can anyone offer insight on having an autistic toddler, pre-diagnosis age?
hi all. i’m 27, i was diagnosed with Level 1 ASD when i was 24. i struggled my entire life due to being autistic but never knew why until adulthood. my previous partner has an ADHD diagnosis, and we suspect he’s autistic as well. he has a late-ish diagnosed (preteen age) autistic son with a different mother (i am uninvolved in this child’s life), and then we have a daughter together.
our daughter is 13 months old. she had health issues from birth but had them surgically corrected by 7 months. she is considered advanced in all of her motor skills and feeding, and has been walking since 10 months.
however, she has no words, doesn’t try to speak, doesn’t babble much at all, and doesn’t respond to her name. she claps and flaps her hands constantly whether she’s happy or upset. she is unfazed by loud noises. she will laugh at me while i’m crying she prefers to eat spicy food which her therapist made note of as extreme sensory seeking lmao. she has just started getting in downward facing dog pose a lot and likes being upside down. she has a 99th percentile sized head with no fluid or any physical or neurological issues. she loves to cover her ears with her hands and hates wearing headbands but will keep earmuffs on with no issue. (i’m mostly listing things that i can relate to from an autistic female standpoint)
she was recently diagnosed with a severe speech, communication, and cognitive delay, and starts speech therapy next month.
i know it’s too soon to have any sort of evaluation. however, both myself and her brother were speaking on time, and i was considered hyperlexic. neither of us had very obvious signs of autism as far as i know.
with my daughter showing pretty blatant signs, i keep trying to find others who have children with autism that showed signs so young and would love to hear about their experiences and process. i’m certainly aware that a diagnosis is not possible for a long while. but i don’t know anyone else with an autistic daughter who showed these traits and i certainly didn’t as a child. so if anyone can share their story (if you’re comfortable sharing your child’s journey to diagnosis or no diagnosis) i am just seeing peer support i suppose.