Tobey
I need a bit of help from any parents or people who have known autistic children. My son is 10 months old and he is a very serious baby. He was extremely oversensitive to everything from the time he was born (sounds, touch, everything made him scream for hours on end). He did not start smiling until he was 5 or 6 months old. Even now, a smile is a rare thing from him. When in public, he does not react to other people cooing or trying to play with him (stone blank face, and pulls away when touched). If we have visitors over and they smile at him, he turns away and hides his face, then fusses to go back to his crib, where he plays alone all evening. He has always seemed to prefer playing in his crib, in his room with the door closed than to being outside with us. He makes eye contact but there are times when he refuses to and will not look at you no matter how hard you try (retreats within his shell, it seems). He also has a terrible temper and pitches screaming fits several times a day. He does not like to be touched much - he jerks his hands away and cries if you wipe his face, and pulls away if you try to snuggle him. This is not all the time, but most of the time. Also, the times he has been around other children/babies, he avoids interaction with them and will not smile or show any emotion - once when a little girl tried to hand him a toy, he jerked back as if she were trying to prod him with a branding iron.
My mom suddenly thinks he may be autistic to a degree, but my husband and I think he's just a super-serious, extremely shy baby. I read that children aren't usually diagnosed until age 3, but I wanted to know what other people think, who have experience with this issue.
It has been tough for me as a first-time mom. His lack of emotion and seemingly unhappy or discontented nature is difficult to say the least. Now that he's 10 months old I thought he would be more interactive and playful.
Also, he doesn't babble very much. He's super quiet (hearing is perfect though, from hospital tests when he was born). Rarely babbles or makes sound (other than the frequent screaming tantrums). Once in a rare while I can get him to try and mimic something I repeat to him, but this is rare. When he does make sound, it's either screaming, grunts or 'Duh duh duh duh' (the latter not being too common).
Please let me know your concerns...as I know it's way too early for a doctor to diagnose him or anything.
Answer
My oldest son was dx with an autistic spectrum disorder at 25 months by a neurologist, however we suspected he was not developing typically at 15 months and witheld getting him evaluated because the pediatrician kept reassuring us he was a preemie and its ok. The pediatrician was wrong, he will be turning 8 and is still dx with PDD.NOS and was recently evaluated by a psychologist.
My middle son, we began noticing differences with him by 6 months, he was officially dx autistic spectrum at 9 months old by the same neurologist. He is now 3 and is clearly autistic spectrum. I regretted waiting so long on my oldest son and wanted support and services as soon as we suspected there may be a problem with our middle son.
At your son's age my middle son avoided eyecontact, smiled rarely, didn't imitate at all (began imitating age 2), and he repetitively played with whatever you gave him (for hours), he always liked to be held and cuddled but not for very long, rarely did he make sounds, he would however have tantrums lasting 20 minutes or more, sometimes daily.
Your son does have some good skills being able to imitate at all even rarely, and making sounds. However he does have some red flags that do sound more than just being very shy.
I am not a clinician, but based upon my experiences personally and professionally I feel that sensory integration issues are more probable than not. He can be dx with this this early. If you are in the states EI can assess him and provide OT sensory integration therapy for free, and you don't need a referral. This 0-3 time is so critical to get appropriate therapy going, and makes such a difference in the long run. Many people like to wait and see, and playing catchup after the fact never works as well.
As far as autism goes you probably aren't going to be able to get a straight answer for awhile. Typical kids look very quirky before age 3, making autism very hard to dx accurately. I have seen a program that stated they were accurately dx autism in 12 month olds between 60-80 percent of the time. If your co-pay isn't too high and you can afford to make him a pediatric neurology appointment I would do it. You can always cancel it later, its usually a 6 month wait to get in. Even if you do go in 6 months it will still be a wait and see mentality. They will observe him, ask you questions and tell you to come back in 6 months. Maybe they will give you an inclining of an idea as to whether they think it could be autism or not but its unlikely you will get a straight answer.
Here is a pretty accurate autism questionnaire that I like
http://www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html
When my 3 year old was 9 months and dx with an autistic spectrum disorder he did have a borderline score on this assessment of 49, over 50 is clinically significant for PDD-pervasive developmental disorder which there are 5 of (autism, asperger's, rett's disintegrative ect) Now my 3 year old is at an 82, down from an 89 which was his worst score at age 2.5 years so he is improving but he has been getting services this whole time.
Neither PDD.NOS sons flapped or rocked, sadly pediatricians know little about autistic spectrum disorders, mine did. My oldest did play with toys inappropriately but not until age 3 when he lined up cars in rows, and spun the wheels. Pointing is something that autistic children rarely do, it is a 14 month skill. Neither of my PDD sons point, my youngest was a late pointer 18 months he is not autistic spectrum. My youngest son who is now 23 months scores a 27 on the PDD assessment, nowhere close to the cutoff.
Just to mention about balls, I have heard this too, and my two autistic spectrum sons do not like them. I was told that autistic children in general avoid playing with balls because balls involve social skills like conversation, its back and forth, you need eyecontact, even rolling a ball, and these things are precisely what autistic children lack.
My oldest son was dx with an autistic spectrum disorder at 25 months by a neurologist, however we suspected he was not developing typically at 15 months and witheld getting him evaluated because the pediatrician kept reassuring us he was a preemie and its ok. The pediatrician was wrong, he will be turning 8 and is still dx with PDD.NOS and was recently evaluated by a psychologist.
My middle son, we began noticing differences with him by 6 months, he was officially dx autistic spectrum at 9 months old by the same neurologist. He is now 3 and is clearly autistic spectrum. I regretted waiting so long on my oldest son and wanted support and services as soon as we suspected there may be a problem with our middle son.
At your son's age my middle son avoided eyecontact, smiled rarely, didn't imitate at all (began imitating age 2), and he repetitively played with whatever you gave him (for hours), he always liked to be held and cuddled but not for very long, rarely did he make sounds, he would however have tantrums lasting 20 minutes or more, sometimes daily.
Your son does have some good skills being able to imitate at all even rarely, and making sounds. However he does have some red flags that do sound more than just being very shy.
I am not a clinician, but based upon my experiences personally and professionally I feel that sensory integration issues are more probable than not. He can be dx with this this early. If you are in the states EI can assess him and provide OT sensory integration therapy for free, and you don't need a referral. This 0-3 time is so critical to get appropriate therapy going, and makes such a difference in the long run. Many people like to wait and see, and playing catchup after the fact never works as well.
As far as autism goes you probably aren't going to be able to get a straight answer for awhile. Typical kids look very quirky before age 3, making autism very hard to dx accurately. I have seen a program that stated they were accurately dx autism in 12 month olds between 60-80 percent of the time. If your co-pay isn't too high and you can afford to make him a pediatric neurology appointment I would do it. You can always cancel it later, its usually a 6 month wait to get in. Even if you do go in 6 months it will still be a wait and see mentality. They will observe him, ask you questions and tell you to come back in 6 months. Maybe they will give you an inclining of an idea as to whether they think it could be autism or not but its unlikely you will get a straight answer.
Here is a pretty accurate autism questionnaire that I like
http://www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html
When my 3 year old was 9 months and dx with an autistic spectrum disorder he did have a borderline score on this assessment of 49, over 50 is clinically significant for PDD-pervasive developmental disorder which there are 5 of (autism, asperger's, rett's disintegrative ect) Now my 3 year old is at an 82, down from an 89 which was his worst score at age 2.5 years so he is improving but he has been getting services this whole time.
Neither PDD.NOS sons flapped or rocked, sadly pediatricians know little about autistic spectrum disorders, mine did. My oldest did play with toys inappropriately but not until age 3 when he lined up cars in rows, and spun the wheels. Pointing is something that autistic children rarely do, it is a 14 month skill. Neither of my PDD sons point, my youngest was a late pointer 18 months he is not autistic spectrum. My youngest son who is now 23 months scores a 27 on the PDD assessment, nowhere close to the cutoff.
Just to mention about balls, I have heard this too, and my two autistic spectrum sons do not like them. I was told that autistic children in general avoid playing with balls because balls involve social skills like conversation, its back and forth, you need eyecontact, even rolling a ball, and these things are precisely what autistic children lack.
Is it true that education with babies makes them smarter?
Yasir Ali
Is it true that if you teach your babies at a young age, that they may become smart.
I heard its true,because if you dont some cells- neurons will die out that work with brain, and every day stuff?
Answer
Well, in a way it is true. It doesn't mean bring out the flash cards and videos to try to formally teach an infant.
What is true is that babies need stimulation and interaction with adults, preferable a parent or consistent caregiver, throughout the day. They need to be held, touched, talked to, sung to, and read to. They need to hear a variety of different sounds and see many different colours and objects. Infants need adults around them to encourage their curiousity about their world.
They need to be encouraged at every developmental milestone: babbling, sitting up, grasping toys, pulling up, walking, etc. They need an adult who will encourage them and provide them with opportunities to learn and practice developmental skills.
They need to learn they can rely on adults around them to meet their needs and that they won't be ignored.
These sorts of activities and stimulation help the infant's brain develop to its fullest potential.
Well, in a way it is true. It doesn't mean bring out the flash cards and videos to try to formally teach an infant.
What is true is that babies need stimulation and interaction with adults, preferable a parent or consistent caregiver, throughout the day. They need to be held, touched, talked to, sung to, and read to. They need to hear a variety of different sounds and see many different colours and objects. Infants need adults around them to encourage their curiousity about their world.
They need to be encouraged at every developmental milestone: babbling, sitting up, grasping toys, pulling up, walking, etc. They need an adult who will encourage them and provide them with opportunities to learn and practice developmental skills.
They need to learn they can rely on adults around them to meet their needs and that they won't be ignored.
These sorts of activities and stimulation help the infant's brain develop to its fullest potential.
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