Expert: Paul Johnson - 1/19/2011

Question
Hello,

I have a question about my 16 month old son.  He learned to walk at 10 months and can run around the room all day now.  He is smart about knowing what things are, like if i say go get your tractor he'll go across the room to get his tractor.  He says about 7 words right now, but I've noticed that recently he has been loosing some of the words.  I think it is because we don't use them very often. and most of the words that he knew were not pronounced properly.  like ears would be easss.  He has also always been very moody.  When he was a baby he would cry all the time.  Now that he is a little older he'll be fine one day then crying alot the next. It's almost like he's bored and wants something new to get into around the house.  I try teaching him new words but he doesn't want to pay attention to me.  He'll wiggle free to go run around the room.  I guess the question I have is, is this all normal?  or is there signs of a problem in how hes acting?

Thanks for the help Ryan

Answer
Hey Ryan,

Thank you for your insightful and cha;llenging question.

If you have been following my responses here you would know that these are the most difficult of all questions to answer. Autism treatment is at it's best when one intervenes in early childhood, However it is early childhood where it is nearly impossible to give an accurate diagnosis especially because a lackof a reliable measure of language.

There is nothing in your question as it is constructed that would lead me to believe that he has any form of Autism. I believe his behaviors to be within normal limits.