholarly papers and autism experts list this as a key deficit.)

Hi, mom whose kid with Asperger's who has great joint attention. Highly socially motivated too. Normal eye contact. Kid just has a terrible time reading nonverbal social cues and pragmatics. Just had a Neuropsych eval with Dr. Black who diagnosed ASD and ADHD combined type. DS is 7.

The first sign for us was when DS entered preschool at 4. Would not play with other kids.

Again google joint attention and autism. It typically is a key marker. But of course if a child can't read nonverbal cues naturally, that is a defining piece of autism.

what is joint attention?

Anonymous wrote:

At its heart, autism is a social communication disorder. Joint attention and the inability to read nonverbal cues are two of the best indicators in children who are very young (although there is one poster whose kid has Aspergers and she says he has great joint attention, most scholarly papers and autism experts list this as a key deficit.)

Hi, mom whose kid with Asperger's who has great joint attention. Highly socially motivated too. Normal eye contact. Kid just has a terrible time reading nonverbal social cues and pragmatics. Just had a Neuropsych eval with Dr. Black who diagnosed ASD and ADHD combined type. DS is 7.

The first sign for us was when DS entered preschool at 4. Would not play with other kids.

At its heart, autism is a social communication disorder. Joint attention and the inability to read nonverbal cues are two of the best indicators in children who are very young (although there is one poster whose kid has Aspergers and she says he has great joint attention, most scholarly papers and autism experts list this as a key deficit.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one can diagnose your kid over the internet. Start with your pediatrician. Read a good book on child development like Touchpoints.

Also, check the CDC milestones for old your kid is. If they show the signs under "Act Early," then definitely talk to your pediatrician and early intervention services.

Lack of eye contact alone doesn't mean autism. Tantrums don't necessarily mean autism. Sometimes these things are age appropriate.

Our pediatrician was useless. DS with HFA passed all the autism screenings given by the pediatrician. Most pediatricians are not "good" with diagnosing HFA. Thus most kids with HFA are not diagnosed until they start school.

Is this the OP? The OP is very vague--no age listed and only mentions eye contact and tantrums. This could be an over-anxious parent or someone who is picking up on something. Pediatricians don't really "screen" for autism, but some can point you in the right direction or discuss concerns. I was more adamant about delays I saw in my kid even though our pediatrician wasn't. Anyone can call early intervention services.

There is also the M-CHAT that you can take online.

Anonymous wrote:No one can diagnose your kid over the internet. Start with your pediatrician. Read a good book on child development like Touchpoints.

Also, check the CDC milestones for old your kid is. If they show the signs under "Act Early," then definitely talk to your pediatrician and early intervention services.

Lack of eye contact alone doesn't mean autism. Tantrums don't necessarily mean autism. Sometimes these things are age appropriate.

Our pediatrician was useless. DS with HFA passed all the autism screenings given by the pediatrician. Most pediatricians are not "good" with diagnosing HFA. Thus most kids with HFA are not diagnosed until they start school.

No one can diagnose your kid over the internet. Start with your pediatrician. Read a good book on child development like Touchpoints.

Also, check the CDC milestones for old your kid is. If they show the signs under "Act Early," then definitely talk to your pediatrician and early intervention services.

Lack of eye contact alone doesn't mean autism. Tantrums don't necessarily mean autism. Sometimes these things are age appropriate.

My son with HFA has normal eye contact and never had tantrums. He was diagnosed after his prek teacher mentioned that he was not playing with other kids.

Just wondering how early one can tell that their child may be HFA and what might the signs be ? Di they have good eye contact? Do they have tantrums often that are intense? Other?