Just want to know

[brainfizz]

Hi everyone, I've been on this forum before but sort of got lost in life but here I am again

I have Aspergers and have a 2 year 7 month little girl who I question if she has the same, we've been seeing a paedatrician every few months and each time she says she can't tell yet and I agree she is young and it is hard to tell but there are so many little behaviours that stand out to me.

She's always been different, even has a baby she cried and we could do nothing, she was very particular about what she wanted and didn't like to be held or cuddled unless a certain way or being fed.

 

Now she is older she does show interest in other kids but she seems very ahead of them and sometimes she holds her hand out to them like she does to our cats to call them over, she bends her head to the side and talks in a high pitch voice copying us how we speak to her in that 'mumsy' way to them. She plays games her way and seems so much older than children her age,she prefers older children and adults. She can seem awkward with other children, like they are just being 2 and flying around sometimes making contact as they do with other children whereas my little one is very aware of them and seems quiet sometimes and unsure of them, almost like an older child looks at a toddler having a tantrum wondering what to do or think.

 

She does make eye contact but seems she doesnt think to most times, she looks at strangers when they talk to her because it's new and she doesnt know what to do but with us she doesnt really bother making eye contact,and if she does it can be intense and almost like she is imitating, she also tends to look at one eye.

She has meltdowns rather than tantrums, often because a doll isnt sitting perfectly in the right position, a bit like OCD she has to have something just right and if we've left the house without her baby doll she will lose it completely, she is inconsolable and has bitten herself before and isnt aware of danger unlike a tantrum. Baby dolls are her thing and she loves them, she has quite rigid play. The meltdowns can be impossible to deal with and I just have to let them run their course, there is nothing I can do apart from keep her safe.

She is well behaved little girl, huge amount of understanding and excellent speech, a little clumsy sometimes, we've always talked to her, explained everything, given her options and got down to her level, I'm a trained nursery nurse so I know about child development and I've always use it with her and repeated back what she says etc. it's just this rigidity and ocd type behaviour, i want to help but i know i cant from my own experience, i also feel myself getting sensory overload in a shop for example and i look at her and know she is going that way too, i know to take her out of busy places and let her cool off. People are always delighted with her and how she talks is perfect, little sayings or sentences that are more adult level than child, or body language.

 

I suppose I just want to know, there's little things that i know would benefit her and sadly much support only comes with a diagnosis, if she has aspergers then i want the label because it means help and support and not going through her life wondering why she is different or struggling in school when she shouldnt have to, its hard because she is what she is and going to the paed appt in october doesnt mean that doctor will see something we dont, what happens here is how she is but i cant say yes or no for the life of me and im going mad lol. Mostly i dont think about it but the last few days it's all come up again, it can be so difficult taking her out, she is so rigid with everything,wont go in the pushchair but wont hold hands either etc, wants to push the pushchair with her baby or toy strapped in, some things seem just average toddler but that's the thing she never has been like other toddlers, but some things stand out a mile.

 

 

Anyway I suppose I am just venting here lol, there are no answers at the moment and that can be hard sometimes, i just need to support her where she needs and see how it turns out.

Thanks for reading and if you have any thoughts or advise please feel free

[Isobel]

She does sound like she could have autism. She's displaying a lot of the behaviours I used to do (and sometimes do now if I don't catch myself beforehand like repeating things people say)

[trekster]

There is a symptoms in 18 months old diagnostic score around but i cant remember the name of the test.

Very annoying as i suspect traits in my 5 year old nephew.

[Shnoing]

Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT)

 

look here: http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc_tests

you can download it only after you've checked some pop-up box, so I can't give you the "deep link".

[trekster]

Thanks for your help, is the idea that i send the completed questionnaire to Cambridge university and they give an opnion

on whether my nephew could be autistic?

[Shnoing]

I think it's more like a screening test and it should be discussed with your local pediatrician or branch of the NAS.