Pediatrician told me my 2 year old son is not Autistic

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then why am I so worried about him suddenly becoming autistic?
I'll start by saying that I have anxiety but I feel like I have a reason to believe he can become Autistic. He's been flapping his arms when he gets excited, when he pushes a car, when football is on tv. THATS when I started wondering about autism. He gets upset a lot, like when I change his diaper. He does say a lot of words and tells me, truck gone, more juice, diesel come on when talking to the dog, momma play, monsters scare me, thats red car. He knows all the letters and numbers 1-10 but cant yet count or recite the ABCs. I may just be over exagerrating but I can't help but think that tommorow he may stop talking. Has anyone here had this happen to their child, they are hitting their milestones PERFECTLY throughout the first two years and socialize and communicate but then all of sudden their child stops talking? I have always believed my son is gifted because it was so easy for him to learn letters and numbers but I never once thought he could have Autism until I seen him flapping his arms. PLEASE help, any input would be great. I'm debating whether to take him to a specialist but I'm told I'm worrying too much and that my son isn't in fact autistic.

Small children flap their arms when they're excited. That is normal behaviour.

You seem to be worried about what might happen even though you have no reason for that worry.

Even if he were autistic, it's not the end of the world.

It's a possibility he could have traits. A member on here said her brother had traits when he was young and may have met the autistic criteria but he grew out of them and now he is a normal person, an NT.

Getting upset about getting their diaper changed sounds normal to me. I hear lot of kids don't want to get their diapers changed because it stops them from what they are doing and they don't want to wait. So they will cry or run away.

It just looks like you are worried about if he will get more traits or not.

My mom has a degree in early childhood education. She said that sense I was 2 she knew I was different, I didn't talk until I was 2 or 2 and a half, and I ended up having speech delay.

People with Asperger's speak early and they also flap (If your Aspie and you know it flap your hands....something I saw on a t-shirt). He is a bit old to still be flapping in my opinion, hes a toddler not a baby. Does he have any sensory issues? Does he have problems with changes to his schedule? Does he acknowledge people in the room, like if someone walks in the house while he is sitting there playing? Does he take things you say literally? Does he have any odd fears? Does he play with other children?

Not all Autistic children have speech issues. Communication, yes, speech no. Here is a good site to look up early signs of Asperger's

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/sympto ... -disorder/

I dont like the whole psych thing but it does have some early signs "before age 3" toward the bottom. Also dont be so afraid of Autism. I have Asperger's and I have a daughter with classic Autism and two other kids with Asperger's. We are just different thats all. Some people think that Asperger's is easier but I have both Aspies and an Autie and I can tell you that its not true. They are different in many ways but some days my Aspie's are easier and sometimes they make me nutso....same with my Autie but all kids can make you nutso at one time or another no matter what . Also League girl is right, most two year old are on the move and do not want to sit still when they have a diaper change, they have things to do ....but then again you did not really specify if he has always been this way or how he gets upset.

Also, I was just thinking, you can ask the pediatrician (duh, just saw that your ped says no...you need a new ped, a good one always listens to the Mom....we have that Mommy intuition, like I always know my kids are sick even when the doc says no...when we first moved here I knew my daughter had a urinary infection and I insisted that the doctor send it for a culture because he said the dip showed nothing, I was right, so neener) what they think of him. When I thought my son had Asperger's I just let the ped talk to him and she told me that he could have it or maybe ADHD and I should have him evaluated. He was 5 at the time and he was diagnosed at age 6. He never flapped but he runs in circles or back and forth imagining things in his head and making sound effects. He and my Classically Autistic daughter (who was born that way btw) like to chew. They were so stressed when we first moved they were chewing up all the electrical wires....good thing nothing was plugged in!

My son hit all of his milestones and somewhere between 18 mos. and 2 years regressed and stopped hitting milestones. He had about 20 words he could say before losing all communicative language keeping only letters and numbers, he could recite the alphabet and could count past ten long before he would say "Mom". That being said there were many other red flags all along that he was autistic that no one but me took seriously, it took him losing language for the pediatrician to finally hear me. You probably are worrying too much, but sometimes a mother just "knows" when something isn't right. There are online checklists for children with autism you could look at to get an idea of what autism looks like in a young child and you can search YouTube for autistic children. Flapping alone shouldn't make you fear autism, but if you have a laundry list of symptoms and you start missing milestones you should see the doctor.

I love that shirt but neither of my Aspies flap....my Autie does but that doesnt rhyme at least not with the rest of the song!

I had some worries too, although my son didn't start talking until about 28 months. He was treated by Early Childhood Intervention services for speech and released at age 3. It wasn't until he was 9 that we sought an evaluation. He now has the diagnosis of PDD-NOS, ADHD, and Mood disorder-NOS.

Did you doctor do the CHAT or some other evaluation or just make a blanket statement?

As for your concern about him losing his language, it could happen at this late stage, but even with autism, its not the norm.

I would never disregard a parent's intuition. Many parents of children with AS will tell you they thought there was something different (I like the word quirky) about their child early on. Many children on the autism spectrum will not get a diagnosis until they start having problems interfering at school and home, such as problems transitioning, problems with pragmatics, problems with peer interactions, and hyperactivity.

Nevertheless early intervention has been shown to be beneficial. There are things you can do now if you suspect he is on the autism spectrum. Ask a question about a specific behavior and you will get lots of sage advice on here.

I never noticed my son had any autistic traits until he was closer to four. He was so academically advanced at such a young age that it sort of blinded me. I started gathering all my facts about Aspergers and was 110% certain my doctor would agree with me and boy was I wrong. He insisted that he didn't have it (after only being in the room with him for 5 minutes) and reluctantly referred me to a specialist. He tried to turn it around on me saying I was depressed and tried to shove meds down MY throat. I wasn't depressed just rather frustrated and tired that no one would listen or help! Long story short, it turns out I WAS right and he does have Aspergers. My mommy instinct wouldn't let up so if you are feeling disagreement with your doctor I'd suggest getting a second opinion. So glad I did.

I think it was harder for me as I am also Autistic everything seemed typical to me. It was my youngest who was nearly three and still not talking, no eye contact, no waving, no pointing, not responding to her name or us....would line up toys (her plastic animals), flap, spin and make odd noises. She did make animal noises when you showed her one of her animals and she would line up the magnetic numbers and letters on the fridge in the right order but not say them. Looking back there were many things that I didnt notice. Like when she was a year old she would hold a little piece of something in between her thumb and first finger like fuzz or hair and she would stare at it and act as if it was very important and she would hold it for hours and then loose interest and the next day or a few days later it was something else. She would also lick the TV and get very upset and scream, pull her hair or hit her head on the floor....we figured out she was hungry or thirsty when she did that. It was finally my Mom that said that she seemed a bit off so I started looking things up and everything pointed to autism.....after she was diagnosed the rest of us were. I always say she started it but thanks to her many of us on my Mom's side of the family finally understand ourselves a bit better and know we are ok, we are just different.

When I first took my son for his evaluation the first lady to see him, at first, was sarcastic about him having Asperger's, by the end of the interview when, instead of playing with the toys he was sitting in the middle of the table licking his feet she didnt seem so sarcastic anymore.

My daughter had speech and I never noticed anything was wrong until 3 years old and then I thought she had ADD. I watched old video of her at 2 years old and frankly nothing she did at two would make me think she had autism. She talked in sentences at two and she never really flapped her arms. She just was very introverted.

I know a lot of Aspies flap but only my autie occasionally flaps and only when she is very excited.

Another thing about Asperger's is that it sort of morphs. Many of them may seem "typical" until they are around 6 or 7 and then its very obvious. When they go to school typically and they start to have issues. The Psychologist said the one thing that really made her know beyond a doubt that my son has Asperger's was when she asked him what is wet and falls from the sky (I know I tell this story all the time)....he said "A Duck" and when she asked him why he said that, he said "A hunter shoots a duck and it falls in the water"....this is the way an autistic brain works. We view things differently than more typical type people. She also offered to diagnose me to my husband but she said she knew I was already diagnosed. I am hoping better things for my son as he was diagnosed early and he has gotten a lot of help. He was only two points off in all the silly paperwork to be classic autistic but he seems to me to be very classic Asperger's. He had the little professors syndrome, uses big words. He is Bilingual, he speaks English and French and he is a very good little translator for Mommy who understands very little French. I do sometimes have trouble getting him to talk to people but I always tell him Im right here with him. I never make fun of his fears or tell him hes weird....I recently found out my Father in law called my son weird because of the way he plays and I made my husband give him hell (he does not understand any English) about it. He thinks its strange the way my son runs back and forth and makes exploding noises and talks.....we call it "Playing in his head".....Mommy does the same thing but I had to stop "acting" it out although I still do when Im alone but have been caught doing gestures by my older daughters . Oh well, they know Mommy is not a typical Mommy and they are adults now anyway and one has Aspergers even though she insists she doesnt.....whatever makes her happy . My other daughter is dating an Aspie, she says she grew up in a predominantly Asperger house its only normal she would be attracted to one. I got him a weighted blanket for Christmas and she sewed some satin on it for him because he likes to rub his fingers on it, it helps him sleep. He had a lot of sleep issues that are now much better. They have been dating for 4 years now.

The issue isn't really "is my child autistic or not" but "does my child need intervention or not," or "are my child's needs being met."

Nothing you've described here indicates to me that you need intervention, or would seek it out if you didn't connect hand-flapping with autism (that came out sounding harsher than I meant it to, bear with me.) If your child is hitting milestones, doesn't appear to be any more distressed than any other child his or her age (in many cases, they call it the terrible twos for a reason!) and doesn't seem to have any unusual difficulty relating to other kids, I wouldn't worry about it.

Sadly, in our culture, we often look to diagnosis as a final solution. Diagnosis should be a road-map for what to DO; how to address your child's needs to ensure they develop into the best adult they can be. If your child has no special needs, even with autistic qualities, there's no need to be concerned.

In our case, my son (after being a colicky infant impossible to soothe) was staggeringly wonderful at the age of two. He was polite, well-mannered, and everywhere he went he left a trail of socks he'd charmed off of bystanders. It wasn't until three when he started to have rages (we'd later learn these were meltdowns) that we started to put together a pattern of behavior that indicated his needs weren't being met. Unfortunately, we didn't get the help he really needed until he was 10.

"Early intervention" most often is offered to kids with a language delay. I'm no doctor - but, while they are beginning to diagnose kids with AS sooner and sooner, provided there is not a language delay, many parents here have been successful taking a wait-and-see approach. Some find they need support, and others find that their kid has a few quirky but otherwise not significant behaviors.

My son has Asperger's and he started flapping when he was 3 or 4 years old.

Sorry for being ungracious and curt earlier.

my son has Aspergers, and he did flap his arms when he jumped when he was a toddler, pre schooler...but he has stopped doing that since. He wasnt diagnosed Aspergers until he was near 6...no professionals every thought he had aspergers or ASD.

it is so hard when they are that little unless it is a blatant case of classic autism.

good luck!