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Creepy

My son is autistic and is about to turn 6. He is verbal, but has significant delays. We live in an old Victorian home with 3 stories. We bought it a few years ago and are renovating it. My son told my wife that he is visited at night by someone or something called the "Good Knight." My son says that the Good Knight lives in the attic and comes out at night. He says that he has spoken with the Good Knight. I asked him: "What does the Good Knight look like?" To which he responded: "It has the skull of a human" ("It!!??"). My son insists that the Good Knight is friendly. I do not believe in ghosts, etc. but I have to admit that this is creepy. Anyone else experience anything like this?

My daughter’s 8 and non-verbal, she doesn’t really babble but sometimes she’ll make some sounds which you could go ‘well, she’s giving it a go.’ My wife died last year, our daughter was 7 at the time, the first three weeks or so she just screamed a lot. I completely understand, I wanted to do the same. And then one evening, my daughter just started babbling happily in my bed as if she was having a conversation with someone. My wife died in our bed, I don’t believe in ghosts or anything, but my head was completely overwhelmed with grief (still is) so part of me was like ‘Woah, this is too much for me to unpack for one evening’ I don’t think it was anything out of the ordinary. I think it was just my daughter babbling in my bed, nothing else. But at the time I did go ‘Oh god, what’s going on now? I don’t have time to unpack all of this.’ My daughter sleeps on my wife’s side of the bed now, she’s happiest there, I don’t mind., Yesterday! My mostly verbal 9 year old mentioned that our recently deceased dog was visiting. According to him she’s happy. For an added layer of creepy about 5 minutes before that I smelled wet dog 🙀, My nephew  just turned 8- he is verbal but only conversational on his terms.  My dad, who he was super close to, died 1.5 years ago.  My nephew will be playing in the living at my parents house and randomly look up and say "oh hi Papa" or he will wake up in the middle of the night to talk to Papa.  It actually makes us happy that maybe he is getting visits. , My ASD kiddo does the same thing. She insists that there are friendly ghosts in the house. She goes further and points to them when we are in the basement, saying "The ghost is there. See???" I do not see anything., My wife's mom passed in 2010, and my son ( 6 ) said that she gave him candy and wanted to know how she died., When I was a little kid I was always “talking to the Indians” in my bedroom. It really freaked my parents out. When I got older we ended up finding out that I have an indigenous ancestor on my mom’s side and my great uncle even has old pictures of her., Even neurotypical kids do stuff like this. My daughter told me there was a ghost scorpion in our house 🤷🏻‍♀️ Unless you check your attic and find someone living in there, he will probably just grow out of it., Check for lead dust in your house, also check your kids lead levels. Old houses have lead and you release that when you renovate them., My kid used to draw the “group of sad ghosts that follow you” when he was only 3-4. Looked like hellraiser- caged metal over the mouths, sewn up eyes, all floating heads. He told me they followed me around. I have PTSD, major depression, anxiety, significant history of abuse and SA. He was right, he was making a visual of how he must have seen those parts of me. Children are so amazing and open and honest. I’m happy op has a good one :) (the imaginary friend) as a child, mine was scary looking but friendly too., My five year old son is nonverbal but babbles. We went to New York this time last year and had a bit of an odd experience at the 9/11 memorial. He really loves water and he loves trees too, so it's no surprise that he liked the memorial a lot. Of course he doesn't understand anything at all about the significance of the place. After we spent some time looking into the pools we walked around the perimeter and he went up to each sapling in turn and touched the trunks. He was really happy and kept touching the trees and babbling. Then at one of them he got really excited and he took my hand and put it on the tree too. He has never done this before or since. It was the only time he's ever got me to touch a tree. And he has never tried to get me to touch something that he's interested in anywhere else. I'm sure there's a rational explanation for it and I just have no idea what was going through his mind at the time. But it felt very freaky and it did really feel like he was just operating on a completely different plane to me., As someone who very much believes that there is *something* other than us here. I have lived in a house with a good ghost. I reached out to find others. I found a small number of normal people and heard some amazing stories. I'd choose a name, Sir Knight seems to do well here. Talk to him. Three outcomes: 1. He doesn't exist but your kid feels validated, he feels watched over and believes there is someone on his side. You have a great story to carry into your years. 2. It IS a good ghost. He'll wake you up if your kid is in peril. Your kid is watched over and if strong enough, will intervene with harmful things. 3. He's bad pretending to be good. In what I've experienced and heard there are PLENTY (a plethora, if you will) of small signs that you will get and shouldn't ignore. He'll talk your kid into doing bad things, it'll start small to gain trust. He'll knock things over or move objects in order to scare you. Good hosts will not do this. I'd like to say that I don't buy into the hysterics or extremism. Those quacks who go "full emersion" are compete idiots. If you feel stumped or have any questions, you are welcome to message me. I'll give you a run down of sane and rational things you can do that won't cause problems with your kid's mental health., My little one has been visited by both of my sisters who’ve passed. One I managed to catch on video…my older sis loved to play piano and we have a family piano in the living room. One day kiddo was nicely playing on it (instead of the loud banging on it she usually did), and saying something I couldn’t quite understand. Maneeeena maneeena. So I repeated it back to her, Maneena? and she paused for a sec like she was trying to listen to something and then clarified, saying my sister’s name…Melina. I asked “Melina?” Kind of shocked, and she nodded her head yes and pointed at the piano, saying “Melina, Melina!” Before going back to playing the piano again. None of us had told her that it was Melina’s piano. It still gives me chills to think about., My daughter saw spider-like giant crawling things on walls when she got overwhelmed. It happened at home and at school. Her doctors and therapists considered them to be hallucinations stemming from anxiety., Until about 5, kid used to claim that they used to live in the dirt with dirt people. They also insisted that they died and started this life when they went into an outhouse with a big brown urinal and someone came inside and killed them from the back., I’ve watched enough Mike Flanagan mini series that I’d be moving to a different country., There’s a Berenstein Bear’s book about a spooky night who comes alive to scare everyone, but it’s just a bunch of squirrels in an old suit. Maybe your son would like it? Haha [Link to buy “A Knight To Remember”](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1296079110/the-berenstain-bears-knight-to-remember), Good lord, that's creepy! Thankfully, my 2 year old boy just talks/sings to himself in the morning when he's awake before us. There *was* a time when he used to talk to someone, sometimes at night. My nonna used to say it was my nonno he was talking to, because he points at photos of him and says "Nono!", despite never meeting him/us saying who he was. Semi-related, but the scariest movie I've seen to date was called "Come Play", which coincidentally enough, deals with a non-verbal child and a creature from another realm communicating with him through his tablet, etc. Might be a little bit too close to home for some here, but if you want a good scare, this is the movie!, Are you really into Halloween? Is he? Could he be dreaming? Our son is ASD/ID and was born into a Halloween-celebratin' house. He's 22 now, loves haunted atttractions, horror movies, Halloween (obviously)--but has never mentioned anythng about ghosts. He's not that imaginative. But if he were, odds are that would be where his mind would go., I lived in one home where I had a very large living room. I had a bookshelf with a photo of my aunt on it. I would come home from work every day and the frame would be face down in the middle of the room. Nothing else disturbed... I had no roommates or pets and because it happened nearly every day while I lived there, so I assume it was a spirit. When I was 10 my aunt died (rape/murder). A few months later my mom, dad and I went to a Christmas play. About halfway through the play I saw her on stage. She was wearing a gauzy white dress and smiling at me. I looked at my mom and she gave me a strange face. When I got home I said to her "I saw something tonight". She looked shocked and said to me, "Did you see (aunts name) on the stage too?!?"., I don't believe in ghosts / spirits etc either. But to be honest this would creep me out as well, lol. Did you check the attic?, My non verbal three year old has had a handful of interactions I think. They're not as common as before but when we'd put him down in his crib before making it a toddler bed he would lay there some nights and giggle his head off. I think it was the ghost of one of our dogs. We had two dogs for 9 years before having our son. They were my husband and my first 'babies' together. Our bigger dog - a border collie mix - died when son was 11 months old. She was the one tall enough to lick his sticky little hands when he was playing with his food in his high chair - and he would giggle endlessly when she would do so! Id have to watch him so he wouldn't just smash food with his palms, lean over and then get her to lick him! He would pull himself up using her as both pull and balance. She would look at me like 'why' but never would move when he went for it again. Shed lay there and let him booty scoot around her & touch her fur and paws. She was so patient and sweet with him. She would have taught him how to play as he got older had she not passed. She died suddenly at the age of ten - a tumor had grown in her chest that was undetected finally pushed too hard on her heart. (she had had health issues all her life with skin tumors - we adopted her from a shelter at a year old where she was covered in ticks, missing teeth & thought to be older - until proper nutrition revealed her neglect) It was sudden & heartbreaking losing the dog that had decided to be his best friend. Our smaller spaniel/chi mix was still kind to him but she was an older lady of 12 when he was born and she was more content to snooze in a corner than be involved. She stepped up her game a little to tolerate his presence more when bigger dog died but she wasn't his friend like our bigger dog. The giggle from the crib was so similar and half the time he did have his hand outside the crib so I can only imagine it was her saying hello! These days he doesn't do it as much but I'd like to think she still visits! Now that our little dog has joined her on the other side of the rainbow bridge I wonder if both still visit. There's another entity in our house too. One I'm more in tune with. And I assume the kiddo has seen and maybe babbled & trilled to? Possibly visits from passed family of course but something else lives here. I cannot say if it was the ghost of the person who lived here before - it had been an older person (maybe died here?) but they make the ceiling crack, and there's times I've heard them in my son's closet at night. They haven't been disruptive to him as far as I can tell, but they did scare the crap out of me during the early days I'd be sitting in his room trying to get him back to sleep. A few times after saying I'm not happy with them making noise at 2am and they're scaring me they seemed to back off a little. But that was also 2020/2021 with the height of the pandemic so maybe they were just annoyed we went from being barely at home to home ALL THE TIME and that was a bit much for them too! Haha!, Our ABA teachers think my son can see ghosts/spirits. Luckily he’s never done it at our house!, It’s a book or a series. My son’s class read it as a group read during Covid. It’s harmless. Maybe he heard the story somewhere like on the internet?, We use to live in a mobile home for a time, when my grandson was about four, non verbal, and my daughter had finally gotten his diagnosis. He refused to go into the "front" bedroom. He would go as far as the door, look into the corner by the ceiling and point, then he would Nope right back out. We never felt anything, even after we, politely as possible, told it that it was dead. That did not work, so we did do the sweeping of the room, burned the sage, he "helped" with the sage. He was nervy about it for a while, but he would at least go IN the room after that., When I was around 3 or 4, I used to think that I would see “skeletons in the air”. I think it’s referred to as entoptic phenomena, which is the perception of your own blood vessels moving across your eye. I would make my brain “see” those images as skeletons floating in the air and used to tell my parents so. Not saying that’s what’s happening to your son, but sometimes kids brains play tricks on them and they don’t always have the best way to explain things. Also, on a side note, are you sure he doesn’t mean “Good night”. Why do you think it’s a “knight”?, I am so sorry to hear about this for you and your daughter. I think I would do the same for my kiddo if it helped them deal with that sort of grief., I hope you have support both physically and emotionally. It’s very hard to grieve while helping someone else grieve especially someone who can’t say how she is feeling. My younger son was 7 when my father passed, other than his parents my father was the closest person in his life., Aww I’m so sorry to hear that!, I’m not superstitious in the slightest but that would give me immediate goosebumps. Better premise than most horror movies I’ve seen 👀, Whaaatt?!!, My mom said I talked to “angels in the backyard”. I’m not autistic but I am spiritual enough to believe her!, This is true, but it's the 'human skull for a head' that gives me pause. Where would this kid have seen a human skull enough for it to make such an impression on his subconscious at such a young age?, Yes, we are very cautious about that and take every precaution. We have our kids tested regularly and so far nothing., The concerning one would of course be if he's bad pretending to be good. How would one handle a situation like that? I've always thought we had a poltergeist in my folks' house (where I grew up and still live). Not malicious, but just likes to remind us he's around every so often., They likely made that determination because she only saw those things when she was anxious and overwhelmed, and because that's a common hallucination to have for folks who get anxiety hallucinations. I see bugs in the edge of my vision when my fear response gets triggered and when I'm super tired because I have a nasty phobia of bugs. This kid isn't anxious about the presence, though, and it doesn't seem like he's an anxious kid overall., He has never seen anything scary or Halloween-related., I'm not worried about it. I don't believe in ghosts, but if my child is right, there are a few "Casper the Friendly Ghosts" in the house, which would be cool., I work nights, and we only have 1 vehicle. So there was about a solid week stretch where all he wanted to know was how she passed and what was she liked. We do have pictures of her up, but he never asked about her, and I can't remember if she ever mentioned her to him...aside from when we put flowers on her grave., Halloween? School? Books? Cartoons? It doesn't seem like a particularly odd thing for a kid that age to have seen. My three year old has definitely learned about the skeleton at preschool, and is obsessed with Storybots so he has seen "The Bones in your Body" a lot of times. He also has been trick or treating., All over, Kid would feel it, If it's good, welcome it. Talk to it occasionally. Set a candle out for it. If it's a kid, try to get it to move on. Kid spirits can be troublesome because they have no boundaries and can be mischievous. They usually aren't bad like the movies try to portray but they certainly do like to play. They very much need their mom or dad or a caretaker. If it's an adult, one in a while set out an extra cup of coffee for them. Set out one too many chairs on your porch. Like once a month or quarter on the full moon give them a flower. I knew a lady who found a tiny bonus nook in the house that had been borded up with some old stuff (a bottle, a postcard and small match holder). She set up a nice old chair with a table. She kept one of those Catholic candles (in the tall cup) and flowers. On the table with the old things she found there. At the least it was a neat little nook., How to rid yourself of a bad ghost: first make sure it's bad. If he's there tooling along, being the good guy and you start treating it poorly, that makes you the monster. You will be dealt with accordingly. You can easily go up and have a conversation with it. Explain that he's dead and it's time to move on. This actually works more than you know. Next, clean that affected area. Dust, then wipe with vinegar (you may find something it's attracted to (pictures, keepsakes. Wedding rings etc). Keep an eye out for old things, false walls, unexplainable bricked up areas. If you find something not yours go bury it. An old cemetery works fairly well. The ground is blessed and will give your ghost familiar spirits to bring him home. A dirt crossroads or by a river leading away from the house works fine as well. After that is done. Smudge https://tinyrituals.co/blogs/tiny-rituals/a-simple-guide-to-smudging-your-space or sprinkle Holy water whatever your faith is) Then light a white candle (use proper candle safety protocol). Usually that will work. If it gets worse, get a spiritual leader. In my opinion, ANY will do (bad spirits absolutely HATE anyone who has had the choice to be bad but chooses to be a good person) regardless of the faith. Next: I like ground up old brick mixed with salt at the entrance of all of your door and windows (outside is fine). By all the main energy entries (commonly used doors and windows. Big picture windows as well): Get aster flowers (earth magic) or get a wind chime made out of spoons, forks and knives (kichen witchery) (I can explain this if you are interested). Drift wood mobile (Nordic protection). A holy water font or stoup (catholicism). Any of these are sufficient. Even one of those cool Jewish bars they nail on the door. Next (the hard one) : don't think about him. Encourage your family and kids to not think about him once you get rid of him. It can sometimes call them back. (Note: if you tell anyone. 90% of the time a female that is involved will come up to you in a week or two and state that their thigh was grabbed in their sleep by a dead male relative that abused them. Im not kidding. It always happens. It's annoying as hell and happens 90% of the time. Comfort them then move on. Give them a little energy as possible. Or copy and paste the cleaning tricks I've posted here and send it to them. They are about to go "full emersion". And that is not a healthy place to be. It's a piece of the world, but should not fully encompass yours. Life is for the living, live it as best you are able), Never? Not even in a Walgreen's (for example)? Not even in someone's front lawn while driving around in the car? Not to challenge you, but never to have been exposed to any Halloween decor at his age seems next to impossible in the US. People where I live in the Midwest even keep some of those gi-normous skeletons out at Christmas, slapping Santa hats on them and draping them with lights. And if he knows what a skull is, he's seen one somewhere. I'm a big believer in Occam's razor. I say it's imagination and/or dreams, with one possibly feuling the other. Hopefully that's all. Keep an eye on it. The Good Knight might be a symptom of childhood schizophenia., Huh?, Because it gets taught out of us, as we grow older to pretty much ignore our feelings about controversial things and pretty much all things, honestly… and to “act your age”, kids are born far more intuitive and open to their feelings, remember being little? So my point was that if the commenter was concerned this existed outside the child’s mind, and it was a malevolent and not a pleasant presence- the child himself would have likely felt that. That’s my experience, belief, and opinion., Truth. Kids can feel that., And my comment which you replied to was addressing what one would do in a scenario with a malevolent spirit. I never said the kid wouldn't feel it. But they may not pick up on it immediately since they're innocent at that age and haven't yet learned the signs of malevolence (encouraging the kid into harmful or unkind behaviors, etc.). Some spirits can be VERRRRRY convincing.

10 yr old son developing bad acne--won't let me near him

My boy is quickly entering puberty and he's developing really bad acne on his forehead across the hairline. He has such beautiful wild hair, but I unfortunately had to shave it off because it was covering the area that needs attention. He had a pretty big one last week and I had to do what needed to be done. And he screamed, because acne is painful. He has no problem with it, but the area needs serious attention morning and night, and he's not having any of it. I tell him in the morning, hey we need to "do your forehead" and he runs away. I can get most of the scrubbing done at night when he showers, but he runs away from the witch hazel and acne cream. I know it's my own fault for tackling that beast last week, but it was like dime sized with a white head. I should have just left it alone. Any advice on earning some trust back? And if anyone has had success with certain products I'd love to hear about them. I'm using alaffia black soap (3 ingredients), Thayer's witch hazel and desert essence tea tree oil cream.

Don't pop acne pimples. If one looks infected, go see a doctor, but Don't Pop it on your own. Your fingers aren't sterilized, you could end up making it worse via infection, cause significant scarring, and it *will* cause unnecessary pain. Topical treatments only. Edit: Changing pillow cases daily can also help. And maybe change your announcement of the treatment Routine up to something new, so he can connect that to the New, non-painful one. And for the love of God, don't Ruin it again by popping another one., I would try giving him the washcloth and whatever cleanser and cream you buy, and let him do it himself. He’s old enough that he should be able to manage it; you can stress to him that if he does it himself, you won’t have to touch him, which he’ll probably appreciate; and most kids his age would like the independence. I’ve had cystic acne since I was a teen (I’m 58yo) and I can definitely agree with previous posts—Never, ever ‘pop’ whiteheads/pimples. They will definitely become infected, they will leave pock marks, and, as you found out, they are extremely painful. If the general acne care products don’t work, I’d recommend taking him to a dermatologist., Get something from a dermatologist with benzoyl peroxide and a topical antibiotic and let him apply it himself., You shouldn’t be popping anything or scrubbing the skin. That will only make it worse and potentially cause scarring which can be very hard to get rid of. You also don’t need to shave his hair as you can get a towel headband for him to use when washing his face. Use a salicylic acid cleanser and a cream with benzoyl peroxide. And if there is another big one throw an acne patch on it. Better yet see a derm!, It sounds like you prefer natural/herbal type products rather than pharmaceuticals (and I am with you on that generally), but as puberty kicks in, the conventional products with salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide and retinols are your friend. Differin and PanOxyl are good (or their generic equivalents), but there are also product lines like AlbaBotanica and Neutrogena that care for acne and adolescent skin., A soft bristled infant brush over the finger with some cleanser was a big brain move I tried with my daughter. She liked that and her spinny cleansing brush. I'm always looking for hacks she can do herself. Experiment with cleansing brushes, see what works for him. Call around for dermatologist with experience with ASD kiddos too. I agree NEVER pop them it just makes it worse. Cleanse, then cold rag for swelling. Grow his hair back out. Hair is a kids go-to for hiding zits lol. Find a scalp treatment, there are a ton out there., Get pimple patches from target, you can stick them on when he’s sleeping! They will pull all the goop out! See if you can get him on the Ulta website and pick out a few things for him self the mass cosmetics section has some fun packaging that might make it more appealing! Good molecules is one I always suggest to younger clients! There is another one all of the teens seem to really like it’s like all letters, I believe it starts with a B. Also lots of other young teens make skin care content for social media, maybe you could use it as a social story to create a routine? I work in cosmetics, I have no idea if any of this helps. Good luck!, I have had bad cystic acne my whole life until I started using Daniel Kern’s method and products. It is very simple. Plain cleanser, a low level benzoyl peroxide gel treatment all over the face, and plain moisturizer. That’s it. Try not to scrub or irritate the skin, and you have to be religious about using those three things. As long as I do that, my skin is smooth and clear. I do add an AHA at night and sunscreen during the day for aging, but they really aren’t necessary for strictly getting rid of acne. And while he sells plain cleanser and moisturizer, you can buy anything similar from drugstores. Just as long as they are very plain and don’t have anything crazy added to them. Natural products can be irritating too, so keep that in mind. For example, jojoba oil will make me break out, so I have to be careful about ingredients. If I had to suggest one standout product, it is his Benzoyl Peroxide gel. It is perfect. There is a drying phase at first while the skin gets used to it, but then you never have to worry about that again. https://danielkern.org/, Nothing needs to be done. Leave him alone, Pimple patch stickers - I use the alba botanica brand. Wear them overnight., I have heard spearmint tea is really good for cystic acne so maybe just have him drink a cup a day. I also knew a teenage boy who went off dairy and it helped a lot., Throw that stuff away, if anything it's going to make it worse. You need a face wash, a toner (or the pads) and a spot cream for the oh crap we weren't proactive now we need to treat a breakout. The ingredients that work are benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid. Glycolic acid is also found in some and it works too. Adapalene is a newer formulation of Retin A that is available without a prescription. It's fantastic for daily use but you have to get the breakouts under control, so while using that all over, you will still need to use a benzoyl peroxide spot treatment. My daughter is 12 and just developed acne in late spring. She has the fungal type around the hair line (looks like tiny bumps under the skin) and also get the kind that look like they are going to turn into a white head but don't. Then occasionally she'll get a huge white head. Last week so got two and they just kept getting larger and larger. Eventually I had to get out the lancer and take care of them. That is only in case of absolute necessity and I sterilize it before, make sure to wash my hands well too then just poke it and push gently on it with a cotton ball soaked in toner. Then wash with acne wash to keep the bacteria from spreading. Absolutely no squeezing or digging, that is what causes scarring. I know this because I had terrible acne as a teen and one day walked into my dermo appointment with a huge whitehead on the bridge of my nose. My dermo was like why didn't you lance that and I told him but you said not to! He said no, I told you not to pop them with your fingers, or squeeze or pick them. Then he showed me how to carefully lance it to release the fluid and clean it up. Also, I read online that sulfates in soaps and shampoos can cause certain types of acne, so check his hair products and swap out anything like that. If the Adapalene doesn't keep it under control, see a dermo for a prescription. I was on oral antibiotics (tetracycline) for about five years to control mine but now I've seen you can get topical clindamycin to help with it. My daughter has a doctor's appointment coming up soon and if the Adapalene stops working, I will be begging her pediatrician for a prescription by then. Also, what I found with her was that if I used the same products, like a show and tell, she got a handle on how to use them properly. I still have to nag, but hey, she's 12 with ADHD and her meds have worn off by bedtime, so it's not unexpected., How does he do with doctors? Acne treatments and recommendations have come a long way in the last few decades. Chances are everything you think you know about acne is wrong and most of what you find online too. If he's the type who would listen better to a doctor, get a dermatology referral. Then when you have the new routine from the doctor, promise him that you'll only do what the doctor said from now on. For my kid, that would help. He is comforted by knowing we sought out a professional opinion and will follow directions., My sister is the same age and same exact way! I have found pimple patches to be a god send! She picks them off if I don't watch her but they get the gunk out, and minimal contact! The microdart ones she gets a bit upset with since they do have to penetrate the skin, but I try to spare those for her nasty ones and the regular hydrocolloid ones for the rest(work best on the puss filled and open ones). I have also gotten her into a routine of when I wash my face i wash hers, and I have been using my acne products on her except for the tret since I dont feel safe putting it on her without doctor consult esp. at her age. But I use my BP face wash on her which is 5% and I have been putting my clindamyacin lotion on her as well as of late since she's had some real inflamed ones, but I had been putting a peach slices lotion and a Laroche posey on her. I also have started before the lotion been putting on a glycolic acid toner, the pixi glow is great! I have relinquished the fact I cannot poke and prod but I've got a good routine!As soon as she gets up, and right before bed we do teeth first and then face, nothing mid day even if patches come off. She still gets upset having to do her routine but knowing she won't be "hurt" in any way has helped. Idk if your boy also has body acne but in the bath my sister needs help so I scrub her up with an exfoliator and also use the BP wash on her, has helped tons with her acne since a reg body wash wasn't cutting it and then sometimes going over spots with the glycolic toner. Getting them to realize its just part of the routine is big a thing, if you are just treating when things pop up (was guilty of that, didn't want to be putting chemicals on her skin unecessarily) it can put them off it. Getting them to learn too if they can follow the routine on their own they can get a reward, if you are okay with a reward system, helps. Like my sister earns a trip to the park etc. My sister is more independent with the routine now than before, I still handle the lotion and the toner but sometimes she does the toner (I handle the lotion since its abx). I also always say what I'm using and what it does before I put it on her and where I'm putting it., Dermatology evolved since you were a kid with acne. Please do not pop the acne— there are few situations where that is desired and it is done in a specific way with sterilized tools.

10.5 month old signs

hi all, I know 10 months is too young for a true diagnosis but i wanted to point out some signs my son has that have me worried. I have been dealing with horrible PPA and now i have hyper fixated on thinking my son has autism. - arm flapping all the time - body tenses up often (mainly arms and wrists) -late gross motor skills (didn’t roll under late 9 months and just now crawling at 10.5 months) - only will sleep next to me - 50% responds to his name - did clap but hasn’t in a little - makes eye contact - when meeting new people kind of “shuts down” and just stars at them until he gets used to them - hand stimming - brings hands up and out to look and examine them often Please let me know what you think or what your signs were that you didn’t realize were. Also please tell me if you think i’m overthinking!

These all sound very normal to me. But, with that said. Go with your gut. Give it a few months. Find a doctor to take you seriously. Best of luck., These all sound very normal to me. But, with that said. Go with your gut. Give it a few months. Find a doctor to take you seriously. Best of luck., These all sound very normal to me. But, with that said. Go with your gut. Give it a few months. Find a doctor to take you seriously. Best of luck., These all sound very normal to me. But, with that said. Go with your gut. Give it a few months. Find a doctor to take you seriously. Best of luck.

13 month old - should I bring this up earlier to my doctor?

I have a 13 month old girl. We saw our doc at 12 months and there were no concerns on her end. So our next appointment is at 18 months. My girl is definitely a sensory seeker (loves crashing into pillows, putting blankets on her head and running around). Just recently started to occasionally walk on her tiptoes. She does have eye contact, but doesn't look into your soul like some babies. She isn't reciprocal smiling as much as she used to. She is doing some backwards superman pose (posturing?stiming?). Has had a few pretty intense meltdowns when a toy is taken away (we are able to distract and it lasts less than 5 minutes but I mean it's pretty intense). Loves to go to library and play places and put toys in her hands at all times (almost like a security blanket). Doesn't seem to interact with kids a whole lot. Plays run and hide with older kids, younger ones will sometimes smile and look at them but then off to explore. She has quite a few words (10+). Does have joint attention. Pretty good receptive language. Points and looks at me sometimes when pointing, and looks to where I point. Sleeps pretty good, currently eating well. Does smile and laugh. Has some stranger anxiety with males (particularly Santa lol). Will play peek-a-boo, as well as Itsy Bitsy Spider. Knows a couple of signs. My question is should I book an appointment earlier with her doctor (in Canada btw). Whenever I do those tests she scores low, but I know girls can be different. Or should I just let it be, and bring up concerns at 18 months? Anyone had similar experiences with their babies/toddlers? - An anxious struggling mom

Per the psychologist that assessed me. The earliest they can test for Autism is 18 months (I was asking on behalf of a relative not myself). ADHD can be diagnosed as early as 4. So based on that and no combination of typical signs I would say wait for the 18 month. 6 months will not make or break a child's development by a missed diagnosis. It is also possible you could have a normal kid. I do not know. I do not know what normal is. That said continue to work on raising your child as you would any other kid. Work on language development like you would any other kid. In addition to speaking as someone with generalized anxiety. Work on your anxiety (your admittion) for yourself. The one thing I wish my Mom did was work and prioritize her own mental health. She was not diagnosed with any mental health issues until I was out of the house. That knowledge for the family would have been a game changer., I’m in the US so I don’t know how testing works in Canada. In the US, I’ve heard/seen 18 months to 2 years is the earliest many specialists will consider a diagnosis. I think your daughter is still young and to me, at least, it sounds like a fairly typical 13 month old. I would just keep observing and then discuss any concerns with your pediatrician at your next visit. My son was 18 months old when our pediatrician first suggested we have him tested. Honestly when I think back to how he was at 13 months it wouldn’t have occurred to me then that anything was amiss., It is very rare for autism to be diagnosed at 13 months; most clinicians do not diagnose until 18 months or 2 years. When the diagnosis is made that early, it is usually accompanied by severe developmental delays. So even if your daughter does grow up to be autistic, it would be impossible to diagnose now. Nothing you described seems to be a sign of autism, and it seems your daughter has met many social milestones that are typically delayed in autism, such as joint attention and pointing. With most developmental milestones, if you take the typical age they are achieved, there is a range of 6 months before and after that is considered normal. So you should only start to be concerned if there are 6-7 month developmental milestones that your daughter hasn’t reached., First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your anxiety. I have been there, truly. So many of us have. Please know that no matter what happens, it gets better. As for the doctor – at least bring it up. You might not be able to do testing until she's a little older. Unfortunately, testing is sometimes an art in addition to being a science. It's not like they can do a blood test or brain scan to definitively diagnose autism. You may have to wait and see for a while\*. It might end up being a long process with multiple tests (my kid was labeled "not autistic" on his first test – but as he got older it became clearer). Or your kid could be totally typical. Time will tell. \*There's so much talk about "early intervention", but even early intervention is not going to make an autistic person neurotypical. It can help with language development and motor skills and stuff like that, but you can make progress on those things well past the age of 3. At the end of the day, though, if your babe is autistic, that basic fact of life won't change. The point I'm trying to make is that you don't need to worry a lot about getting early intervention. Free yourself from that pressure. I wish you luck and good mental health., Sounds exactly like my daughter, how’s she doing

15 month old

Hi! I have a soon to be 15 month old (pre)toddler. I’ve always been stressed out with watching her milestones and I feel she was late on quite a few. I thought that she’s a late bloomer maybe, but I don’t know. I’ve went out with a neighbour and her 7 month old son and I was astonished by his eye contact and his excitement in regards to my attention, he was very smiley and happy that i was talking to him. My daughter wasn’t really like that. I think she does have eye contact but indeed she doesnt hold it long. She still doesnt walk, as of tomorrow we start PT. We’ve been to PT before because she wasnt crawling, she started around 10-11 month old. What got my attention and gave me quite some anxiety (let alone that I was actually hurt), she was over the grandma’s for the weekend and when we returned she didnt display happiness or excitement. When it comes to talking, she does babble, she knows that I am ‘mama’, but she doesnt say it unless we ask her. Same for ‘dada’. She’ll say lamp (only amp) because she’s interested in the lamp. She says bye bye and waves. She also points (she started pointing around 12 month old). She seems smart, she knows how to stack, she understands the knob puzzle and she points where it should go but doesn’t have the fine motor skills to actually do it yet. She puts things into holes though. She doesn’t really copy what we do unless we tell her to. Other thing that stresses me out is that she has a mouse toy that sings and moves its ears and she could play with that thing all day, while flapping her hands. The mouse stops singing and then she’ll start it again and grabs it by ears and flapps her hands. A lot. Lately she’s very fussy and cries when when we don’t give her what she wants. I keep hearing that they should be affectionate during this age, but that’s not the case. And I don’t feel like she does too much to grab my attention, she’s quite content with her toys. We even had a friend over which mentioned that she’s not very clingy or affectionate as other babies, that she seems independent. That broke my heart a little. Whenever I told smth to my GP she put it on me somehow, like she’s the first baby and i don’t know how the things should be, and that’s why I’m paranoid. What do you think? I hope it’s appropriate that I post this here. Thank you!

I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!, I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!, I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!, I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!, I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!, I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!, I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!, I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!, I would ask if your GP is a pediatrician and if your GP is using standardized instruments to keep track of development. These would look like packets where you fill out information In any case I would tell your GP that parental concern is the most sensitive finding in development delays and disorders. Also that delays in diagnosis can have irreversible consequences. Try to use those words specifically perhaps. Ask if she has screening tools that can provide reassurance or more information. Or if she can refer you to early intervention or a specialist Worst comes to worst, go to a new provider. We all hope there is nothing to find, but early intervention can be life changing. You can use apps like the CDC milestone tracker and the (very in-depth) Pathfinder Health Baby Tracker, to help you gage your child’s development for yourself Starting at 16 months, 0 days your child will be old enough to use the most common freely available screeners for autism and not just for developmental delay, Hello. Have you try with early intervention? Your little one have positive things that usually aren't seen in autism (like pointing on time, having some words, copying gestures *even if you need to ask her to copy you*, from. What you describe she seems to know how to play with toys correctly). About the walking, she still have until 18 months to reach that milestone. Now, not bcs a baby may seem independent must means she is autistic, remember the spectrum is wide and maybe that's just her personality. I have a toddler of 20 months, very social, smiles a lot, good eye contact and go after strangers and kids trying to engage with them, but my little one is delayed and highly suspicious for autism (he doesn't copy gestures not even if I ask him to do it, his pointing is atypical *whole hand open*) he calls me mama and his father papa/dada, but he doesn't wave, he doesn't know how to play correctly with toys, he is very clingy and hates to be alone, he doesn't like to play alone so he looks on ways on how to engage you or anyone around him into his play... But again, he have lots of autistic traits. I just believe him being social is part of his personality and that his potential autism isn't blocking this on him, just like maybe your little one being independent can just be part of her personality, but if you are very concerned about your little one maybe you can start doing MCHAT online test and depending on the results use that to push with your pedi, Have you let your pediatrician know? It can’t hurt to put this on their radar and have them refer you to Early Intervention if they feel it is appropriate., Can you check with your parents or your partner parents to see how you were as baby? Do not assume the worst!

15 month old doesn’t answer to his name?

To young to know., To young to know., To young to know., To young to know.

16 year old Level 1 Advice

My brother was diagnosed with Level 1 ASD quite some time ago but it seems as if the older he gets, the worse he gets. He seems to be shutting down more, almost to the point of being non-verbal, super aware of his surroundings and if someone can tell he is autistic and/or judging him, getting into altercations with his classmates, severe anger issues towards my family and others, destroying things in the home, failing school…he was not like this as a child at all. If anything it was like he didn’t even have ASD and just had a few motor issues but socially he was fine. I just wonder what had caused this severe and sudden regression. My mom is a single parent and I live out of the state as I am an adult and I’m trying to figure out what her next steps would be to curb this behavior.

I don’t have any real advice, but it sounds like quite a predicament. I do know that most of the time there’s something that’s behind a behavior. I wonder if he was very high masking when he was younger and the social demands of high school burned him out. Puberty can also cause a great deal of change. Are you able to talk to him and see what is on his mind? Does he see a therapist?, Sounds like teenage angst basically. Not saying its not a big deal but appears to be the root more than anything Autism specific, When my daughter hit 15 she regressed and seemingly became a different person. It turned out she was being manipulated / bullied at school by a group of shithead kids. They knew she was fairly over trusting of people and took advantage of it. Maybe he's experiencing something similar? I don't really have much advice as my daughter didn't exactly communicate until she had a breakdown. She more or less became reclusive and moody during the period. Will he open up to you if you try and press on how schools going?, Has anything happened at school or home?, Outside of ASD, the teenage years suck, and they could be dealing with puberty/surge of hormones that haven't been explained or hard to understand or cope with, plus the social pressures of that age group in general. If this were my kid, I would be looking into therapy and reaching out to teachers. If the grades are slipping I would look into into alternative pathways to learning., Wow that would make a lot of sense. I can try and talk to him and see what he says. He sees a therapist once a week., Thanks so much for the advice!, At home, not particularly. Like I said my mom is a single parent and his dad is not involved so maybe that has something to do with it? But his dad has never been present so it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Regarding school, he used to be bullied heavily due to his ASD and my mom removed him from that school and put him in a school for children with special needs about 4 months ago. But his behavior changed long before this., Is he getting enough time to decompress? School, homework, socializing and family stuff can get overwhelming., How old is he? Could it be hormonal?, What would be a good thing for him to do to decompress?, He will be 16 in a few months. So maybe, That’s usually pretty personal. For some people it’s doing something they enjoy or having alone time without demands. I can only speak from my personal experience(on the spectrum probably level 1) I need time alone, without people and noise or I start to get crazy., I think that’s probably your answer. Can your mom get him to the doctor and have everything checked out? 16 year old boys can be grumpy creatures, autism or not., I don’t have any real advice, but it sounds like quite a predicament. I do know that most of the time there’s something that’s behind a behavior. I wonder if he was very high masking when he was younger and the social demands of high school burned him out. Puberty can also cause a great deal of change. Are you able to talk to him and see what is on his mind? Does he see a therapist?, Sounds like teenage angst basically. Not saying its not a big deal but appears to be the root more than anything Autism specific, When my daughter hit 15 she regressed and seemingly became a different person. It turned out she was being manipulated / bullied at school by a group of shithead kids. They knew she was fairly over trusting of people and took advantage of it. Maybe he's experiencing something similar? I don't really have much advice as my daughter didn't exactly communicate until she had a breakdown. She more or less became reclusive and moody during the period. Will he open up to you if you try and press on how schools going?, Has anything happened at school or home?, Outside of ASD, the teenage years suck, and they could be dealing with puberty/surge of hormones that haven't been explained or hard to understand or cope with, plus the social pressures of that age group in general. If this were my kid, I would be looking into therapy and reaching out to teachers. If the grades are slipping I would look into into alternative pathways to learning., Wow that would make a lot of sense. I can try and talk to him and see what he says. He sees a therapist once a week., Thanks so much for the advice!, At home, not particularly. Like I said my mom is a single parent and his dad is not involved so maybe that has something to do with it? But his dad has never been present so it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Regarding school, he used to be bullied heavily due to his ASD and my mom removed him from that school and put him in a school for children with special needs about 4 months ago. But his behavior changed long before this., Is he getting enough time to decompress? School, homework, socializing and family stuff can get overwhelming., How old is he? Could it be hormonal?, What would be a good thing for him to do to decompress?, He will be 16 in a few months. So maybe, That’s usually pretty personal. For some people it’s doing something they enjoy or having alone time without demands. I can only speak from my personal experience(on the spectrum probably level 1) I need time alone, without people and noise or I start to get crazy., I think that’s probably your answer. Can your mom get him to the doctor and have everything checked out? 16 year old boys can be grumpy creatures, autism or not., I don’t have any real advice, but it sounds like quite a predicament. I do know that most of the time there’s something that’s behind a behavior. I wonder if he was very high masking when he was younger and the social demands of high school burned him out. Puberty can also cause a great deal of change. Are you able to talk to him and see what is on his mind? Does he see a therapist?, Sounds like teenage angst basically. Not saying its not a big deal but appears to be the root more than anything Autism specific, When my daughter hit 15 she regressed and seemingly became a different person. It turned out she was being manipulated / bullied at school by a group of shithead kids. They knew she was fairly over trusting of people and took advantage of it. Maybe he's experiencing something similar? I don't really have much advice as my daughter didn't exactly communicate until she had a breakdown. She more or less became reclusive and moody during the period. Will he open up to you if you try and press on how schools going?, Has anything happened at school or home?, Outside of ASD, the teenage years suck, and they could be dealing with puberty/surge of hormones that haven't been explained or hard to understand or cope with, plus the social pressures of that age group in general. If this were my kid, I would be looking into therapy and reaching out to teachers. If the grades are slipping I would look into into alternative pathways to learning., Wow that would make a lot of sense. I can try and talk to him and see what he says. He sees a therapist once a week., Thanks so much for the advice!, At home, not particularly. Like I said my mom is a single parent and his dad is not involved so maybe that has something to do with it? But his dad has never been present so it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Regarding school, he used to be bullied heavily due to his ASD and my mom removed him from that school and put him in a school for children with special needs about 4 months ago. But his behavior changed long before this., Is he getting enough time to decompress? School, homework, socializing and family stuff can get overwhelming., How old is he? Could it be hormonal?, What would be a good thing for him to do to decompress?, He will be 16 in a few months. So maybe, That’s usually pretty personal. For some people it’s doing something they enjoy or having alone time without demands. I can only speak from my personal experience(on the spectrum probably level 1) I need time alone, without people and noise or I start to get crazy., I think that’s probably your answer. Can your mom get him to the doctor and have everything checked out? 16 year old boys can be grumpy creatures, autism or not., I don’t have any real advice, but it sounds like quite a predicament. I do know that most of the time there’s something that’s behind a behavior. I wonder if he was very high masking when he was younger and the social demands of high school burned him out. Puberty can also cause a great deal of change. Are you able to talk to him and see what is on his mind? Does he see a therapist?, Sounds like teenage angst basically. Not saying its not a big deal but appears to be the root more than anything Autism specific, When my daughter hit 15 she regressed and seemingly became a different person. It turned out she was being manipulated / bullied at school by a group of shithead kids. They knew she was fairly over trusting of people and took advantage of it. Maybe he's experiencing something similar? I don't really have much advice as my daughter didn't exactly communicate until she had a breakdown. She more or less became reclusive and moody during the period. Will he open up to you if you try and press on how schools going?, Has anything happened at school or home?, Outside of ASD, the teenage years suck, and they could be dealing with puberty/surge of hormones that haven't been explained or hard to understand or cope with, plus the social pressures of that age group in general. If this were my kid, I would be looking into therapy and reaching out to teachers. If the grades are slipping I would look into into alternative pathways to learning., Wow that would make a lot of sense. I can try and talk to him and see what he says. He sees a therapist once a week., Thanks so much for the advice!, At home, not particularly. Like I said my mom is a single parent and his dad is not involved so maybe that has something to do with it? But his dad has never been present so it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Regarding school, he used to be bullied heavily due to his ASD and my mom removed him from that school and put him in a school for children with special needs about 4 months ago. But his behavior changed long before this., Is he getting enough time to decompress? School, homework, socializing and family stuff can get overwhelming., How old is he? Could it be hormonal?, What would be a good thing for him to do to decompress?, He will be 16 in a few months. So maybe, That’s usually pretty personal. For some people it’s doing something they enjoy or having alone time without demands. I can only speak from my personal experience(on the spectrum probably level 1) I need time alone, without people and noise or I start to get crazy., I think that’s probably your answer. Can your mom get him to the doctor and have everything checked out? 16 year old boys can be grumpy creatures, autism or not.

16m old won't get off my ass.

No matter what I do, and I emphasize that, no matter what i do, my 16m old is always crawling over me. It's like I'm a baby magnet or something. Where I walk (if I even can without tripping over them by trying to start to take one step, which happens realistically 50+ times a day) they go/crawl. Plus more. It feels my my body is not mine. I want my body back for me. It's a constant everyday. I get mayyyybe 5-10 minute breaks in between until they are back on it. I never get a break because when I do get a "break," I'm too busy trying to catch my breath and not flip out. I'm way beyond overstimulated and angry. It's to the point I hyperventilate, feel like I'm seeing stars, feel nausea from constant stress, headaches. Etc. What do I do?!?! I don't have a "village." And when I voice my concerns, people tell me to come over to their house, and honestly, that's the last thing I want to do/don't feel mentally stable doing. So, I end up bottling it up and end up snapping/going out of the other room, and my child follows me crying. My husband works a heavy labor job. Leaves the house by 6am and isn't back until maybe 8:30pm. By the time he gets home, he only has energy to shower, eat, and then pass out in under 5 minutes. Yes, he does spend some time with our child. It's more on Sunday when we can do things as a family. I don't have friends because of neurodivergent/mental illness. I have very bad social anxiety. I haven't found anyone who has similar interests as me, so it's hard to maintain friendships. I've tried more than multiple times going out and hanging out at THEIR house in the past. Nearly every weekend to the point of burnout on my part. These people don't understand mental illness, but they know I have it.

Can you put the baby in a pack n play or a jumper? I know some people are anti screen time, but there are so many great educational kids videos on youtube. Hard to feel guilty when your kids watching the phonic alphabet while you take a bath., It’s okay to keep putting them down and to tell them not right now. They might not get it right away, but they will catch on eventually and when you’ve got it in you to be touchy again you can welcome them back with arms wide open. It is so hard when you are all touched out. Sometimes I just give them a hand or two and encourage them to climb on furniture instead, but away from my body. Gives them the touch they need, gets them some energy out, and I can disconnect my hands from my bodily experience that I can tolerate for a period while the rest of my body recharges., My NT son was like this from 9 months until about 2.5 years old. It made life miserable some days. Obviously, I loved him but he would sit and scream and when he could walk, he would chase me and throw himself at my legs until I picked him up or he bounced off and hit his head on something. My back had spasms from constantly holding him and I was over-touched and over-stimulated every day. I tried so many things but nothing helped much. I wish I had put up a baby gate or a play pen/pack and play and bought myself noise-canceling headphones. At the time, I felt too guilty, like he would be emotionally damaged. Now I realize that a healthy mom would have more than made up for whatever distress he experienced by having occasional times he was safe but not in my arms. My son is now 3.5 and it's much better. He is still a Stage 10 Clinger, the world's best cuddler, and when he is upset, even if he is mad at me, he wants me to cuddle him and hug him. But I can walk around my house now without him following me and screaming, and it is so much better., Have you talked to your doctor about PPD/PPA? The rage you feel made me instantly think of that., Can you do daycare a few times a week? Or a mother's helper/nanny? Seems like you need to have some "you" time. Sometimes the YMCA has childcare and you can go swim/work out while they're in it?, My child hates the jumper now that they know they can move around more. As well as a pack n play. We screen time, and their favorite is Garfield. But, when I leave the living room, they always follow me., Okay, I wasn't expecting a comment to be that useful... lol! I will definitely try the hand or two up on the couch, and that's it. I've done all you said above to no avail. I just made sure my child was fed full, changed, and happy then u went about cooking dinner for the night all the while preparing and cooking tonight, my child did crawl to the kitchen when he wanted more of snacks, when they needed a look of me, but crawled back out?! Honestly, tonight was the first time that it had happened, so I held no high hopes for the future. But tonight was a great breath of fresh air, and I'm grateful for that. I'm not sure what I did right, but maybe it was just one of their easier nights?, We got a pretty large octagonal play pen, marketed as something you can use outside, but it allowed him from to walk around a bit but still be contained when I had to get things done & felt like I was about to lose my mind. Put some toys in there and he was pretty content. We also eventually got a really long baby gate (screwed it into the floor even) that kept him out of the kitchen, and I could still always see him and be available if he needed me. Baby proofed the heck out of the living room and turned it into his "yes space" while I could get breathing room at the table and kitchen. This was during the pandemic, and I was also WFH so it worked out well. I 100% understand being touched tf out, ND, and not having a village. Losing my shit at my baby was gonna be way more harmful than him possibly feeling cordoned off. I still spent plenty of one on one time with him in the living room but he is also ND, so he was really good at independent play too.

16mo opinions and experiences welcomed

Hi all Posting about my 16mo son We are getting an evaluation for ASD next month. I guess I’m looking for personal experiences and if any of this sounds familiar to anyone out here on the interwebs A little about my son - He has good receptive language, he listens to simple instructions well. He can point to a body part (his hair). He knows where to get his shoes, where his highchair is, he will go get a certain toy etc. However his expressive language is really lacking - he has basically no true words and limited gestures (wave bye bye, signs all done). He babbles all the time but again, no true consistent word and maybe 2-3 solid gestures Socially I've noticed some differences in joint attention compared to other children. I have no idea if he is just a super focused kid (like I’ve seen him find a piece of my hair on the floor and play with it for fun) or if there's something else going on. I know there's a large range of "normal" but these are the differences I've noticed primarily in joint attention and being "object engaged": - At daycare I pulled out a toy for him and 2 other children (these kids were younger than my son, 10 months and 13 months). The 2 others were looking at the toy, then at me, then back at the toy repeatedly. My son did not do this. He was really only engaged with the toy, not me. - I also experienced this at a friends house. When taking a picture, her child, who is the same age as my son was looking at her mom, then the camera, then back to her mom, then to camera repeatedly. my son only looked at the camera. - I was at a coffee shop with a different friend my sons age. The other kids were engaged with each other (minimally but they at least noticed and sort of acknowledged each other) and my son was not sharing much engagement (I won’t say ANY, because there was some but it was limited) and was fixated on a metal shopping cart that he pushed in circles - I dropped him off for the first time in 6 months at the gym daycare. He just went right in and didn't look for me, never looked back at me to share the experience or for reassurance I’d like to mention that in any of these instances, he may have looked at me briefly during the first few seconds of interacting and maybe a bit later too - so he's usually not COMPLETELY 100% object engaged but the focus is primarily on the object. I'm not sure if that counts as engaging in joint attention? Additionally, he does point a lot to objects, and then look as to say hey do you see that? He started pointing around 15 months. So a little late but he does it literally all day now, and usually with his index finger (maybe 10% of the time with whole hand) Overall he is a happy and joyful kid. He loves to find me and play chase. He looks us in the eyes most of the time. He brings me objects to “show.” He doesn’t do any grabbing of my hand to get something he wants (can’t remember if that’s hand posturing or hand gesturing) He does show sort of limited affection. Like I can count on 1 hand the number of times he’s ran into my arms (my husband too). Reacts to name 50% of the time Has slept great since we started sleep training. Minimal tantrums. Has had recurrent ear infections and were also meeting with the ENT to discuss tubes If you made it this far, thank you. Truly. Signed, a concerned mom trying to figure out what to expect.

Reminds me of my girl at that age. Does he have an affinity for random household objects and get easily distracted by colorful things / shapes / or have a love of different textures? Seemingly oblivious to the people around him relative to these things? Does he play with toys or just throw them on the ground when he’s done observing/touching them? It’s great that you are so alert about these things at such a young age. It’s super early but yeah getting an evaluation to get a professional opinion is the right choice., Seems if anything is to be more high functioning with some traits. I honestly think time will be your best friend , it's a critical time in their development, so I would try and get in for an assessment and wait and see how your child develops. My girl has some of the traits as above , hyper focus being one., Does he respond to his name? That was the first thing I really noticed. In hindsight there were other signs, but first kid I had no idea what milestones looked like. He also was putting his blocks in alphabetical order at this age, which I didn’t realize was a sign., I suggest you try the ASD detect app (I think it’s on the Apple app Store) and try and answer the questions as honestly as you can. It’s a great tool to use to get an idea whether he might be at risk of ASD. From what you’ve described, there’s some red flags but also some other really good signs that he’s developing ok., ASDetect was so useful for me. Wish I had it for my first child. It’s an orange logo, produced by LaTribe University here in Australia. SUCH clear examples of this stuff - what joint attention might look like at 12 / 18 / 24 months, gestures, imitation, pretend play. The app gives you videos of children who both are and aren’t on the spectrum. So so useful., Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I would say yes - he loves the vacuum and broom. He also loves our pocket door. When he has something he’s extremely interested I would describe him as shutting out the rest of the world and solely focusing on the item. He loves pushing his fake target cart around the house and putting items in it. He does play with toys in an appropriate way (he stacks blocks, knows how to do his shape sorter and does it “correctly”). He does sometimes throw, but I would say less than half the time? Can I ask how your daughter is doing and how things turned out?, The spectrum is heterogeneous so everyone has a range of different traits. Would you say your child has some non social traits or fairly social with other kids ?, She’s doing well! Shes still only 5, but has made great progress.

17 yr old cousin doesnt want to do school anymore because he thinks he's grown. What to do?

For context, he lived with his dad's side and mostly his grandparents and was immensely spoiled growing up. He just turned 17 and thinks he is 18 and doesn't feel the need to go to school, he just wants to stay home but the underlying issue really is that he just doesn't like getting up and walking to classes, he was used to the teachers switching instead of the students getting up to go to diff classes. He throws a tantrum and becomes very rebellious when he doesn't get his way, he starts gaslighting and manipulating my aunt (his mom) and she tries her best to calm him down and lets him know how it is softly, yet give in to his wants because she's afraid of what he'll do.. but in all honesty she is at her wits end and is frustrated with how he's been acting lately. One time he didn't get his way during a holiday (i wasnt there) and he was staying with my grandparents and the rest of our family, and apparently he stole a bunch of random things from my grandparents and ran away (he walked outside somewhere in the neighbourhood) and then asked his grandpa to pick him up. I dont know where he learned to start stealing or where this behaviour stems from but i need help in figuring this out to help my aunt. Same situation with my boyfriend's brother, he is also autistic and is my age (21) and refuses to go to college or work, could barely even shower either. Im also scared that my younger cousin who is also autistic might grow up to be like them. Im not sure if these are the consequences of enabling their behaviour or not giving them concrete consequences and the space to hold them accountable for their actions but i want to educate myself further on why this happens and how to navigate through it because i truly care about the people around me and as a neurodivergent myself (diagnosed bipolar, OCD, general anxiety disoder), it breaks my heart to witness it and not know what to do. I worked with autistic toddlers at a daycare for a few months and also found it challenging to approach these situations in healthy ways. Please help

I guess the question goes beyond school to what is the long term goal? What is needed to achieve that goal and what is in the way?, Well, where I am, that's considered old enough to drop out, but I think you need to figure out what his career goals are and if school would serve them., All you can do is encourage your cousin to go to school. Maybe sit down to talk with him and be a sympathetic listening ear. Ask him if there's anything you can do to help. You should definitely steer clear of your boyfriend's brother's issues -- that is none of your business. I understand why you're worried, but these really aren't your problems to solve. Try to be a supportive cousin and a good friend. Your responsibility ends there., I guess the question goes beyond school to what is the long term goal? What is needed to achieve that goal and what is in the way?, Well, where I am, that's considered old enough to drop out, but I think you need to figure out what his career goals are and if school would serve them., All you can do is encourage your cousin to go to school. Maybe sit down to talk with him and be a sympathetic listening ear. Ask him if there's anything you can do to help. You should definitely steer clear of your boyfriend's brother's issues -- that is none of your business. I understand why you're worried, but these really aren't your problems to solve. Try to be a supportive cousin and a good friend. Your responsibility ends there., I guess the question goes beyond school to what is the long term goal? What is needed to achieve that goal and what is in the way?, Well, where I am, that's considered old enough to drop out, but I think you need to figure out what his career goals are and if school would serve them., All you can do is encourage your cousin to go to school. Maybe sit down to talk with him and be a sympathetic listening ear. Ask him if there's anything you can do to help. You should definitely steer clear of your boyfriend's brother's issues -- that is none of your business. I understand why you're worried, but these really aren't your problems to solve. Try to be a supportive cousin and a good friend. Your responsibility ends there., I guess the question goes beyond school to what is the long term goal? What is needed to achieve that goal and what is in the way?, Well, where I am, that's considered old enough to drop out, but I think you need to figure out what his career goals are and if school would serve them., All you can do is encourage your cousin to go to school. Maybe sit down to talk with him and be a sympathetic listening ear. Ask him if there's anything you can do to help. You should definitely steer clear of your boyfriend's brother's issues -- that is none of your business. I understand why you're worried, but these really aren't your problems to solve. Try to be a supportive cousin and a good friend. Your responsibility ends there.

18 month old diagnosed with ASD following M-CHAT

Hi all, worried mom here. My 18 month old son was recently diagnosed with Level 1 ASD after failing the M-CHAT assessment. I'm sad, confused, and trying to deal with this new reality. His pediatrician recommended we start with private speech therapy asap and that we enroll him in daycare (he's been staying with my mom while I work). He doesn't recommend ABA therapy, which I didn't question during our appointment mostly because I was in a daze. I honestly am not sure what ABA therapy even entails. These are the points that were marked as a fail: \- He doesn't play pretend. \- He doesn't point to show us something interesting. \- He doesn't bring us things just to share them (not to get help). \- If my head turns to look at something, he doesn't look around to see what I'm looking at. These are some of the points that were marked as a pass: \- He follows my point. \- He points with an open hand to things that he wants or when he needs help reaching them. \- He responds to his name. \- He looks me in the eyes. \- He likes to imitate what I'm doing or saying (waving, clapping, ABC's, making funny sounds or faces..) \- He looks at me for praise. \- He understands simple commands like "give me the toy", "sit down", "open/close the door". \- He says around 20 words which includes a few signs like "more" and "no". I knew he was speech delayed, but the ASD diagnosis caught me off guard. For parents that went through something similar, did you see any improvement after starting speech therapy? Did daycare help? If your child scored a 4-5 on the M-CHAT, did they end up passing it at the 24 months follow-up? I'm trying to know what to expect following this diagnosis. Should I look into ABA therapy? Thanks for your help!!! ​

The M-CHAT is a screener, not an assessment, so should not be the basis of a diagnosis. Are you sure this is a diagnosis and not a referral to Early Intervention or a developmental pediatrician?, My pediatrician said he cannot diagnose. I had to do the ADOS assessment, then once he reviewed those results he would be comfortable providing a diagnosis. We did our assessment at 26 months. ASD is a spectrum there are some things my son didn’t do at the assessment that he does now but there are other things that he still does constantly that does support he has ASD. My son is not in daycare and I am not interested in doing ABA at this time or maybe even at all based on the research I’ve done. My son is now 28 months and we will be doing ST and OT., My son failed multiple m-chats, then got a “maybe” diagnosis followed up by the ADOS eval from a specialized psychologist. He is lv 1 and also had a speech delay. Get into speech therapy absolutely. Many autistic child are Gestalt Language Processors. Start researching that. You should also qualify for your states early intervention program. Seek out a formal diagnosis from a developmental pediatrician or child psychologist, there will be a waitlist. Daycare won’t make your child verbal nor will it change their neurology (ASD). If you’re comfortable with your child care now stick with it. Worry about socializing after you move through this process a bit. My family personally does not believe ABA is the best fit for most autistic and we won’t be participating in it. We do OT and speech weekly, OP, I'm sorry for your stress, but definitely need more detail. The M-CHAT is not diagnostic, it's a screener. If you have a doc that "diagnosed" off a questionnaire, you need a new doc. Maybe your son has ASD, maybe he doesn't but it's a much longer process to getting a diagnosis than one doctors visit and one questionnaire., My son was diagnosed at 18 months but not solely based in Mchat. Once he didn’t do well with that his pediatrician told us it’s a possibility but he doesn’t diagnose and referred us to a pediatric neurologist, who then Diagnosed. I will say early intervention has been key for us and he is 2 now and really thriving, we do speech and occupational therapy and behavioral therapy. Daycare was never recommended to me as something he needed, I find that a little odd., Anecdotally, At around the same time we had the mchat assessment and that was used as the referral to Birth to 3 (early intervention). From there, their therapists conducted their own assessment and diagnosed my son with a communication disorder. He sounds crazy similar to your child actually!! We started with speech therapy and behavioral therapy 2x a week and then they eventually scheduled him for a proper autism assessment that takes hours. That's where he was diagnosed lvl 1 (although they wanted to stress that as a spectrum it isn't really leveled anymore) Fast forward, he's in our public school PREK receiving special ed service and thriving. I'm a firm believer that getting him in so early helped get him where he is today and you're doing your due diligence as his advocate. I'd probe your local early intervention program for their specific testing, as some are medical and some are for educational purposes., They should not be diagnosing with that test., Paediatricians can’t diagnose autism. Only a clinical psychologist can. This was a screen so he was not diagnosed. I would say follow his advice and revisit it in 6 months there might have been some improvement., OP, these two points you have written: \- He responds to his name. \- He looks me in the eyes. Seem to make the equation weigh more in favor of NT behavior. I am not saying it's a 100% match, but be sure to get an actual diagnosis first., My daughter was really similar! I’m a SAHM and we are just doing a play group two mornings a week plus early intervention with a developmental therapy. We are considering adding more speech therapy now post-official diagnosis this month. But catching it so early is awesome. My daughter just turned 2 and has started doing a bunch of the things she wasn’t! Her m-chat score dropped from 5 to 3, super borderline. Still diagnosed but doing well., How odd. We had a 2-hour autism evaluation for our son at 2yo and he was exactly like your son and they ruled him NOT autistic! But he’s definitely hyperlexic - he’s obsessed with the alphabet and already reading (he turns 3yo next month)… I’m still active in this subreddit because I suspect they got it wrong. I call him my little level 0.5 lol The speech delay might be causing the autistic traits though. Our speech therapist said that can happen. They grow out of them as they get older and start talking more. Anyway, some advice — our son didn’t do imaginative play either. So we bought a school bus and Fisher Price Little People and pretended to make them talk to each other about going on field trips. He LOVED watching us do that and started doing it too eventually! Now he plays imaginatively with his stuffed animals without us prompting him. It’s amazing how far he’s come!, We saw huge progress with daycare more than anything else. My daughter followed the example of the other kids. Speech therapy helped a lot, too. We had to delay some important milestones until she could communicate better. For example, she needed to learn a way to express when she needed to use the potty. Then, it was ways to say and describe symptoms when she felt unwell. She's 4 now and can clearly communicate her wants and needs to other people. We do some ABA therapy that is mostly play therapy in order to identify emotions and find safe ways to communicate and process feelings., Enrolling him in daycare will give him opportunities to socialize with and learn from his peers, which is important. It will also help you identify if you need ABA therapy before he goes to kindergarten. As for speech therapy, early intervention is very important! The most useful thing we did for our son is enroll him in speech therapy early on., As others have said, the MCHAT is a screener, and not a totally reliable one. My son scored 0 on it at 24 months, and he has level 2 autism. You will need to do a full diagnostic screening. However, in the meantime, speech therapy will help. You know he has a speech delay, so, even if it isn't autism, he needs a nudge to get back on track., I don’t think pediatricians can diagnose autism, and certainly not based on the results of the screener. What should have happened is that you were referred for an evaluation for early intervention (but you can do this yourself) and possibly a developmental pediatrician or other specialized doctor who can actually determine an autism diagnosis. The wait list for these specialists is months or years, so it makes more sense that the MCHAT highlighted some concerns that need to be looked at further and not that you have an actual diagnosis., I just want to say, you’re not alone mama. When my daughter was 18m she failed her MCHAT as well. My next step was getting an appointment with a developmental pediatrician to have a proper assessment and possible diagnosis. I got pushed up on the list because of how severe it was for her, I got very lucky. My daughter was in early intervention starting at 9m old due to prematurity, but I was told if she qualified for a diagnosis it would open more doors for help for her. I was so sad, I didn’t want her to be diagnosed. The stigma is too real, kids are so mean in school, I blamed myself it was the hardest time in my life besides when she was a newborn. The developmental pediatrician ended up diagnosing her, we never got a level, and we started the process of getting more help from EI including getting her on Medicaid. It’s been 5 months and she has made such amazing progress. We opted out of ABA therapy, just my personal decision. And she has an appointment in a few months for the intermediate unit school for when she turns 3, apparently in PA they start the process early and get a plan in place. AMA, I’m an open book., My son was diagnosed level 1 when he was 2 and pretty much everything you wrote was the same for me. He is3 now in daycare for a few months and he likes it. Has it improved? I think so but progress is slow. He understands everything but chooses not to listen more than NT kids and communication is still lacking. Speech therapy helped the parents more than the kid and most of the advice they give I found online but I do recommend it so you can see how to adjust your communication style. Daycare has been great as we get time off and he is learning how to fit in. When we get videos from daycare 90% of the time he is just doing his own thing but that’s fine., this - it's usually step 1 of many on a path to diagnosis. Is your kid autistic? It sounds much more likely today than it did yesterday, but nothing official yet. OP - your kid did much better than mine on the MCHAT if that helps calm any concerns... And that was with my wife and I thinking we were answering realistically when we were really being overly optimistic, Thanks for the name of the test, just checked it out!, Great to hear your son's progress. Is Behavioral therapy nothing but ABA? Also, can you share what improvements you have seen in your son so far?, This isn’t true, my daughter was diagnosed by a developmental pediatrician. She has a special certification., Was your daughter getting therapy at the daycare? or, was it some kind of a special daycare?, No it’s not like ABA. It’s actually a parent based therapy. It’s on zoom and it’s with me and a therapist and we go over his behaviors, things I notice, or need help with and they guide me on how I can help him out and it’s been really great. Since starting his therapies he is making a lot of vocal sounds and looks like he’s making his way to having some words. He actually just started saying yea yea yea . His eye contact has greatly improved and he will sometimes turn around when called. He also has become quite affectionate, he wasn’t even slightly affectionate before lol . Yesterday he asked me for a hug and I about died lol., She has speech & ABA therapy, but being around other kids helped her vocabulary grow astronomically. She is the chatty one in her friend group, and I thought my kid my never talk.

18 month old stopped babbling

I have an 18 month old daughter and we got her an ASD diagnosis about two months ago. When she was around 10 months old she could mimic mama but stopped doing that. She'd pretty consistently been babbling dadadadayayyagagaga (not mimicking or referring to my husband) but stopped doing that two weeks ago and has not made any babbling sounds since then. She can still point to request what she wants and sign for more and open but she lost the babbling. Does this sound like a regression? We're so nervous. Thanks so much.

It’s hard to say. My kid has never stopped babbling sounds. He’s 5., My 3yo nonspeaking daughter only babbled for a short time during her first year. Then she babbled for another couple months around her second birthday. She was never able to say dada: only mama and baba. She currently communicates with hand-leading, humming, and whining., I have videos from around that age of my son who would say all kinds of things and give us any animal sound we asked for. It all went away very quickly. He is now nonverbal and uses a mix of other ways to communicate. I know this doesn't answer your question but I would just advise that you enjoy whatever form of communication you can. Celebrate even the smallest verbal communication to promote it., My 3yo son had a regression at 18 months that sounds similar to what you are describing. He stopped not just saying the words he would say but babbling alltogether. How is her interaction? In my son’s case within a couple of months he stopped interaction, eye contact, responding to name, etc. Most of those things have returned but no words yet., My daughter is 2.5 and stopped babbling between 15 and 18 months. Started speech therapy after her 18 month checkup. At 2 she had a couple signs. Now at 2.5 she can say a ton of words, count, do the alphabet song, but doesn’t speak in sentences or use words effectively for communication, mainly just labeling. So it sounds like each of us have a different experience after that., That sounds similar to my kiddo. At 18 months, he had like 50 words and a few 2-word sentences. Around 20 months, he regressed and lost most of his words. Then, in the following month or two, he stopped babbling and gesturing as well. Sometimes, even his cries were silent. Everyone kept telling me his words would come back, and I shouldn't worry about it. I got him into SLP at 25 months. He's now 31 months and has made progress! He's got 17+ gestures including pointing, which he's completely mastered, and 3 ASL. He's got about 6 words that he uses daily and lots that he uses sporadically. He's not where we'd like him to be yet, but he's still working on it and he's come so far from where he had regressed to. I'm holding out hope for my kiddo., It’s hard to say. My kid has never stopped babbling sounds. He’s 5., My 3yo nonspeaking daughter only babbled for a short time during her first year. Then she babbled for another couple months around her second birthday. She was never able to say dada: only mama and baba. She currently communicates with hand-leading, humming, and whining., I have videos from around that age of my son who would say all kinds of things and give us any animal sound we asked for. It all went away very quickly. He is now nonverbal and uses a mix of other ways to communicate. I know this doesn't answer your question but I would just advise that you enjoy whatever form of communication you can. Celebrate even the smallest verbal communication to promote it., My 3yo son had a regression at 18 months that sounds similar to what you are describing. He stopped not just saying the words he would say but babbling alltogether. How is her interaction? In my son’s case within a couple of months he stopped interaction, eye contact, responding to name, etc. Most of those things have returned but no words yet., My daughter is 2.5 and stopped babbling between 15 and 18 months. Started speech therapy after her 18 month checkup. At 2 she had a couple signs. Now at 2.5 she can say a ton of words, count, do the alphabet song, but doesn’t speak in sentences or use words effectively for communication, mainly just labeling. So it sounds like each of us have a different experience after that., That sounds similar to my kiddo. At 18 months, he had like 50 words and a few 2-word sentences. Around 20 months, he regressed and lost most of his words. Then, in the following month or two, he stopped babbling and gesturing as well. Sometimes, even his cries were silent. Everyone kept telling me his words would come back, and I shouldn't worry about it. I got him into SLP at 25 months. He's now 31 months and has made progress! He's got 17+ gestures including pointing, which he's completely mastered, and 3 ASL. He's got about 6 words that he uses daily and lots that he uses sporadically. He's not where we'd like him to be yet, but he's still working on it and he's come so far from where he had regressed to. I'm holding out hope for my kiddo., It’s hard to say. My kid has never stopped babbling sounds. He’s 5., My 3yo nonspeaking daughter only babbled for a short time during her first year. Then she babbled for another couple months around her second birthday. She was never able to say dada: only mama and baba. She currently communicates with hand-leading, humming, and whining., I have videos from around that age of my son who would say all kinds of things and give us any animal sound we asked for. It all went away very quickly. He is now nonverbal and uses a mix of other ways to communicate. I know this doesn't answer your question but I would just advise that you enjoy whatever form of communication you can. Celebrate even the smallest verbal communication to promote it., My 3yo son had a regression at 18 months that sounds similar to what you are describing. He stopped not just saying the words he would say but babbling alltogether. How is her interaction? In my son’s case within a couple of months he stopped interaction, eye contact, responding to name, etc. Most of those things have returned but no words yet., My daughter is 2.5 and stopped babbling between 15 and 18 months. Started speech therapy after her 18 month checkup. At 2 she had a couple signs. Now at 2.5 she can say a ton of words, count, do the alphabet song, but doesn’t speak in sentences or use words effectively for communication, mainly just labeling. So it sounds like each of us have a different experience after that., That sounds similar to my kiddo. At 18 months, he had like 50 words and a few 2-word sentences. Around 20 months, he regressed and lost most of his words. Then, in the following month or two, he stopped babbling and gesturing as well. Sometimes, even his cries were silent. Everyone kept telling me his words would come back, and I shouldn't worry about it. I got him into SLP at 25 months. He's now 31 months and has made progress! He's got 17+ gestures including pointing, which he's completely mastered, and 3 ASL. He's got about 6 words that he uses daily and lots that he uses sporadically. He's not where we'd like him to be yet, but he's still working on it and he's come so far from where he had regressed to. I'm holding out hope for my kiddo., It’s hard to say. My kid has never stopped babbling sounds. He’s 5., My 3yo nonspeaking daughter only babbled for a short time during her first year. Then she babbled for another couple months around her second birthday. She was never able to say dada: only mama and baba. She currently communicates with hand-leading, humming, and whining., I have videos from around that age of my son who would say all kinds of things and give us any animal sound we asked for. It all went away very quickly. He is now nonverbal and uses a mix of other ways to communicate. I know this doesn't answer your question but I would just advise that you enjoy whatever form of communication you can. Celebrate even the smallest verbal communication to promote it., My 3yo son had a regression at 18 months that sounds similar to what you are describing. He stopped not just saying the words he would say but babbling alltogether. How is her interaction? In my son’s case within a couple of months he stopped interaction, eye contact, responding to name, etc. Most of those things have returned but no words yet., My daughter is 2.5 and stopped babbling between 15 and 18 months. Started speech therapy after her 18 month checkup. At 2 she had a couple signs. Now at 2.5 she can say a ton of words, count, do the alphabet song, but doesn’t speak in sentences or use words effectively for communication, mainly just labeling. So it sounds like each of us have a different experience after that., That sounds similar to my kiddo. At 18 months, he had like 50 words and a few 2-word sentences. Around 20 months, he regressed and lost most of his words. Then, in the following month or two, he stopped babbling and gesturing as well. Sometimes, even his cries were silent. Everyone kept telling me his words would come back, and I shouldn't worry about it. I got him into SLP at 25 months. He's now 31 months and has made progress! He's got 17+ gestures including pointing, which he's completely mastered, and 3 ASL. He's got about 6 words that he uses daily and lots that he uses sporadically. He's not where we'd like him to be yet, but he's still working on it and he's come so far from where he had regressed to. I'm holding out hope for my kiddo.

19month old nurses when I am trying to teach her.

So I put Ms Rachel on YouTube pretty often, hoping to teach my toddler how to point, sign or say basic words since she does none of these things. She seems into it and smiles for a while, eyes looking from me to the TV and back as I try to mimic what ms rachel is doing to show my toddler this is what we are supposed to be doing. And I will get a few claps out of her, she has even attempted to say stinky, though all she got out for now was STTtt, StTtt. I was happy with it, this is a great start. But she seems to get overwhelmed or over stimulated a few minutes in, and wants to sit in my lap and breastfeed while watching for the remainder of the time. Typically she only breastfeeds at night before bed time these days, but she clings too me while watching Ms rachel while nursing, and she doesn't do this during non educational cartoons, does anyone here recognize this behavior. She doesn't seem upset when she does it she just sort of gets clingy and wants to nurse

[deleted], My son is now 6 and he is sensitive to certain loud noises and certain types of background noise. We were unaware of this when he was younger. It seems like something about the show is too much for her. Perhaps it’s the bright lights or the sounds/music. Try and follow her lead. She doesn’t like Ms. Rachel, no harm at all in dropping YouTube shows., Thank you

19yr Autistic Brother - Shopaholic - How to help him stop?

Hello all, ​ I'm an older sister to an autistic & adhd brother, who's turning 20 this year. Our father passed away when he was 13 and had been the main carer that he clung onto, however, my brother had grew up with the bad habit of throwing tantrums to beg for my dad to buy him something and my father gave in almost every time. Now that he's 19 and had been able to receive some level of support from the government, he just goes and buys things he don't actually needs. Like he would go and buy clothing when his wardrobe is already full, eat out all the time, buy magazines and toys. To the point where he used up the money once that he's suppose to pay for rent and necessities like a visit in carer. Has anyone also experience the same thing and have any tips on how to stop this shopaholic behaviour? I'm thinking possibly it's down to him not understanding how to manage money the correct way, but I don't know how to teach him and my brother doesn't listen to my mum..

I'm not sure if you are looking for tips in teaching financial management to autistic adults, if you are then this response won't help and so I apologise in advance. A financial power of attorney would allow you or your mother to control his finances for him. You can run his general expenses and if there are sufficient funds, allot him some pocket money for the shopping. If he doesn't need that money for anything important, then he can use it on whatever takes his interest at the time. Potentially, and depending on your brother's situation, you can gradually move the management of finance over to him as he gets the hang of it., This is my next step actually, I use to do that and once I moved out I thought maybe he got the hang of it and can handle the money but it definitely didn’t.. I just want it to come from him but possibly I’ll need to revert back to how things were before. Thanks! 👍🏻

2 year old head banging against his crib

My two year old had started rocking himself to sleep somewhere around 15 months but which was fine but over the past few months it’s gotten more intense and he’s started banging the back of his head into his crib while doing it and at first it wasn’t too hard but it’s progressively gotten worse. He’s developed a small bald spot and bump that I had only very recently noticed, we showed his pediatrician and he was concerned so we are working on getting him a helmet through insurance which he will wear at night until he stops, until then is there anything I can do to get him to stop or do something else or even pad the crib safely?

There are some crib bumpers available on amazon. There are also helmets made out of padding if you want to try that temporarily. https://preview.redd.it/dqduc7d6n7qc1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90adfad728fab5ad8d8ff032b1b144c2ac09ef65, We swapped to a soft pack n play at that age until he learned to climb out. Eventually went through insurance and got the Cubby Bed Pro with Tech HUB. It was $30,000 but is soft, enclosed and lasts through adulthood. After insurance its like $2-3,000 but very worth it if you can swing it. Changed our lives as far as sleeping, Thank you I’ll definitely look into these in the meantime, He was in a pack and play but he rocked so hard he eventually wore it down and broke it too, so he’s back in his crib for right now. I’m going to see if we can get approved for that bed through insurance I think it would be life changing for us at this point. Thank you!, There are some crib bumpers available on amazon. There are also helmets made out of padding if you want to try that temporarily. https://preview.redd.it/dqduc7d6n7qc1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90adfad728fab5ad8d8ff032b1b144c2ac09ef65, We swapped to a soft pack n play at that age until he learned to climb out. Eventually went through insurance and got the Cubby Bed Pro with Tech HUB. It was $30,000 but is soft, enclosed and lasts through adulthood. After insurance its like $2-3,000 but very worth it if you can swing it. Changed our lives as far as sleeping, Thank you I’ll definitely look into these in the meantime, He was in a pack and play but he rocked so hard he eventually wore it down and broke it too, so he’s back in his crib for right now. I’m going to see if we can get approved for that bed through insurance I think it would be life changing for us at this point. Thank you!, There are some crib bumpers available on amazon. There are also helmets made out of padding if you want to try that temporarily. https://preview.redd.it/dqduc7d6n7qc1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90adfad728fab5ad8d8ff032b1b144c2ac09ef65, We swapped to a soft pack n play at that age until he learned to climb out. Eventually went through insurance and got the Cubby Bed Pro with Tech HUB. It was $30,000 but is soft, enclosed and lasts through adulthood. After insurance its like $2-3,000 but very worth it if you can swing it. Changed our lives as far as sleeping, Thank you I’ll definitely look into these in the meantime, He was in a pack and play but he rocked so hard he eventually wore it down and broke it too, so he’s back in his crib for right now. I’m going to see if we can get approved for that bed through insurance I think it would be life changing for us at this point. Thank you!, There are some crib bumpers available on amazon. There are also helmets made out of padding if you want to try that temporarily. https://preview.redd.it/dqduc7d6n7qc1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90adfad728fab5ad8d8ff032b1b144c2ac09ef65, We swapped to a soft pack n play at that age until he learned to climb out. Eventually went through insurance and got the Cubby Bed Pro with Tech HUB. It was $30,000 but is soft, enclosed and lasts through adulthood. After insurance its like $2-3,000 but very worth it if you can swing it. Changed our lives as far as sleeping, Thank you I’ll definitely look into these in the meantime, He was in a pack and play but he rocked so hard he eventually wore it down and broke it too, so he’s back in his crib for right now. I’m going to see if we can get approved for that bed through insurance I think it would be life changing for us at this point. Thank you!

2 year old possible autism

We haven’t been formally diagnosed as his pediatrician thinks he is to young but having only been referred out to speech therapy as he babbles but still says no words. From what I can tell he will respond to his name when he wants does look you in the eye when he wants to 50/50 on responding to his name. Lots of hand flapping and spinning typically when happy. He inspect toys rather than play. And is non verbal. He is babbling a lot. And is trying to say words for example head, nose, ears, water, ball. But will say the sounds not the words. He prefers to play alone but will play with his siblings he is generally a happy kid. Other than these signs nothing really comes to mind. Are these signs or what were your early signs. So we reach back to the pediatrician or just keep an eye.

Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism., Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism., Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism., Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism., Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism., Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism., Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism., Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism., Does your child point? When he is experiencing something amazing, does he look at your face to see your reaction? You mentioned that he "inspects" toys, my son wanted to spin the wheels of cars or set his face down to ground level to see toys from a different angle, that kind of thing. He still doesn't do imaginative play at 5 years old. My son is considered nonverbal because his speech isn't clear but I'm sure he's saying more than we understand as he seems to speak deliberately. He mostly speaks in vowels and sometimes I can hear words if I fill in the constants myself. He practices speech sounds and sometimes words when he's alone in a room by himself. He is mainly communicating with signing and an AAC device these days. I think you're catching some possible signs, speech therapy is a good first step because they work with a lot of kids on the spectrum and may notice additional signs. They will test for receptive and expressive communication. I wish I had gotten my son help earlier. These early years are so important for ASD children. Some children are diagnosed as young as your son, depending on the intensity of the symptoms. It may be worth getting a second opinion if your gut is telling you that he may need additional support., It's so much about communication intent at this age, regardless of whether he can speak clearly yet, does it seem like he wants to engage and communicate with you? Does he bring you things to show you, point to things then look back at you, does he seek you out to play with you? I remember watching a video of my NT toddler at around 12 months, we were filming ourselves, he looked at himself on the phone, said baby then looked back at me for confirmation. It was an interaction that I just wasn't getting with my suspected ND toddler at the time., Speaking from experience, 2yrs isn't too young. It may be too young for a GP/pediatrician, but not for a psychologist or someone who would actually diagnose it. Our friend's child was diagnosed at around 18months and our daughter just over 2yrs old. The psychologist said our daughter was very strange because she presents normal (also what our doctors said), but after some time, the autistic traits are very much present. If you can get on a list for your child to see a psychologist through your health system, I would get on that ASAP cuz those can take a year+. If there are private options and you have insurance to cover it, I would recommend that first. Our friend with the 18month old had their older child not diagnosed through the health system and eventuallt went private to get properly diagnosed. Nothing against the health system, but perhaps they don't have enough resources or time to make a diagnosis (or whatever the reason is). Your son sounds very similar to our daughter and she was diagnosed mod-severe autism with language impairment. She has word approximations too (yuck for duck for example). Best of luck!, Our son is 2 and 4 months, and we are scheduled for testing in August but pediatrician, ST, OT, and the intake nurse at our local children's hospital Developmental Pediatric Dept are all in agreement that it seems he is autistic. These are the signs we and they have noticed: Does not pretend play very well (working on this and have gotten him interested in feeding baby doll and making stuffed animals sometimes do things like frog stuffy jump on his trampoline) No pointing (though we have finally gotten him to make the gesture (yay!) due to his love of the game fruit ninja lol) Not very great with gestures in general other than clapping (rarely waves, or indicates for up) had better fine motor skills but they seem to be declining i.e. had no issues previously using utensils and now has very hard time Likes to walk on his tippy toes Does not respond well to name (getting a lot better with this and normally will respond to me and dad just no one else) Loves stimming vocally ALOT we affectionately say he has a future career in the opera. He is mainly non verbal but used to be very verbal. Could count to 10, identify all colors etc... then at 2 it regressed to occasionally a word every once in awhile. He is working on this with speech therapy He has always had great eye contact and is super affectionate. Stims include hand flapping, clapping, vocal stims, loves banging blocks and other toys for the feeling and noise, jumping, and spinning in circles Very sensory oriented loves fuzzy textures and he likes cuddling. We call him our cat because he also loves to rub up against us and other soft items. Isn't great with receptive language and following directions like peers. Super hyper and cannot really sit to read a book or do arts and crafts Certain texture avoidance, especially with foods Rough sleeper. Once asleep, he can sleep forever, but to get to sleep is so hard for him, and he struggles very much Our guy is happy 99 percent of the time and very easygoing. Most of the signs were blown off as normal for developing toddlers until his most recent speech regression, and then we had speech therapist write up report from her with his daycare teacher to give to pediatrician. Once she saw those and saw everything we have been saying for months laid out, did it finally click that their may be something going on. There is more, but this is already so long lol so I better stop while I am ahead. Wishing you and your family the best, and I hope you can get the help your little guy needs if necessary ❤️, Our pediatrician pushed the initial visit until just after he was two for assessment but we knew what the outcome would be when he was 18 months. I think as a general rule they like to wait to diagnosis after the age of 2 - don’t quote me but I’ve seen 2 as being the starting point for a lot of families(also located in Ontario Canada) My son had all the same signs and all before he got to the age of 2. I started seeing signs at the age of 1. I would find another pediatrician or get a second opinion. One of the best things that an infant and childcare development worker told me was to pursue the possibility of a diagnosis and if you got to the end of it, and there was no diagnosis you’ve lost nothing. She told me it doesn’t hurt to be on the waitlist, and then if he starts talking or some of the concerns disappear you can just remove your name off of the waitlist. But if you don’t pursue and hold off and there is a diagnosis, you will have lost potential supports, funding, access and time., Honestly follow your gut. Get him in with a developmental pediatrician who can give you better insight. Start now because there’s usually waitlists to get children into services for autism.