Expert: James Michael Roan - 3/12/2008

Question
hi i am really worried as i have read some of the symtons on a web site on autism and my son has just about everyone of them i didnt even know some of th symtons were an issue i was just a bit worried about him keep banging his head when he is sat in his hire chair but when i have looked at the symtoms he does the following: he is 18 months old and doest really say anything,he sometimes spins around in a circle not that often though, he loves wheels on cars and other toys,he loves spinning tops and toys that spin,he walks on his toes most of the time,he always flaps both hands when he gets excited, he sometimes shakes his head and as i said before bangs it alot and he only has done this once so far but the other night he was just laughing most of the night for no reason from all of this i am convinced he has got autism and i have got and appointment with my gp in a weeks time and then i have to wait to be refered to the hospital i just wanted to know if he does all of these can there be any way he doest have it. i have to wait so long for the referal and everything i just wanted some answers before many thanks

Answer
Hi Jennifer;

It is not likely that it it is anything other than autism with all of those behaviors occurring together. It is good that you are having him evaluated. To be safe, download the M-CHAT and scoring instruction from the links below. Fill it in with notes and take this to your GP for a referral to an autism team in your area.

http://www.firstsigns.org/downloads/m-chat.PDF
http://www.firstsigns.org/downloads/m-chat_scoring.PDF

Kind regards,
James