Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 11/13/2010

Question
Last year my daughter was a year old and started saying mama, dada, amen and bye bye.  She immediately stopped talking after she got the H1N1 shot.  Shortly after that, we started speech therapy.  We have been doing speech for almost a year now and she still is not talking.  She goes to a mommies morning out/preschool program five days a week and is the only one in her class that is not talking and really shows no interest in talking or playing.  I did not even think about Autism until a friend asked me about it today.  How do you know if a child has Autism? Could a shot cause it?  How old should they be to be tested, and how do they do the test?

Answer
Hi Caroline
I can't tell you that the shot was the cause, but I can tell you that when a child loses their speech, it is a red flag for autism. Since she is two years old and still not talking and showing no interest in playing, you must take her to be evaluated at this time. I'm glad she is getting therapy. I hope the therapist is working on augmentative communication at this time, since your daughter is not speaking. It's important that she has some way to communicate until she learns to speak.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But it's not a good sign that she is 2 and not talking or playing and lost the speech she did have at two years old.

In terms of the shot, you won't really know if that contributed, but I would report it to your pediatrician and to the Center for Disease Control and the Institute for Health. You should ask if they have had any other reported incidence of regression after the H1N1.

Keep me posted. I would like you to keep up with me and let me know what is going on. Feel free to write at anytime if you have any concerns or questions.