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Autism/could my 14 month son be autistic

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Expert: - 11/28/2007


Question
I have a 14 1/2 month old son and have begun to really worry about his development.  He does not wave or point.  He does reach for things he wants.  He makes good eye contact most of the time and smiles and laughs often.  He answers to his name,  he reaches up when he wants held and does a few simple commands like come here or hands up .  He says mama dada and nana for banana.  But he wont hand me things if i ask, instead he would rather throw them on the floor.   He hasnt started pretend play nor does he bring me things to show me though he does make eye contact when he wants me to do something at least until he gets frustrated.  He does like to spin wheels on a train but only for a minute before he starts pushing other buttons. He likes to play alone but doesnt mind if i join in.He babbles some. Oh, he is walking and climbing.  Should i be worried?

Answer
Hi,

as I said in my disclaimer, I'm not a doctor, and I can't diagnose your child with anything.

It is really impossible to tell from a few lines of text if a child is on the spectrum. He does eye contact and is answering to his name as well as playing with you. This doesn't sound like he's autistic.
I honestly can't tell if he has some developmental delay or not as I don't know what would be normal for a child of his age. I'm really sorry I can't help you with that question.

As with all medical questions, please go and see a specialist if you're worried.

C.

Autism

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*DISCLAIMER*

Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist
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Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day. I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.

I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).

Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.

Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.

Experience


As I'm not doing well right now and am not in the shape of answering questions well - I recieved a few low ratings lately - I'll take a break from AllExperts for the next few weeks/until I'm doing better

I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.

In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area (AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).

Education/Credentials
None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !

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