Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 9/18/2011

Question
I was wondering if you could help me with this question.

I have a two-year-old son. Even though was born 2 months early and is still late in his speech, we are happy with his development. Our doctor also said he is pleased and there is no problem so far.

However, for the last few days, we observe this problem. Sometimes he slapped his face one or two times without any clear reason. For example, this evening it went like this. He was playing lovingly with me on the bed. Then his grandmother came into the room, recounting the fact that during the morning when I went to work, my son liked to play with a ring. Suddenly he screamed and slapped his face two times. When I told him to stop, he cried. Something like that has happened over the last few days. We could have understood if he hit US. But we are confused why he suddenly hit himself like that even though at that moment, everyone was happy with him.

I read that self-harm tendency is also one of the signs of autism. But there is no other signs to say that my son is suffering from this issue. So we are very confused.

Thank you very much.

Answer
Hi Kevin

Here is the big question: How late is he in his speech. In other words, is he talking? What exactly is his verbal abilities?

The reason that is such an important question is that when you add up a language delay with self injurious behavior, we are going to have a bigger reason to be concerned.

However, I would be concerned about the fact that he is hitting himself even if that is the only problem. It is a sign that he is frustrated about something and is "over the top" in terms of how he is reacting to it.

Write me back and we will go from there. A child of 24 months should well over 50-100 words minimum that he is expressing on his own to communicate himself and be putting 2-3 words together to form phrases. If he is close to this, that is one thing. But if he is far from this, then that is another thing.

Write me back and we will get to the bottom of this