When my son was 2 I was told he had a speach delay.He didn\'t learn how to talk until he was 5yrs old. I thought He was all better and had no worries. Until he started kindergarden. Then things started spinning out of control. I had taken him to many docters to find he has autism. I wish I knew when he was 2, then I could have started on everything sooner and be more prepared.My son is 7 now and we do O.T. and speech.

Doug,

I wondered this myself when I read your post about the language delay! I always wonder when I hear of a child diagnosed with only a language issue at that age! I\'m a professional in the field and my 3 year old is also on the autism spectrum. He was diagnosed at 19 months of age, although I saw things as early as 4 months (but I had a twin brother to compare him to and lots of experience and knowledge to know what to look for).

I would say the biggest things to look for are behavioral. Does he tantrum a lot? Does he resist changes in routine or get really frustrated with what should be easy tasks? Does he do anything that looks \"self-destructive\" like hitting himself in the head, falling to the floor without regard to pain, biting himself, banging his head against objects? Not all children on the spectrum do these things, but these are definitely things to look for.

Other big issues would be social things. Does he bring you things to show you just to share attention with you? Does he have good eye contact? Does he play appropriately with toys, or does he occupy himself with just a few things, maybe obsessively? My son is obsessed with cars and wheels! He threw a huge tantrum today because he had to leave a toy school bus at daycare and couldn\'t bring it home. You would have thought it was the end of the world!

Obviously, the language delays are a big indicator, especially when paired with other issues. A lot of my experience tells me that once language improves, behaviors also improve because kids are able to get their needs and wants met using language instead of tantrums or behaviors. But, other language indicators may be echoing of things that they\'ve heard in the past, or parts of songs or TV shows.

Sensory issues? Does he dislike having his hair washed, loud noises, getting his hands messy? Does he get upset by the vacuum running, by tags on his clothing, by things being too hot or cold? Just more things to watch for!

I really insist you check out firstsigns.org! If I know anything about autism, I know how important an early diagnosis is and the resulting intensive early intervention! I know many children who I would consider \"recovered\" (a word we use very carefully in the field) because they received INTENSIVE early intervention. The regional centers in LA are great at providing services. Our son got 20 hours of in-home ABA therapy per week, plus speech and OT, and our family received respite care. For a little guy, it sounds like a lot, but it\'s what saved his life! I have many contacts in LA and the surrounding areas. Please let me know if I can lead you in any direction!!!!

Please let me help and answer any questions you may have! I know this post is probably very overwhelming and probably more info than you can absorb! Please, please check out firstsigns.org!

Keep in touch,
Clover (Sadmomoftwins)

My son is 2 years and 3 months now, but he was diagnosed at 18 months of age. He is profoundly autistic, so he was easier to diagnose. I agree about First Signs, it is a good place to start. Also, we did the mCHAT which is a screening checklist for 18 months and up (you can Google it), and that was very enlightening as well (he failed like 20 out of 24 questions).

My son doesn\'t do many of the things the previous poster said to look for and yet he is still very autistic. Each child is different. My child walks exclusively on his toes. Actually, he runs more than walks because he is low muscle tone which appears to most that he is very clumsy and falls a lot. He has a very high pain threshold so falls that should hurt him tremendously he does not even notice. He is only bonded to me (mom). He doesn\'t notice/care about any other members of the family or our pets. He doesn\'t make much eye contact and he doesn\'t speak or point or gesture. He is a fantastic eater, which is rare I am told. He has a lot of sensory issues. He needs to spin and be held upside down and swing a lot. He falls asleep easily but wakes up every morning at 3am and is done sleeping (ugh). He spends most of his time running back and forth on his toes, flapping his arms, and saying AH-AH-AH-AH. But he smiles and laughs too--often at things that no one knows about other than him sees/understands. He has lot of little seizures all day long, though a normal person would not realize that that is what they are. He has a lot of self-soothing behaviors that are not very socially acceptable. He does not play with out children. In fact he really doesn\'t interact with anyone other than me. He pretty much lives in his own world.

The best advice I can give you, though it can be devestating, is this. Find the mCHAT, read through it, answer the questions honestly, and then go and visit with a friend who has a child the same age, or even a little younger than yours. If your child is clearly autistic, the difference will be very obvious, and potentially very devastating. Still, it is better to know early than later.

I thought I was prepared for this when I went to see my friends with and their 18 month old; I wasn\'t. I cried my eyes out all night long, much to their confusion. They couldn\'t see it yet. But I knew what I was looking for and I knew what was missing. I watched their child read a book and bring me toys and look to me to see if I was watching him. Then I watched my son in his own world, existing without need of anyone or anything else.

The intial diagnosis is tough, but there is hope. It is better to get started early. My son has made a lot of progress for him since those early days, but he still has a long way to go. Still, we have hope.

Good luck to you.

Sarah

My daughter was just diagnosed with Asperger\'s. She is very bright and verbal but her self-care and social skills/social language are the pits despite constant working with her and getting help through infant and children\'s learning program. It was always obvious to me all along the way, but I work with special needs kids too so I guess I knew more what to look for. It was still a shock to finally hear it and see it on paper. She is almost 3 and is very classically showing all the Asperger\'s behaviors. Perhaps if your child is showing only one or two behaviors then it may take longer to diagnose. Some doctors don\'t even like to diagnose Asperger\'s until age 6. Hope this helps. Hang in there!

We just found out,like last week,that our youngest daughter has Aspergers. It was a shock to say the least, but we always knew something was wrong. The doctors in our area didn\'t listen to our concerns and this has caused a long delay in getting her the help she needed way back when... She too is lacking in social skills and doesn\'t like to be affectionate with anybody. It\'s all very confussing to me. Hoping to get some much needed support from some one who knows where I am coming from.

I highly recommend Tony Attwood\'s book Asperger Syndrome, there is a checklist in it that is the Austrailian Asperger\'s Checklist, very informative.

As far as the speech delay, from what I have been able to gather, there is a very fine line between Asperger\'s Syndrome and Hig-Functioning Autism. The primary difference is when the child learned to talk, if it was in the \"normal\" range of 2-3 yrs then they are Aspergers, but if it was 3 or later then it is High-Functioning Autism.

As for Speech therapy, make sure the therapist is giving them therapy in Semantic/Pragmatic speech not just Articulation. Many Aspergers/HFA kids do not have artic problems, their problem lies in the pragmatic speech area. Which means that they learn to say what is appropriate in a given situation like you don\'t walk into a crowded room and shout \"fire!\" just to see what will happen.

As for when we found out, our daughter was four and in a \"special needs\" preschool, we knew there was something different about her, but we weren\'t sure exactly what. We referred to her as our little butterfly - she\'d flit from one activity to another, lighting briefly then flying off to another activity unless she was engaged. Our original diagnosis was for ADHD and PDD_NOS, but the Dr that gave the diagnosis was a resident and her supervior wouldn\'t let her diagnose ASpergers. though she told us verbally that what Alyssa had.

She currently is in regular ed except for 30 minutes or math and 30 minutes of Written Expression at school as well as Speech and OT. I would also recommend Sensory Integration. We have moved recently and are currently searching for a new person to do this with our daughter.

your son sounds alot like the way mine was when he was younger. He was diagnoised at 18 months as well.
Though no 2 children are the same. He is 10 now anything I can do to shead some light for you. Let me know. I have to run after the big kid now.

I saw signs of my 3 yr old son (then 2yrs old) not speaking well, repeating everything, and obsessed with movies and certain objects, also high sensitivity to loud noise and temper tantrums. I know that these things can seem normal for two year olds , which is what I was told, but now he\'s three and a half and been diagnosed with autism. He has been enrolled in special needs preschool and is getting speech and occupational therapy.

clover - apologies...i only saw this response today. very helpful...i\'d say that my son seems to be passing most of the tests you outlined quite well...good eye contact and social-ness...

for now, i\'m going to keep my eye on it...but i really appreciate the advice.

doug

My son was officially dx with Aspeger\'s just after he turned 5. I knew when he was 4, about mid-year of pre-school. Once he began pre-school he began to have problems. On the second day of school, he kicked and hit his teacher. Up until then, he was an amazingly happy child who was very affectionate. We had never seen him hit anyone. He never had a shy bone in his body and never showed any stranger anxiety. Hindsight being 20/20, I know these are some signs. He also loved being hung or swung upside down like a clock pendulum. He\'s also dx with sensory issues as well as OCD. Being first time parents, we didn\'t realize the strictures he placed on us, like insisting on a particular sippy cup of water to bed each night. Having just a diaper on and a particular blanket on top of him only. Of course no tags....these made him extremely irritable.

There was definitely a lack of eye contact. My Mom picked up on it before I did. She\'s a Pediatric Nurse who lives out of state. But, whenever she was around, she noticed how he seemed to \"space out\" a bit. She thought there was something more to him and as I had a rather complicated delivery with him, she was concerned. He also fixated on certain things and when we went to playgrounds. He wouldn\'t go up to kids to play. He would go up to the adults. If he did go up to the kids, he would go up with a toy and kind of shove it at them. I believe it was his way of saying - Hi,let\'s play. It took quite some time to get past this phase.

During that year, we found his frustration level rise like never before. It really proved to us that there was something truly going on and our baby was handling something we knew nothing about. But, love, patience and understanding is getting us through with God\'s help. =)

When Maria was 1yr old I expressed huge concern over her lack of words. The doctors shrugged it off and said don\'t worry until 15months. At 15months the doctor said \"She is used to everyone else talking for her...make sure you tell her to use her words.\" I wanted to scream at that point because Maria had NO words to use. At 18 months I insisted on further investigation because not only was she not using words she was becoming withdrawn from our life. The doctor finally agreed because Maria was not putting two words together...at that point she didn\'t even have one! In retrospec I can see several signs from early in her life. From infancy she required a lot of sleep and seemed a teensy bit behind physically than the older chldren. She crawled late and didn\'t sit up until after she learned to crawl. Walking also came very late (after 18months). That of course is attributed to low muscle tone. To date she can not jump...even a little bit. Maria is very attached to me. As our teenage son Eric said \"Mom to Maria you are name brand, Dad is store brand and the rest of us are generic.\" She does make eye contact with me and some select individuals but not nearly as much as I want. Another thing that tipped me off and had me investigate more at the 18months stage was her resistance to new foods. We currently have her enrolled with speech/physical and occupational therapy and coupled with the amount of work that I, my husband and our whole family put forth...not to mention the work that Maria puts forth into her own development have paid off and we pray will continue to do so.

my baby brother used to sit and line things up (toys, crayons, blocks, barbiedolls etc, etc) for hours at a time. he was obsessed with the alphabet. his first word was DoubleYou or W. we found out when he was about 13 months that he has aspergers.

My daughter was 18 months when I started to notice, not just speech delay , but other odd behaviors, she didnt want affection, no eye contact, didnt like to play in the grass would sit in her red wagon.. But I will tell you early intervention is the key she is 2 1/2 now and improving, but you have to push and not quiet you have to be your childs advocate..

I knew something was up at between 15 mos and 18 mos. But did not think of ASD. All I knew about ASD at the time was Rainman. He wasn't that. He got diagnosed at 3 1/2. He suddenly "forgot" how to play with certain toys, puzzles. He started getting freaked out over certain benign noises. He panicked with certain people. He wouldn't always respond to his name (I even got his ears checked) Headbanging, tempertantrums, lightswitches, doors slamming and off hinges, fascination with fans of all descriptions, flashing lights, television credits, finger flicking, stopped eating with utensils, stopped eating certain foods, particular with clothes, fear and then obsession with water. Limited speech. Stopped saying mommy and daddy. Words came out like gibberish but he was trying to communicate, pointing and grunting, would avoid eye contact with certain people, would wear a ball cap over his eyes so that we wouldn't have to look at strangers. That and a few other things. Much better now at

Oliver was delayed in speech at 2 as well as no eye contact and he banged his head and had adverse reactions to the music player in school. He was getting worse as he got older. I noticed the symptoms at 15 months or so and by 2 I realized from research on my own he was exactly as the diagnosis came a year later PDD-NOS. Look bace a few days to the criteria posted by Butterfly. It is the best one I found to get to the truth. From what I understand Aspergers is when a verbal delay is not evident, and if a child does not talk, it is not automatically autism. I would wonder if yoru doc has a clue, because most of them don't.