Does my child have autism??? WORRIED DAD!!

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He's only 18 months old. Just take him to his pediatrician and raise him like any other baby. My problems were a lot worse than his and they didn't formally diagnose it or start really doing anything about it until I was nearly three, because before then was too young. There's lots of toddlers with issues who turn out just fine by the time they turn three or so.

Last edited by EzraS on 11 Oct 2016, 11:11 am, edited 2 times in total.

Double post. Sorry. Read below.

Last edited by somanyspoons on 11 Oct 2016, 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

My parents tried the diet route. It didn't make any difference. And I did not like it. 18 months is way too young for that anyways.

HOLD UP, there. Now you are talking abuse. Do not start going down the crazy lane of special diets and supplements. That is not cool.

The GFCF diet is only used for kids with gastrointestinal problems. You didn't mention anything about poop issues, stomach pain, or unexplained tantrums. There's no reason to believe that your child has a gastrointestinal problem.

Have you heard of Munchausen syndrome by proxy? That's where parents start to make up illnesses in their children to abate their own anxieties. I think what YOU have is a more simple case of anxiety, but looking up Munchausen would be interesting for you. You might see where this line of thought can lead to if taken to extremes.

If you start restricting your child's diet without cause, you are more likely to create health issues than to solve them. If you start mega-dosing vitamins or using herbs that aren't designed for children, you could harm your child. In fact, it was just in the news the other day that a child DIED from too much supplementation. His parents were trying to "treat" his autism. Now he's dead. Your kid doesn't even have autism and you're going to expose him to this stuff? Really?

Toe walking is completely normal at 18 months. Running off and not coming back is totally, completely, 100% normal for this age. You are meant to keep your hands on him if there is danger around. He's a baby. Babies aren't robots. They don't come back when called. Nobody's baby comes back when they are called.

As for the year long waiting list, that sounds about average, too. The truth is that we can't even really diagnose autism in 18 month olds. There are some kids who get some soft diagnosis at that age, and early intervention services, but these are kids who are not crawling or babbling at all. These kids cry all day long. They don't look at their parents at all. They don't smile and play games. They are significantly affected by autism. Your child isn't in this catagory. Normal age to start diagnosis this stuff is around three years, minimum.

Lets just step back from the crazy train here. You need to focus in on your own mental health. Putting it on your child is going to end up harming him and I know that you don't want that.

*Edited to add: My apologies for the use of the word "crazy" twice. I know some people are put off by that, but my creativity is not working well enough to come up with an appropriate substitution right now.

Last edited by somanyspoons on 11 Oct 2016, 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

There is a process to things and sounds like what you are experiencing is similar to where I live. There is probably a good reason why a clinician wont make an appointment for a year from now.

One thing that I have seen parents do is project their own worries, anxieties, and fears onto their child creating more difficulties than needed or warranted. It is something to always be cautious and aware of. As a parent on the spectrum of two boys (one also on the spectrum and the youngest suspected) I understand your concern. Remember your son is ONLY 18 months old. And it sounds like he is enjoying being 18 months old. Enjoy these moments while you can. Kind regards.

That is so much more of a kind way of putting that sentiment than I managed. Thanks for the modeling. I think I'm a little reactive because I've seen this from parents so many times before. It's one of the reasons I left special education to become a chiropractor. I just can't seem to stay neutral and kind when parents are doing something I perceived to be harmful to their kids.

Worried dad, the theme here, from people who have lived the dream of spectrum life, is that (a) it's way to early to know anything about your child, and (b) your flight to sketchy causes (antibiotics) and diets is a major concern, and (c) you're all lined up to see autism and disaster behind every movement that this child makes.

In terms of your child's actual neurological setup, you'll just find out later. Their brain is wired however it's wired and there's time enough. A lot of spectrum people, myself are happier with this kind of brain than anything else. It's not a walk in the park always, but there are some cool things in these spectrum brains. You're acting like it's cancer or something. You need to calm down...

Which leads to (b) and (c) which is really that your stress and actions are going to do more damage than whatever brain structure your child has. Even if they are neurotypical, they may not escape it. I definitely suggest working on yourself before making any conclusions about your child.

I am very glad my parents left me the heck alone.

This aspie father of two (15 and 22) one of who is an aspie totally agrees.

I don't agree with diets, either.

I don't believe the OP intends on abusing his child, though.

I just feel he seeks to prevent autism from happening.

What we should do is educate him as to why these diets aren't good, and that the results might seem like abuse.

I'm glad you agree. And while I think there are some good ideas in there, the overall tone was too aggressive. I've really been trying to stop doing that.

My apologies to everyone reading this. I think my post is too aggressive, and perhaps a bit snarky where I should have had a cleaner message.

I also said that the child did not have autism, and of course, I can't know that. Its next to impossible to tell on any 18 month old, but completely impossible to tell if you are only reading something on line. And then there is the little problem where I'm not a doctor and I wouldn't be doing the diagnosing in any case.

I have the same problem and didn't even notice the tone until I re-read the post a couple of times. Good on you for noticing and trying to fix the issue. I always try to go over any emails/posts a few times before sending but sometimes things still get past my "idiot" filter

Thanks for the kind words. Tact can be a difficult at times. Your reply was consistent with what I hoped to communicate through mine. Hopefully at least one of them (or both) is received at the other end with understanding of the good intention in which they were sent. Kind Regards.

I would do the wait and see approach. My NT son was slow to mature and I wasn't worried. He did catch up and is doing better this year but still has his moments. I have no idea what behavior is normal and what behavior is a deficit. If you have any concerns, tell your son's pediatrician.

He just seems like a typical stubborn 18-month-old kid. Their behavior is unpredictable. They don't always listen. They play with toys funnily. They can't play with other children properly.

If he were acting the way he was within the "negative" list at 3 years of age, then I'd be more concerned.

Update: when I mentioned the diet I meant we were going to look into it, get more info.. we haven't done the diet, we want to evaluate our son just in case and see what happens...

He had his hearing test today, and he doesn't have hearing loss, Ent said that since he didn't let them put anything in his ear they can tell if his hearing is good from not sides, she said speech evaluation would be good at this point since he's not talking.

We were able to find several options, he's getting a speech evaluation, occupational, and a ECI evaluation next month... just worried about the speech delay, and not pointing to what he wants, we've been working really hard with him at home, he seems to be responding more when we call him, but still ignoring us a lot of times, he's lining things, but not as much, we try to teach him while we play with him. We're hopeful he only has a speech delay and. It autism since he has a lot of eye contact and a lot of smiling/laughing, he can look for the moon when we ask him where is the moon, little things that make us hopeful and also little things that worry us, but no matter the result we're going to support him and help him in everything.

Thank you !

Just go ahead with the evaluations. In my experience, when a parent is worried about something, assuming that they don't have their own psychological issues, there is usually something there. That doesn't mean it's autism, but I would trust your gut. And if you find out there isn't an issue, everyone will sleep better at night. The only downside to getting the evaluations is the financial/time cost. If you're okay with that, then why not pursue?

One of my boys sounded exactly like yours, and he ended up being on the spectrum. He's a great, loving, and happy five year old today. But those early signs were exactly that. We started early intervention at 12 mo because of speech and joint attention delays, received a formal diagnosis at 18 mo, then did Floortime (great!) and ABA (had its uses). Plus speech and OT. We fired any bad therapists and limited overall therapy time so that he could also just be a kid and play (none of that 40hrs/wk over here. That's every waking hour for a toddler!).

He also had acid reflux since birth. We ended up doing the GFCF diet before he was two, but that was honestly in response to the autism diagnosis, not the GERD. For the reflux, eliminating milk was enough. I did the full diet thinking it would help his neurological development. Who knows if it did? I will say that GFCF is not child abuse and actually leads to a really healthy diet (lots of whole grains and non-processed foods, which are better sources of vitamins and minerals). I never cooked or used my food processor so much in my life! We stopped the diet at around 3.5 years old. He was going to pre-school and getting access to cookies and muffins and such, and we didn't want to ask the teachers to keep him separated at snack time and lunch. We couldn't tell a difference in him, except when he ate milk products (which we still restrict). But that's due to his GERD.

Long story longer, trust your gut and get him tested just to that you can sleep at night. If it's nothing, no harm no foul. If it's something, the earlier you take action, the better the potential outcome for him. Good luck!