My 15 month old is presenting with many signs of Autism, but my wife is telling me I'm crazy.
Hi all,
I'm wondering if any of you had a similar situation where your kid meets a lot of the signs but also exhibits many neuro typical behaviors as well. Because I was accepted for 40 minutes per week from early steps due to his expressive language not matching his receptive. Though they said it was just precautionary and they don't necessarily see anything that far out of the ordinary. I certainly do though. And just want to know what you think.
Possible ND behaviors:
He doesnt like eye contact but will make it often from a small distance. Up close he will purposely look at other things to avoid it but from 5+ feet away he doesnt mind it as much. But he never sits there staring at me the way i see other babies do.
Cant sit still ever and seems to have an overactive nervous system that makes him breathe intensely as if hes nervous often. Like i mean hes never just sat on one of our laps without squirming to get off. This also leads to constant restlessness and whining and the whine often has a little bit of hyperventilation with it. Gives us a rough time with anything we have to do like feeding, changing, bathing etc. all around he just never seems relaxed or calm. Like seriously ever. As if his nervous system is stuck on fight or flight. And his head and eye movement seem more rapid than his peers who seem comatose by comparison.
Only started babbling at 8.5 months and even then it was mostly the same sound or little variations of it. Now at a 15 months old he just points at things and says ah! ah! And hes never really babbled much and definitely no conversational babble. He makes noises to immitate mechanical sounds very often but theyre mostly the same two noises and definitely not a babble. He squeals when running or from excitement. He has a few words like an approximation of cracker where he'll say caca in a high pitched voice and will say the same for caca when we change him. Also a one syllable approximation of empty when he puts his hand in something and its empty. He makes animal noises for some animals but only a few are anything resembling the right ones and the rest are kind of just a one noise fits all.
Wakes like 3-4 times per night crying. But can be quickly put back to sleep with a bottle.
Doesnt like touch and will push my hands away or push himself away if i hold him close. Though, if he wants to touch me that seems ok by him.
Terrified of new people to the point of crying until taken away. Doesnt even completely warm up to my nieces when theyve been by me for a week.
I can only calm him down when he gets all nervous and whiney by putting him next to the sink and letting him run his hands under the water for 20 minutes or so. Either that or flying him around the house in my arms but the second i put him down it comes right back. Taking him out for a walk seems to redirect it mostly as well.
Responds to his name about 75% of the time and sometimes will let me sit there saying it like 5 times without looking. Outdoors its more iffy than indoors.
Grabs anxiously at the back of his hair many times a day. And when wanting something he cant point to, or to be picked up, he whines anxiously while looking past me and curles his hands inward oddly. And he half the time doesnt actually want anything specifically. Its more of just an anxious freakout.
He seems to babble less now than he even did at a year old and he really didnt babble much then. Also cant make a certain sound he once could which is bababa. He mostly can say caca , mama, or gaga.
I know this one sounds counterintuitive for an ASD forum but he cant play alone. We cant ever just put him in a space with toys and have him play with them and give us a break. He needs constant stimulation by us pretty much at all times. Zero breaks.
He doesnt really show emotions. Im not sure how many he should have by now but i havent seen him cry if someone else does. And i havent seen anger. Or surprise. More just startled, afraid, nervous, happy. Also doesnt laugh often. We kinda have to make him laugh.
Looking back, he cried a ton of his first 4 months of life and couldnt really be put anywhere like a swing seat or anything as he was always uncomfortable much like now. He also had strange movements that looked like spasms as an infant but the eeg's didnt find anything. He had a violent vacuum birth that looked to me like they nearly twisted his head off taking him out, but they assured me he wouldnt be crying if he werent ok when he was born. I didnt believe that and git an ultrasound but that came back normal.
Supposedly NT behaviors:
Plays peekaboo by hiding behind things and popping out, sometimes while laughing.
Points, waves, claps, smiles.
Knows what sound about 7-10 animals make if i ask him or show him the pictures of them, but its become lower effort and he honestly used to be better at the sounds a few months ago.
Knows a bunch of words and i can tell him to do things like find my belly button or his, and show me parts of my body like fingers and toes when i ask him to. I can tell him to walk backwards or stand on one leg or get the remote out of a droor and turn on the tv and he can do all that, and has done those since he was 13.5 months old.
Walked perfectly by himself including while carrying things at 11 months old.
Immitates the noises of things like the vacuum cleaner or pouring water and knows the names of them so if i mention them, he'll make their noises.
Knows how to give me things if i ask for them sometimes and seems to know who he is and who all 3 caregivers are by name.
Can put rings on a cone and shapes in their spots and push things back and forth with me like a ball, though he gets what seems to be anxiety and ejects from these activities after like 20-30 seconds.
Gives me a big deep hug if i ask him sometimes.
Seems to know a lot of words receptively. Maybe around 50-75 in two different languages but says basically nothing. Ive heard bilingual homes delay speech but i havent known them to delay babbling or the ability to even immitate an easy sound.
Thanks guys, and sorry if im wrong about the significance of these things. Im probably forgetting some but this is most of it. Wondering if any of this sounds familiar to anyone and how its going.