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suzanneiom1

upadate and abit of advice needed on my 23 month old

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Hi all i posted on here a few weeks back about my son, we had our first speech therapy session earlier in the week, as he does not speak at all yet, she just got some history from us with whats been going on and asked about his milestones ect.. she played with harley quite abit and was please he had good eye contact, and was playing with the cars. He has a hearing appointment coming up to see if he has any problems as he isnt talking, he does suffer with lots of colds and stands close to the tv so she is wondering if he can hear. He has an appointment at the end of the month with a child doctor just to see if there are any development delays or in my head maybe autism.. The speech therapist said as soon as harley walked in an flapped his arms she thought autism but at the end of the session said lots of children do it without being autistic.. I just wanted to ask with him not being verbal, flapping hands, could these really just be traits? harley always makes noices while doing things there all different, even pretend crying sometimes and iv just read it can be a form of stimming, is this true? could he have a sensory processing disorder, im driving myself mad here. I always thought kids making noices was normal, plus isnt he just experimenting with his voice as he doesnt talk???

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Hiya

 

It's quite hard to tell - non-verbal kids do experiment with voice. As you have said he does suffer with a lot of colds etc I'd rule out glue ear/hearing problems initially. From your previous post you seem to say that lack of speech and possible stimming are the only issues you see at present. As the speech therapist said, normal kids also flap at times. Does he play appropriately with toys? Is he sociable?

 

It is possible to have speech issues without autism. One of my best friends little boys didn't talk at all age 2, he babbled a lot, but didn't form any words. He also had the most ear piercing shriek that drove her nuts, if he wasn't understood. He actually has verbal dyspraxia which means he can't talk properly, but developmentally he's otherwise normal. He is getting intensive speech therapy and has many many more words now at age 4. My little boy didn't talk at all until he was 6.5. He wasn't even really vocal in terms of babbling either though as he had no desire to communicate with us for a long time.

 

I think at the stage you are at now, I'd try and avoid reading on the internet, unless you are looking at reputable sites like the NAS. You could try and find a local support group.

 

The two things you have mentioned are both considered autistic traits, but equally are things that normal kids do, and are seen in many other conditions other than autism.

 

If he does end up having autism, or any other special need, you are in the system nice and early so will be able to work on getting the help he needs.

 

Lynne

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I'm afraid you are at that stage where you do see alot of professional people, and it takes time before they decide if he has any condition or disorder. And it is an awful period of time.

 

Firstly they have to rule out any hearing problems. If his hearing is okay, then his hearing difficulties, or appearing not to hear and due to something else, maybe an ASD.

 

There will be a timescale within which children are supposed to start using words. When it gets longer than that is maybe termed a delay IF there is evidence that the child will catch up eventually [because that is what a delay means - that there is every expectation that the child will catch up]. Or a language disorder which is a lifelong difficulty [but the children still make progress with their speech, and if you heard them talking you would think their language was okay, but they would take language literally, may have problems with pro-nouns, find it hard to hold a two way conversation for any length of time, especially if not on their topics of interest etc.

 

Yes children do flap their arms, but those on the spectrum do, or have other similar repetitive movements. They tend to do them when excisted, or when stimming, or if trying to regulate themselves. I don't know for certain, but I think that typical children grow out of this flapping stage, whereas those on the spectrum keep their behaviours.

 

My son rarely flaps. It is not something I ever noticed in him but the SALT and Clinical Psychologist did. But he did spin alot, walk up and down the room or walk in circles, sometimes playing with this hands infront of his eyes, repeating dialogue from TV/DVDs.

 

On all the appointments we had with the Developmental Paediatrician my son never responded to his name, and although he played happily in the room with 5 adults [including parents], he never once asked anyone of us something, he acted like we were not in the room, and this meeting was for just under an hour.

 

Again, children making noises is typical, but also children with an ASD can also make repetitive noises. I know at this point you are probably screaming "so what is the difference". It is about having to take the time to see what skills develop, if his hearing is okay, seeing a range of professionals over the next 12-18 months.

 

What are his social skills like somewhere like at a toddler group? Does he interact, or attempt to? Does he play in isolation? Does he get very upset for no apparent reason?

 

Sensory issues often go hand in hand with an ASD. So google sensory integration disorder [or sensory processing disorder] and see if that sounds like something you recognise. This was the area where I could identify and recognise that my son had sensory issues and was on the spectrum.

 

It can be very helpful to keep a daily diary of anything unusual he does. I also made a video of my son playing with his sister. At the time I thought I was showing them how he did have imaginative play. Now, looking back and knowing what I now know about ASD, I can see that the video very clearly shows his difficulties with play skills, which although there has been some improvement, still continue today.

 

It is good that he is being seen so early. This gives you time to get any help or support in place for when he starts pre-school. Is he currently at nursery? If so what have they said about him.

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hiya thanks for you reply, yes he does play with toys properly and the past 2 months he has started to look round the toy and examine it properly where as he didnt do this b4, he has also just started to point this is in very small amounts though! so im wondering whether he is just slow at reaching his milestones?!?!

 

He is fine around other kids and adults, he can be very clingy, but he has not socialised with many people his whole life as family do not really bother so i wondered whether that was for lack of speech. Im fearful of the dx of him not talking more then autism if im honest, but i feel so what if he flaps his hands what does that really mean, its just the non talking bit im worried about.

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This is a link to the governments Autism Exemplar, it gives an example of how a child is processed through the health/education system. It will help to give you an overview of what should happen. In reality the timescales are often much longer. So it would be useful to you to have this to hand to give you an idea of what the timescales should look like, and which you can ask about.

 

Another document worth downloading is the SEN [special educational needs] Code of Practice, that can be found in the publications section at the top of the Education forum. This Code of Practice is for all children with SEN, so even if they eventually find he does not have an ASD, but he does have a hearing loss, then this publication is still relevent to you. This document details how the school, Local Authority and professionals should be working to identify and support any special educational needs throughout the school years.

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thanks again for your post, he will be starting pre school january, when we go to soft play centers and play groups, i suppose he will play next to a child but not get so involved other then to take there toy lol. he likes to chase and being chased by children and adults so i guess thats playing with them isnt it, when we were at the speech therapy session he often held up his toys to us so we could name it, so he didnt pretend we werent there. so im unsure really its just a waiting game

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Hi

 

I would be inclined to wait and see what happens when he goes to preschool,explain your concerns to them when he starts and see if they can make note of anything that concerns them, that way you have it in writing when and if you go for a diagnosis. My 5 year old had delayed speech until age 4 but he also had many other symptoms like eating at certain times and seemed to be just staring into space most of the day,no matter how much I tried to play games with him he was not interested.

 

My youngest now age 3 also had a delay in fact his lack of speech was slightly worse than Dan's in that Dan would make some sounds and babbles but Eli would not, however although he has one or two other symptoms I am not all that concerned. He went to a nursery full time from Feb this year and after a few weeks he was talking loads and even family members were saying how well he is doing. The nursery have said he plays alongside children rather than with them, but he has to ASD brothers so sometimes I wonder if he is just copying them because my eldest son who is not ASD won't play much with him cause of the age gap so he does'nt see an alternative. Also I was told by teachers at my son's previous school that many children play alongside each other often until the age of 5 or 6.

 

I would say with both my ASD boys it was definatley the lack of interaction more than anything else. That no matter how much I tried to engage, and I tried many different ways of engaging as both my mum and brother work with kids so gave me many ideas,they just would not do it. Sam who has aspergers is 8 now and at an ASD unit he is only now able to make small breakthroughs with interacting, he still has a long way to go but it is nice to see. The biggest things is he has started hugging me more often and its a proper hug.

 

As mentioned above don't read too much online it becomes confusing and can almost consume your life. It is a great he is getting speech therapy hopefully this will be ongoing and that they have given you things to try at home. He is still young with the correct support wether he has autism or not he will be just fine.

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