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Autism/15 month old shows some Autism signs

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Expert: - 4/9/2008


Question
I am a mother of a Happy little 15 month old boy, who has kept me on my toes over the past year with so many concerns on possible Autism...We have been through hearing test, and feeding evaluation's which he finally started eating solids at 13 months or so...For along time people would comment that he did not respond to his name ofetn and has always wanted to watch TV for long periods of times...such as kids TV..not just anything...For the most part he plays with his older brother who is almost 3 and runs and wrestles, but has no true words...No mama or dada with meaning or any other words...He recently got tubes for fluid in his ears...I have seen some mild improvement with balance..but no more words yet...he babbles and throws bad tantrums when he is told no or even slaps when he is told no...I dont always feel he understands commands or what I am saying to him....Should I be worried...I have asked many times about this to his Doctor, and it seems to always be dismissed....Thank You.....

Answer
Hi Heather,

I don't think that autism is diagnosable in a 1 1/2 year old. Doing a hearing test would have been the first thing I would have suggested, but you've already done that. Your son's symptoms don't have to be signs of autism, he could have CAPD (central audio processing disorder, which means his hearing tests may come out fine, but he may still be "hard of hearing" (do a google search on CAPD and see if this sounds like your son), or sensory integration issues both of which are common among autistic people but can also occur in developmentally typical people.

However, if you're worried, get a referral to an expert in the field (not your familiy doctor who will likely not know much about these things). You could also talk to an occupational therapist and ask him/her if they think he has sensory issues. It's impossible to say more without knowing the child.

Hope this helps,
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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