Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 5/25/2009

Question
Hello,
My son is 2 and a half with a diagnosed speech delay. He has seen a developmental pediatrician, and a neurologist for his delay and because of a strange eye thing he was doing when he looked up at lights. They didn't say he had autism, but couldn't rule it out either.  His is currently undergoing speech therapy. He has recently (just this weekend) started to run around the house looking at the wall and floor with his head cocked to the side and his eyes far to the side.  He also makes a strange facial expression while he does this. He has been doing this a LOT and it seems like it's all of a sudden. The speech therapist thinks that his play and personality can be "rigid" at times. He also spends hours taking toys back and forth between 2 rooms, piece by piece, and puts them together but never actually plays with them.  
He is a very loving, interactive boy. He makes good eye contact and engages in back and forth play.  Does this sound like autism?  Thank you for your help and time!

Answer
Hi Holly

Whether your son has full blown autism or not is really for a doctor or psychologist to determine. However, being that autism is diagnosed from a set of behaviors and not a medical test, opinions can differ from one doctor to another.

What I will tell you is that the behaviors you described are characteristics of autism-notably the speech delay, rigid play skills, the repetitive behavior and the strange facial expressions with the head tilt.

How is his speech comprehension? Ask the speech therapist if his speech delay is just an expressive delay or if it is a receptive language delay (language processing) as well. And does he respond when you call him? Does he follow directions?

Get back to me on these answers and we will go from there.

Valerie Herskowitz,MA CCC-SLP
Author: Autism and Computers: Maximizing Independence Through Technology
www.valerieherskowitz.com