Paranoid about early signs of autism?

i'm noticing some behavioral differences between my 2 girls. elena seems to act appropriate, repeating words when i say them, behavior-wise, she cries or throws a fit, she's more patient. sadie flaps her arms a lot when she's nervous or impatient or upset, and grunts a lot rather than trying to say a lot of words. she does say some words, but not nearly as much as elena. am i paranoid or can these be early signs of autism or some other disorder??

 

I've looked out for it a couple of times because my DD's are soooo different and miles apart developmentally and physically. There are a lot of sites out there that list some of the signs. We've also had my DD checked by a neurologist. In the end I think it's because we are first time parents and we have two the same age at very different stages.
One walked at 13 months the other 18 months. One is upto 20 words and putting words together, the other maybe 3 words, one can climb and understands/follows directions, the other is just starting too but has more behavior issues.
Again, I've talked to many people and they all say it's normal and all kids develop differently. Its frustrating but I've learned to go with the flow and continue to watch...




http://www.autismspeaks.org/whatisit/learnsigns.php

 

It's so hard not to compare--but don't compare! LOL It's so easy to say that yet I do the same exact thing. My boy twin has a couple of early signs of autism and we are definately on the look out for other signs. However our signs are different, he doesn't make eye contact (a little more now), he spaces, he gets very stuck on certain toys and can play with just those for quite some time. There are a couple others but those are the big ones, for us. I would talk to your ped and see what they have to say and you can always have her evaluated by EI just to help ease your mind if nothing else. :hug:
If those are her only signs then I wouldn't worry and just keep on doing what you're doing. All 3 of my little ones are so different and they all learn in such different ways. Just like talking, half the words that one has the other doesn't. Also the way they say words are totally different, just two different minds
:hug:

 

There are so many different disorders/delays out there besides autism.

My one son has Sensory Processing Disorder. What you are describing is exactly what he does. He's done this since he was a little over a year old. He started occupational therapy in November and we've seen a HUGE improvement in his eye contact. The being "stuck" on certain toys is called being hyper-focused. He gets an hour of OT once a week.

He also receives speech and developmental therapy and I honestly feel if he would have received OT first (he's been in the other two for almost a year now), he'd be further along.

Here is a good site that explains SPD.

If you are concerned, get an OT evaluation with Early Intervention.


Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was diagnosed as a child with SPD. I figure if the worst thing Josh becomes is an olympian, I'll be ok with that. :ibiggrin:

 

I don't have an answer, just to say that both of mine have been slow to speak. but my ds has tons more words than my dd. for our situation I'm not worried about anything, they are just developing at different speeds. if you're really worried, I would ask the nurse at your dr. office if you should come in for a consult? good luck!

 

I just want you to know that you are not alone in your worry. I happen to be an early special educator (2-5) so i know almost too much about autism. In the end it has made me scrutinize over everything they do or don't do. I think pp is right about how being a first time parent we really are not sure what is typical. I have tried to ignore my worry ( because I am a worrier by nature.) I have however gotten them both approved for speech therapy through EI. I now teach the 5 year olds and when I read their background info and all the "signs" they had it's unbelievable to see how "typical" they are. a lot of my students no longer receive special ed by Kindergarten and at an early age they definitely presented with numerous autistic characteristics.

IMO...stop worrying about autism (you will drive yourself nuts), but pursue therapy if you feel she is lagging. They help tremendously!

 

This sight is great....It really explains it so clearly. I will definitely give parents this site if their child has sensory need ( or I'll have the OT do it) I think a lot of times child are misdiagnosed autistic when they actually have sensory needs.

 

What is really confusing is that his OT said a child can be autistic with SPD and developmental delays or they can just have SPD & developmental delays without being autistic. :headbang:

Right now I'm trying to find out exactly what he has. We have a medical diagnostic with EI on the 28th and I'm hoping to get an answer.

 

I’m not a doctor or a specialist, have done a lot of reading. You might get really good answers if you PM the moms who have had experience with this. You can also ask experts on answers. com.


My non-expert guess is, IMO Those 2 things by themselves don’t mean anything. If there are other things you are concerned about, they might be relevant, but these 2 by themselves don’t mean anything in respect to what you’re concerned about.

Yes, it’s true many kids with ASD hand-flap or stimm/stereotypy, but so do many, many kids with Sensory Processing Disorder and many, many kids without any other mental or neurological differences from the norm. I know at least 1 perfectly normal exceptionally bright little boy personally who makes show hands flapping when excited(who is definitely not ASD and advanced at 2… whole sentences and says words like ‘persimmon’ and is super-affectionate and engaging. ) A large percentage of children (don’t remember what I read, I think it’s like 3%-10% of all children have some of this stereotypy behavior as toddlers where, while it’s common in ASD less than 1% of the population has ASD.

Your daughter MAY have a speech delay and need speech therapy. Is their Dr. concerned about how many words she says? Please know that speech disorders and delays are VERY common in twins. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get them help, but that it’s common. Some environmental reasons can be they don’t get as much 1-and-1 attention from parents and they pick up speech errors from their siblings AND 1 sibling may be speaking more/for the other. That said, I’ve read kids that are speech delayed who ‘grunt’ usually end up having less problems vs. ones that don’t. Here’s a non-scientific article re: speech, see re: grunting. http://www.babycenter.com/404_my-18-month-old-doesnt-talk-yet-what-should-i-do_6893.bc



I’d have her pediatrician get her a hearing test to make sure her lack or words isn’t a hearing problem. I’d get her assessed and into speech therapy.



My gut would say maybe speech delay and a small possibility of speech disorder and/or Sensory Processing Disorder. FYI, I've read articles that say stereotypy MAY be more common in kids with speech delay.


So… these 2 symptoms by themselves? Not concerned about what you’re worried about. If she doesn’t have any other ASD symptoms. IF you are concerned about eye contact, her smiling at people while maintaining eye contact, her social interaction, playing with toys inappropriately (lining up cars in a row, etc.), not responding to her name ever, not pointing or gesturing, etc… then those things might be of more concern for what you are concerned about.

Get her checked out for the speech. IMO at worst she’ll be absolutely fine with therapy- IF she needs it.

 

Judy
I'm in the same boat! We know he has sensory processing disorder and we see some signs of autism but not others. He LOVES people and greets new people immediately with hugs and hellos. Language is very slow, at age 2 my ds has only 50 words. He twists his hands and feet a lot when eating and flaps his hands. He is in ot and speech already. We also have an EI assessment April 29th and a neuro appt. April 9th, we'll see....
It's hard waiting but I take comfort in knowing we are already in therapy regardless of the diagnosis...