Diagnosing toddlers?

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I'm about 99.9% sure that my significant other has asperger's, and we have 2 children together. I have started thinking about it and I wonder if our oldest is AS as well. He's only 3 though, so I would imagine it's hard to diagnose children so young. He was always "different" he was colicky first of all, cried soooo much the first 5 months. He is very "intense" and very touchy about things, he is not very affectionate, but will give me a "kiss" on occasion. He loves gadgets and cars and he will spend a long time playing with something detailed. I just have no idea what to "look" for, or if I should be looking for anything anyways (is it too early) ?? Thank you for any advice/suggestions

We knew from a very early age that my son was 'different'. He displayed OCD like actions from the moment he could walk, he flapped his ears with his hands from the moment he was able to control his gross motor skills so about 9 - 12 months. At 18 months of age we could jumble up a dozen different wooden puzzles and he would have them down so quickly and correctly it amazed us.He would line up all his little cars on the sofa for hours. Getting our dx was hard because no one would listen to me finally it came when he was 8 years of age from a paediatrician and then we moved onto specialists in the area once we knew what was going on. I think the sooner you can get a dx the sooner you can start to understand and help him. Had I known sooner I am sure it would have lessened the heartache and worry when he started school and maybe we could have all been prepared for what school would hold for him. I am not sure where you are but here in Australia there are lots of places to go for help and dx especially when your general docs dont listen becasue they dont know enough. First stop I would say would be your paediatrician. Good luck.

You can absolutely diagnose Asperger's in preschoolers. They might call it Autism or PDD or Autistic Spectrum Disorder. My son was diagnosed at three and he was able to get early intervention treatment through the school district. Not every school district is the same of course. Some might be hesitant to test kids and thus pay for the early intervention. In the United States school districts are required by law to provide a free screening for all at risk preschoolers. I think its definately worth the effort.

Ok thank you for the replies, I didn't know they could diagnose it. I'm not sure if he has it but I think he has either ADD or Aspergers possibly. He is definitely different, he might not have anything though, so I guess that's why it would be good to get him a diagnosis.

you can acess the MCHAT online and they have a pdd test too. There are instructions on how to grade the MCHAT and the pdd test grades it for you. It dxed my daughter pretty accurately. The MCHAT is how general practioners and speach and language therapists screen kids for further evaluation.

it's great that they can now diagnose aspergers earlier than when my son was little

You just described by son, who is 10 now and for the last several years , I knew he was different. Nobody listened to me. I felt it was more then ADD. When he was a baby, he pushed me away and I could not breastfeed him. By the time I think he warmed up to me and it seemed like he wanted to try , it was to late, milk dried up. I really wonder now about colic. I would like to see any reports on colic in babies and later dx of aspergers and spectrum issues.

I am waiting for an appointment and I will be pushing for a developmental pediatrician.
He is having trouble in school but overall his marks were ok. I now see where the problems are and why some things are fine mark wise and other things are not.

Stick to your guns , if you feel it in your gut, something is going on.

I wish I pushed sooner.

justafriend~ my son was "colicky" for months...the only thing that would calm him down was for my husband to lay down with him and hold him tightly...and i mean tightly..

My daughter was officially diagnosed at 3yrs, but we suspected something was up and were advised by a psychologist friend that AS in toddlers is usually persued through an occupational therapist. Basically, at that early age you want to focus on and stat dealing with the sensory issues. We started here on sensory integration therapy at 2, and its made a huge difference. If nothing else, the OT will be able to give you a "road-map" to which of your child's senses are over or under active.

My son had screaming colic for his first 4 months.

I could not put him down at all - ever - because of the screaming. He would finally fall asleep exhausted at around 10pm after screaming for the whole evening, waking up throughout the night - sometimes projectile vomitting in his sleep. My back and neck were totally shot from carrying him around and rocking him. My neck was frozen. I used to take him everywhere with me - and I mean everywhere - even the bathroom - because I could not stand the screaming.

Even at the hospital, I had to ask a nurse to hold him while I took a shower because of the screaming.

It all gradually stopped with anti-colic drops and he was welded to his dummy until he was 3.

In our case, I think the constant screaming would have been picked up in America as a sign of a possible neurological condition, even as young as new-born, but, here, it was not noticed.

If you read some of the other posts, don't put too much faith in his grades. My son always got good grades and that's why teachers and others had a hard time believing there was anything wrong. At his new school, they assumed an IEP and special help meant his learning disabilities made him stupid. I get the feeling teachers believe smart kids can't have problems so you may have a fight ahead of you.

Do you know anybody who has a child with this? Could they give you their honest opinion?

Before diagnosis, I know that we were at a birthday party when my son was just 3 and he rushed inside the house, ignored everybody and would not be in the same room as the children and stood in the hallway playing with this toy with flashing lights which span around for the whole of the party. (A mum with an AS daughter aged 6 came up to me and introduced herself and said that if her daughter was at the party that is exactly how she would have behaved. I bet she wanted to scream at me to take him for assessment but we waited until the gig was up 6 months later and we absolutely knew).

Another birthday party I took him to, when I picked him up, the party organiser said that he spent the whole of the party ignoring everybody and looking at a fibre optic light on the floor. I just thought "hey - if that's what he wants to do - there's no law against it!" I think the organiser desperately wanted to say something to us but didn't.

What I mean to say is that, looking back, it was totally obvious that my son was (just like Michael Jackson said in the Thriller video "not like other guys") a little unique!

And I should say that, now my son is 5 and he loves parties and joins in with almost everything.

let me say that here in the states Colic is ignored also.. they make you feel as though you are the parent who likes to whine... my son cried from sun up to sun down. they really do not take it very seriously. it was horrible. as he got older he did out grow the screaming for hours on end. we came to realize later that it was colic from over stimulation. which later we see was really his AS and not so much colic. drs have different therios of what colic really is. i have had one tell me that colic was excess gasand an infant can not break down the formula which causes the horrible gas. and another dr told me that colic was the over stimulation of the central nervous system. have 2 kids with colic i have had both of them. my son we know now had the over stimulation and my 2nd who is 5 months old could not tolerate formula and she had such bad gas and acid refulx. so I have been there and done this twice.. you might be very lucky to find a dr who sympathizes with you but they are few and far between. drops and special formula did not work for etheir one of my children. and i was sick to death of drs telling me it will pass.. for my son it never passed... he is 9 and i see AS more and more evey day.. if dr's would take parents serious enough to know when something is not normal. that was when early intervention works...

our son was "colicky" for months....dr prescribed Bean-O....never worked...son cried for hours on end and the only thing that would calm him down was hubby holding him incredibily tightly in a quiet dark room.....aspergers was never even thought of or mentioned.