Could my toddler have autism?

57 answers /

Last post: 16/03/2023 at 9:30 am

ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 12:23 am
Hiya,

My daughter is 25 months old, here's a list of things about her...........

Not talking just says mum mum mum dad dad dad baa baa baa baa nan nan nan nan continuous as if just echoing.

Screams several times a day while smiling sometimes (not crying) since she was 8 months old.

Flaps her hands in excitement and when angry, flaps them so her hands are hitting each other’s, then her face.

She will get extremely distressed and upset with the shakes and she will run and hide when a phone rings, hoover is on or lawn mower.

She spins around in a circle since she could walk, her eyes looking to the side while doing it.

When asked for a kiss by only me she leaps into hysterics, will drop anything she has in her hands and run to me, then she pushes her head into mine for me to kiss her while she is laughing then just leaves all serious again back to what she was playing with. When anyone else says “kiss” she completely ignores them.

Very attached to my phone for the last year, if she sees me using it she will take it and play with it, she takes it everywhere with her, I bought her a tablet for herself but she would rather my phone. She is very good with dragging the puzzle piece with her finger into the correct slot.

She can see the tiniest speck on the floor and will try to pick it up. If she sees something small enough to put in her mouth she will.

She pulls her eyelashes when she is tired.

Her feet bow inwards (pigeon toed) quite badly especially the left foot.
She climbs everything. She is very clever in a way that she will study what she is about to climb first, if you go on you tube and type in "poppy12345678910" you will see what I mean.

Since about aged 7 months all she has played with are stacking cups (the ones that you put one inside another)

I have had to drive her to sleep every night for the last year and still doing it, she will only sleep right through the night if she goes to sleep at around 1:30am - 2am, I have tried everything you can imagine to get a normal early routine but it's impossible, it's like her body senses time.

She loves to watch things spin she gets very excited and mesmerised.

She doesn’t point to things.

She opens and shuts drawers, same with doors too. We would be in the fridge and she will shut our head in it, and will get very frustrated and upset when the door won’t shut.

When out shopping or park she will run and run, when called she ignores and keeps running unless I say "kiss". It’s like a trigger, then she'll laugh get excited and run back to me for the kiss and run back off again. She won’t play on anything in the park she just wants to run.

She doesn’t seem to like other children or seem bothered that they are there. She cannot share.

She hates to have sticky or messy hands.

She covers her eyes with her hands when the same certain advert comes on the tv, and when sofia the 1st (Disney cartoon character) starts singing on the tv, she stares like she's enjoying it after about a minute tears stream from her eyes and she shakes like she's terrified. The next day I put the same program on again and she did the same thing.

Things like lego and blocks HAVE to be in colour order, she will stack them up high all the same shape and in colour order, when I jumbled the colours up and added bigger pieces of lego to the smaller ones she was extremely upset, moved my hand away and put them back into colour and shape order.
She has no fear of strangers, my husbands friend (who my daughters never met) came over just to borrow something the other day and she didn't make eye contact with him but grabbed his finger and dragged him to her play room, she does this with all family members.

She likes to throw toys.

since age 4 months she has been watching mickey mouse clubhouse and still watches it, she will watch it all day while she stacks her lego or cups.

she has a major fit if I brush her hair but worse to brush her teeth, every night my husband or elder son will have to help me hold her down to brush her teeth, she is hysterical and its so upsetting but our dentist said its important because he doesn't want to have to put her to sleep because if he does he is not going to just give her a filling, teeth will have to come out!

She likes to play with my husbands feet (CRINGE)!!

She is extremely fussy with food. She cannot feed herself with fork or spoon.

She can’t drink her drink while standing or sitting, she has to lie down to drink.

She always walks on tip toes.

Up until she was 14 months old she wouldn’t respond to her name, she rarely does now.0

She likes to sit in small confined spaces, in a corner, behind the settee or under the stool.

She seems to have an itchy irritable face.

She is not afraid of the dark, she will shut herself in a pitch black room and play in it.

She has only just started to clap her hands.

She doesn’t understand what we are saying at all unless we say drink, dum dum or phone.

She always sits in a crouching position (monkey like)

This is the bit that confuses me a little...

She makes "great eye contact" with me and other close family members and is very "affectionate" with me. She is very different with her daddy though which is quite upsetting for him, every time he picks her up for a cuddle she squirms to get down.
She is "smiling" most of the time and "laughs" to herself a lot and at something on the TV.

I have been to the health visitor and explained all of this, she has referred me to the paediatrician but the waiting list is apparently so long and I am currently on beat blockers for anxiety attacks because of not knowing, I just need some answers sooner rather than later.

Thank you
0
LOU2019
LOU2019
24/06/2013 at 12:59 am
Sorry but why are you filming your daughter climbing on the cooker and playing with the knobs, do you not think this VERY dangerous?

She's obviously had her 2 year review and unless the health visitor was worried I'm sure she is fine.
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 1:04 am
In answer to
Anonymous
Hiya,

My daughter is 25 months old, here's a list of things about her...........

Not talking just says mum mum mum dad dad dad baa baa baa baa nan nan nan nan continuous as if just echoing.

Screams several times a day while smiling sometimes (not crying) since she was 8 months old.

Flaps her hands in excitement and when angry, flaps them so her hands are hitting each other’s, then her face.

She will get extremely distressed and upset with the shakes and she will run and hide when a phone rings, hoover is on or lawn mower.

She spins around in a circle since she could walk, her eyes looking to the side while doing it.

When asked for a kiss by only me she leaps into hysterics, will drop anything she has in her hands and run to me, then she pushes her head into mine for me to kiss her while she is laughing then just leaves all serious again back to what she was playing with. When anyone else says “kiss” she completely ignores them.

Very attached to my phone for the last year, if she sees me using it she will take it and play with it, she takes it everywhere with her, I bought her a tablet for herself but she would rather my phone. She is very good with dragging the puzzle piece with her finger into the correct slot.

She can see the tiniest speck on the floor and will try to pick it up. If she sees something small enough to put in her mouth she will.

She pulls her eyelashes when she is tired.

Her feet bow inwards (pigeon toed) quite badly especially the left foot.
She climbs everything. She is very clever in a way that she will study what she is about to climb first, if you go on you tube and type in "poppy12345678910" you will see what I mean.

Since about aged 7 months all she has played with are stacking cups (the ones that you put one inside another)

I have had to drive her to sleep every night for the last year and still doing it, she will only sleep right through the night if she goes to sleep at around 1:30am - 2am, I have tried everything you can imagine to get a normal early routine but it's impossible, it's like her body senses time.

She loves to watch things spin she gets very excited and mesmerised.

She doesn’t point to things.

She opens and shuts drawers, same with doors too. We would be in the fridge and she will shut our head in it, and will get very frustrated and upset when the door won’t shut.

When out shopping or park she will run and run, when called she ignores and keeps running unless I say "kiss". It’s like a trigger, then she'll laugh get excited and run back to me for the kiss and run back off again. She won’t play on anything in the park she just wants to run.

She doesn’t seem to like other children or seem bothered that they are there. She cannot share.

She hates to have sticky or messy hands.

She covers her eyes with her hands when the same certain advert comes on the tv, and when sofia the 1st (Disney cartoon character) starts singing on the tv, she stares like she's enjoying it after about a minute tears stream from her eyes and she shakes like she's terrified. The next day I put the same program on again and she did the same thing.

Things like lego and blocks HAVE to be in colour order, she will stack them up high all the same shape and in colour order, when I jumbled the colours up and added bigger pieces of lego to the smaller ones she was extremely upset, moved my hand away and put them back into colour and shape order.
She has no fear of strangers, my husbands friend (who my daughters never met) came over just to borrow something the other day and she didn't make eye contact with him but grabbed his finger and dragged him to her play room, she does this with all family members.

She likes to throw toys.

since age 4 months she has been watching mickey mouse clubhouse and still watches it, she will watch it all day while she stacks her lego or cups.

she has a major fit if I brush her hair but worse to brush her teeth, every night my husband or elder son will have to help me hold her down to brush her teeth, she is hysterical and its so upsetting but our dentist said its important because he doesn't want to have to put her to sleep because if he does he is not going to just give her a filling, teeth will have to come out!

She likes to play with my husbands feet (CRINGE)!!

She is extremely fussy with food. She cannot feed herself with fork or spoon.

She can’t drink her drink while standing or sitting, she has to lie down to drink.

She always walks on tip toes.

Up until she was 14 months old she wouldn’t respond to her name, she rarely does now.0

She likes to sit in small confined spaces, in a corner, behind the settee or under the stool.

She seems to have an itchy irritable face.

She is not afraid of the dark, she will shut herself in a pitch black room and play in it.

She has only just started to clap her hands.

She doesn’t understand what we are saying at all unless we say drink, dum dum or phone.

She always sits in a crouching position (monkey like)

This is the bit that confuses me a little...

She makes "great eye contact" with me and other close family members and is very "affectionate" with me. She is very different with her daddy though which is quite upsetting for him, every time he picks her up for a cuddle she squirms to get down.
She is "smiling" most of the time and "laughs" to herself a lot and at something on the TV.

I have been to the health visitor and explained all of this, she has referred me to the paediatrician but the waiting list is apparently so long and I am currently on beat blockers for anxiety attacks because of not knowing, I just need some answers sooner rather than later.

Thank you


To be honest she seems like a normal toddler to me. I think maybe your worrying to much and this is being passed onto your daughter. Most little ones aren't aware of stranger danger, have certain fixations and if your prepared to driving her around to sleep its now a routine to her. My daughter was completely mute, not even mam, until she was 2 1/2 when we bought her a puppy she spoke fluently a week after she also couldnt make eye contact and would hide when ever my cousin came, shes 7 now and last summer was the first time he had heard her speak although we see him every week and shes even stayed over at his. She's fine and its just been shown she's 2yrs ahead of her class. My 19mth is obsessed with doors and will shout and scream at people to close them even in a shop or the car he also sorts bricks by colour and size but so did my others. He also gets so excited by diggers I've been worried he's about to hyperventilate. I know it's easy to say but try to relax more about your concerns
0
ALICE D(56)
Alice D(56)
24/06/2013 at 1:12 am
Hi,

Not sure if I can be of much help, I have a lot of experience with autism in adults but not children. A lot of what you describe sounds like normal 2 year old behaviour though. Our DD is 3 and does or has done a few of the things you have described.

Has she had all of the developmental checks? Did anything get brought up then?

I honestly wouldn't worry yet about her speech either, all children start to speak at different times. Perhaps you could take her to a local Speech Therapist drop in session, our local sure start centre holds them once a month.

Please don't read too many text books about what each child should be doing by X age. They are all different and will all hit milestones at different times.
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 5:12 am
Hi hunni
Seems like normal toddler and ive gt son with adhd and autism but dont mean I am a nw it all.
But OMFG I watched tat video on youtube and she one smart lil girl.
Was she tryin turn it on ?

katie s
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 10:48 am
In answer to
LOU2019
Sorry but why are you filming your daughter climbing on the cooker and playing with the knobs, do you not think this VERY dangerous?

She's obviously had her 2 year review and unless the health visitor was worried I'm sure she is fine.
Yes I do think this is dangerous! I caught her doing it once and stuck mop and broom handles through the bars so she couldn't open it, I asked my eldest son to stand next to me why I filmed her do it, he would of been there in half a second if she was about to fall. The cooker was turned off also while filming.
0

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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 10:52 am
In answer to
Anonymous
Hi hunni
Seems like normal toddler and ive gt son with adhd and autism but dont mean I am a nw it all.
But OMFG I watched tat video on youtube and she one smart lil girl.
Was she tryin turn it on ?

katie s
Thanks Katie, No she was just fiddling with them waiting to sense I was not coming so she could climb on to the sides.
I wasn't going to carry on filming that because I was nervous enough.
I discovered she could do this because one day I was putting the washing in the tumble dryer so I had my back to her while she was playing with her cups, about a minute later I turn around and see on on the kitchen side!! the cooker doors were open lol my heart jumped in my mouth.
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 10:58 am
Health visitor was worried, she has referred my daughter with an urgent request but she advised me the waiting list is long, which is why I was asking for some advice.
went for a visit to a pre-school for children with autism this morning and she starts on Thursday so maybe they will be able to see if she has any autism traits.
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 10:58 am
I think there are traits there but as others have said every 2 year old will display a lot of them. I think if it is autism it will become more apparent around 3 ish when she will seem a lot different to her peers.
She has been referred so she's in the system. If you can afford it and want her seen earlier you could get her assessed privately but from what I've read on here it's pretty expensive.
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 11:05 am
In answer to
Anonymous


To be honest she seems like a normal toddler to me. I think maybe your worrying to much and this is being passed onto your daughter. Most little ones aren't aware of stranger danger, have certain fixations and if your prepared to driving her around to sleep its now a routine to her. My daughter was completely mute, not even mam, until she was 2 1/2 when we bought her a puppy she spoke fluently a week after she also couldnt make eye contact and would hide when ever my cousin came, shes 7 now and last summer was the first time he had heard her speak although we see him every week and shes even stayed over at his. She's fine and its just been shown she's 2yrs ahead of her class. My 19mth is obsessed with doors and will shout and scream at people to close them even in a shop or the car he also sorts bricks by colour and size but so did my others. He also gets so excited by diggers I've been worried he's about to hyperventilate. I know it's easy to say but try to relax more about your concerns
I am not a mess around my daughter at all, I am extremely loving and happy around her at all times!! I would never put stress or worry on any of my kids. And as for the driving, she was a fairly good sleeper up until she was 9 months old and we tried everything we possibly could but she wouldn't sleep until 4am - 6am  for weeks! no matter what routine I tried she wouldn't have any of it, so I resorted to taking her for a drive and within 10 -15 mins she is asleep. If I take her earlier she will sleep but wake up at around 2am and stay awake for hours.
Please do not take me for a rubbish mother that will not try everything that is possible to help my children have a normal healthy life
0
Can't find your answer?
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 11:10 am
In answer to
Alice D(56)
Hi,

Not sure if I can be of much help, I have a lot of experience with autism in adults but not children. A lot of what you describe sounds like normal 2 year old behaviour though. Our DD is 3 and does or has done a few of the things you have described.

Has she had all of the developmental checks? Did anything get brought up then?

I honestly wouldn't worry yet about her speech either, all children start to speak at different times. Perhaps you could take her to a local Speech Therapist drop in session, our local sure start centre holds them once a month.

Please don't read too many text books about what each child should be doing by X age. They are all different and will all hit milestones at different times.
Thank you, yes she has just had the latest visit last week with the health visitor and she was very concerned for my daughter and said she will refer her with an urgent request but to understand that the waiting list is long
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 11:14 am
In answer to
Anonymous
I think there are traits there but as others have said every 2 year old will display a lot of them. I think if it is autism it will become more apparent around 3 ish when she will seem a lot different to her peers.
She has been referred so she's in the system. If you can afford it and want her seen earlier you could get her assessed privately but from what I've read on here it's pretty expensive.
Thank you! Yes I will definitely look into it privately, If it's above my budget then I will wait but it can't hurt in trying, Thank you
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 11:42 am
Hi
I agree with EJ.  I type up letters for our School Nurses to paediatrics about autistic traits and although there are a lot of behaviours in your list that could arguably fall within normal limits there are also indicators worthy of further investigation.  Your HV agrees that this is worth a referral but the waiting list is long.  You could also ask your GP for help in getting the referral bumped up the list.  In our area you get a pre assessment with an experienced autism nurse who comes to see you at home and this helps the paediatrician prioritise urgent cases.  Do you know if they do this where you are ?

Also you can ring the paediatric dept at the local hospital (if they are the ones who are being referred to) and say you are happy to accept a cancellation appt.

Even when she has been seen by a paediatrician it won't be a case of one appointment and a diagnosis made.  But it will usually be a series of observations over a period of time and possibly multidisciplinary including Speech and Language and maybe Occupational Therapy.  Of course, these also have long waiting lists.  It could be that your DD is not autistic but has autistic traits.

In the meantime you are doing the right thing sending her to a preschool with experience with autism.  It won't hurt and your DD will of course be the same child whether she has a diagnosis or not.

Hope you get some answers ! x
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 11:48 am
Just had a wee look at your video and noticed you have other videos uploaded and mention a son with ADHD and aspergers - forgive my lack of knowledge - is it common for siblings to be more likely to have similar things? And with you having another child, I think you're more in tune to spotting traits than other parents because of your experience with your son.

Whilst most of what you mention sounds typical toddler behaviour, I think you are right to investigate to put your fears and concerns at ease.

Again my lack of knowledge here - is it normal for a child to attend a specialist school pre-diagnosis?
0
ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
24/06/2013 at 12:08 pm
In answer to
Anonymous
Hi
I agree with EJ.  I type up letters for our School Nurses to paediatrics about autistic traits and although there are a lot of behaviours in your list that could arguably fall within normal limits there are also indicators worthy of further investigation.  Your HV agrees that this is worth a referral but the waiting list is long.  You could also ask your GP for help in getting the referral bumped up the list.  In our area you get a pre assessment with an experienced autism nurse who comes to see you at home and this helps the paediatrician prioritise urgent cases.  Do you know if they do this where you are ?

Also you can ring the paediatric dept at the local hospital (if they are the ones who are being referred to) and say you are happy to accept a cancellation appt.

Even when she has been seen by a paediatrician it won't be a case of one appointment and a diagnosis made.  But it will usually be a series of observations over a period of time and possibly multidisciplinary including Speech and Language and maybe Occupational Therapy.  Of course, these also have long waiting lists.  It could be that your DD is not autistic but has autistic traits.

In the meantime you are doing the right thing sending her to a preschool with experience with autism.  It won't hurt and your DD will of course be the same child whether she has a diagnosis or not.

Hope you get some answers ! x
Wow, thank you so much! I have been dreading reading anymore comments, in case more people feel the need to judge me as being a terrible parent!
Just some helpful friendly advice is all I need, so thank you. I will ring the hospital now and tell them I am happy to accept a cancellation.
0