Expert: James Michael Roan - 7/14/2008

Question
Hi

My mother recently expressed concerns about my daughter, and after doing much research, and observing her, I am very worried too.  I cannot get an appointment with a specialist for a month, so I am out of my mind with worry, and need to talk to someone and get some answers...

Things that concern me. My daughter-
*waved for a while (several months ago) but now won't
*doesn't use words that she used to
*only says "My mummy", "Spot", "on", "gone", "there", "down", "ta"
*says Dadda, but I am not convinced she means her Daddy when she says it
*points at things with her hand, not using an index finger
*gets upset at seemingly nothing/silly things like having to wear a bib
*she does not do "pretend play" with toy telephones etc
*she doesn't mimic me if I clap/smile
*seems fascinated my garden sprinklers at the moment, and says "there" and seems almost relieved when I say "sprinkler" to her

Things that reassure me. My daughter-
*brings me books all the time to read to her
*knows hundreds of words and will point them out in a book, or say "there" and look at it correctly
*cuddles me and smiles when we are reunited after a short break
*cuddles her favourite toys and books
*looks at me when she is enjoying something on tv and smiles, likes to see that I am enjoying it too
*knows people's names
*plays peekaboo
*laughs and smiles
*passes me a chocolate to open
*reaches for me for comfort

Please tell me what you think.  Other relevant information- she has had several ear infections over the last 4 months.  We have a new baby who is now 2 months old.  We moved house a couple of weeks ago.

Thanking you in advance,
Caroline  

Answer
Hi Caroline;

She sounds more like she may have a slight social/communication delay than autism, however, definitely follow through with her check up. Autism is primarily a social delay ranging from mild to severe and she certainly is not severe with only a slight possibility of high functioning autism. Go ahead and download the M-CHAT and scoring instructions at: http://www.firstsigns.org/downloads/m-chat.PDF .

If she fails the M-CHAT we can discuss those details later. In any case the folks seeing her will want to look at your answers.

Kind regards,
Jim