Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 9/13/2009

Question
Hi, I am a mother of a 15 month old daughter and I am very worried about her development. I believe that she is showing many signs of autism. She has absolutely no words what so ever. She does babble to herself frequently but some of her consonants are distorted by her tongue. She doesn't try to converse with anyone. When she is asked wheres mama/dada, she has no idea what we are saying and so therefore doesn't look in our direction to acknowledge us. She is showing some other signs and I have listed them.

Resists cuddles, she is very hard to console.
Flaps her hands when excited, anxious and sometimes when she is walking around.
Rarely interacts or engages, but will approach you and loves attention without close eye contact.
Doesn't make/maintain close eye contact - often appears to be looking through you.
Resist's her hand's being touched and has meltdowns when being dressed-n-undressed most days.
Turn's away/squint's desperately from the sun or bright light's and covers her ear/s.
No waving hello/bye bye or imitating.
Has just started learning to point alittle.
Rarely respond's to her name, seem's deaf at times.
Cover's her ear/s when there is noise or when she cannot tolerate the environment (sometimes just normal house noise and if I touch her on the head or face area).
No imaginative play as yet.
Mouthing toys and objects constantly.
Has 3-4 loose bowel motion's most day's.

I have recently put her onto the GF/CF diet with supplements as I was advised by our family doc because of her bowel movements. We have been eliminating products slowly over the past few months and now have discovered that she is sensitive to gluten and dairy.

I really believe that she is showing red flag signs and I am very concerned for her. What do you think? am I right?

Thank you and kind regards
Julie


Answer
You are not just correct for being concerned-you deserve a medal. She absolutely is showing many red flags. You have already taken a very important step by putting her on the GF/CF diet which may also help her in other ways other than just helping with the GI issues. Next-you must start language stimulation. Let me know if you need help in this area as this is my area of expertise with children who have some developmental delays.

When you are ready, you will want to take her for a diagnosis, though be aware, that most professionals will not be willing to give her a diagnosis at such a young age.

But more importantly than the diagnosis, she needs a lot of stimulation in many areas.

Good luck and let me know if I can be of any help.