20 Month Old with signs of Autism

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Hi,

I have a 20 month old who isn't saying a lot of words yet. We just came from a pediatrician visit, and he recommended speech therapy. We're currently waiting on the specialist to call us and get an appointment. Naturally me and my wife are very concerned, and after the visit I started doing some research and putting in some terms of some things my son did and it kept coming up with Autism. I'd like to share some of the things he's currently doing and get some feedback.

Some things he does that I read were linked to Autism.

- Not saying many words (Dada, Go, Baba, and babbles a whole lot, mostly dada related babbles)
- Flaps his arms and spins occasionally (I wouldn't say he does either a lot, usually flaps his arm when he's excited)
- Very picky eater still eating 2nd baby foods mostly just eats chips, crackers, milk, and juice. Acts like he's gagging if we give him certain foods he doesn't like.
- Doesn't point or wave
- Occasionally doesn't answer when we call him (Most of the time he answers if not preoccupied with toys or TV. But, if we say his name with a tone in our voice he'll usually answer then.)
- Kinda awkward around other kids, He's not scared of them or doesn't want to play with them, it's just if they wave or speak to him he likes to give them a hug, and they will have to initiate play with him otherwise he'll do his own thing. (Now I am self-employed and kept him the entire time so he's not been around many kids at all)
-Doesn't play with all toys the correct way or have much imagination with his play (For example sometimes he'll just press one button and press it over and over for a couple minutes before he does something else, and likes to put them all in his mouth.
-Likes to bang the doors together sometime
-Doesn't know body parts (If he does he doesn't show us)
-Can watch TV on certain shows he likes for hours and can't be distracted.
-When we sing the clap your hands song, he wants to come clap my hands instead of his hands.
- Once he's comfortable somewhere he just walks off and we have to call him to come back.


Some things he does that were not signs of autism.

- Not usually attached to things or certain routines, if we turn off the TV, take a toy, make him stop doing certain things, he may whine for a minute but gets over it pretty quickly or we can distract him with something else pretty fast. Doesn't have any patterns or have to have anything a certain way.
- He makes eye contact with us and smiles when we smile at him.
- He seems to know facial expressions and tones (If we make a serious face and tell him to come here he usually whines because he knows he is in trouble).
- He listens to commands for the most part (He knows come here, get down, no, give me that)
- He's hit all his milestones up to 12 months
- Very cautious when trying or climbing new things, he'll usually look to grab my hand or make sure I smile or give him the go ahead before he does it, but then after he's comfortable he'll explorer everything and we usually have to call him back.
- He likes for us to sing to him and loves to cuddle. (He still sleeps in bed with us still)
- Imitates some things we do. (For example if he sees me with my toothbrush and I give him one, he'll brush his teeth as well, he also knows how to give high fives, he opens his mouth if I open mine and say "Ah". He also does "bibble" which is where i flick my bottom lip and make a bibble sound, if I do that he will do it as well.) But, those are the only things we can get him to imitate.
- Never been sick or had ear infections.

I know no one can give a diagnosis over the internet. I know we'll have to have the therapist and specialist look into the situation. But, from experiences has anyone ever seen a toddler show this many signs and not have autism, could it just be speech/communication delay, and he's a picky eater? Any advice or experiences are much appreciated.

Thanks!

Seems fine to me but keep an eye if you have worries. He is only 20 months old. Most babies that age don't really talk.

I have a diagnose of f84.8 (PDDNOS). But I would think that getting him help would be important with the speech, but I think that you should wait to get a diagnose since accurately diagnosing a small child can be very hard. But I think you should listen to what the doctors say, if they think getting him tested is best do that if not wait. I for example learned to read individual letters at the age of one and a half but did not say my first sentence until I was two and a half. Sometimes kids "focus" on one skill instead of another and it is nothing to be worried about. But listen to the doctors

Thanks for the replies. I've been reading up and stuff and trying to learn more. I agree the doctor should be able to tell us more.

You might want to check out the parents subforum, they'd know more about what autism looks like in 20 month olds.

I have a 17 month old NT son who is unusually smart and I grew up with an autistic brother who was much younger than me. So I have close experience around both kinds of kids, I guess.

The things you're describing could be either autistic or NT. Little kids that spend too much time with just adults will not know how to interact with other little kids and will have their own ways to play. My son likes to walk around with a cup on a stick. I don't know why. I take my son to the daycare at my gym so he can play with other kids, but his social skills are still off. He prefers older kids or adults. We're still working on him.

The only real difference I can see between my son and my brother when he was this age is that my son tries to manipulate and boss us around and my brother started ignoring us a little at this age. But generally, my brother acted "normal" until he was...3 or 4? and then he was honestly pretty hard to deal with until he was 7 or 8, and then he was like a little adult. He taught himself how to read, write, and could suddenly speak in full, perfect sentences when before no one could understand him because he'd use nonsense words.

I would check out the parents forum and also do some reading in the adult forum. Finding out that your child is autistic is like finding out your child is black. Yes, it's good to discover the difference so that you can make sure the resources are there and the environment is correct, but you can't and shouldn't change the type of person your kid is. It would be like trying to encourage a talented artist to go into mathematics instead.

Get him checked by a pediatric psychologist who specializes in autism. That's really the only way to know for sure. The rest is just speculation.

Sounds like my two years old nephew and a lot of signs also apply for my 2,5 years old godsister - the only kids that age I know right now. It would be a huge coincidence is they all were in the spectrum.

For me there is nothing to worry about. All of the children are saying their first words (your son - 20 months: dada, go, baba, my nephew - 25 months: mama, brum brum, muu, daga, and my godsister - about 2,5 year: recently jumped from single barely understandable words to making 2-3 word barely understandable sentences) and they show the ability to understand and use non-verbal cues so it's all good. Most of the signs you mentioned are probably natural child development (especially being picky eater, it's a common issue! http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/feedin ... icky-eater).

Your son is just 20 months old. It's one year and 8 months. Let him discover the world on his own pace. From what you say he is doing fine (or else my nephew and godsister are in the spectrum too). He still has time to learn how to use verbal language. He probably doesn't see speech development as important right now because he is able to communicate his needs effectively enough without words.
Not all correctly developing children reach all milestones exactly as scheduled.

Btw. Letting a toddler watch television by himself apparently is one of the most common reasons of delayed language development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_delay#Causes.

I feel horrible about it, because I let him watch a whole lot of TV. The pediatrician warned me, but I just thought they were being overly cautious. He hasn't watched TV in a few days now, and it's made a difference. I just hope I didn't mess him up. We just came from the audiologist and his hearing is fine. Still waiting to hear back from a speech therapist, they said it could be a couple of weeks before they would call to setup an appointment.

Also, does your nephew or 2.5 year old flap their hands or spin? That and him not talking, and not really pointing and waving are the things that worry me the most. Tried to ask the audiologist about some of the stuff in hopes she may have had some experiences, but she really had no idea.

The 2,5 year old does - for fun or when exited. My nephew probably doesn't, at least I didn't see him doing it, but I don't spend much time with him.
However hand flapping or spinning doesn't mean autism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQnXCWcjBN0

About TV:
I can understand that parents can be busy and tired of taking care of their kids and using TV as babysitter is convenient but kids need attention. I suppose the language delay I see in my nephew and godsister are caused by not receiving enough interaction too. How is a kid supposed to learn using language if he spends most of the time in front of TV, without any two sides communication?
I have Asperger but I was saying 2 word sentences before 2 years old and at age 2,5 I was making long sentences with correct pronouns "A ty jeteś moja bacia./?", "A ty do mnie przyszaś./?" ("And you ar my grama./?", "And you kome to me./?") although I was saying it without making eye contact, checking grandmas body language nor using any myself - I was looking at a toy and fidgeting it during the whole conversation.
It must be because ever since I was a baby a lot of people were interacting with me and I heard nearly constant speech towards me ("This is a flower.", "We are going to home now. There is your home.", "Look what mommy got here!") and my grandma and aunt used to read me a lot of adult books (such as "Sir Thaddeus"). I knew speaking is an important skill to learn.
And we didn't have a TV to distract me from people.

Play with the kid, name things, ask him questions, speak to him, spend a lot of interactive time with him. He will start speaking in no time because he seems to have the natural ability to use proper communication. He doesn't speak much yet but from what you say he already seems quite fluid in using and understanding body language!
He just needs to be encouraged to practice speaking.