Does anybody ever wonder about autism in their infant?

Our son has autism and was diagnosed at 2.5 years.

The signs he had when he was a baby:

-Not making eye contact.

-Glaring at us, not smiling back when we smiled at him.

-Temper tantrums- starting early on. They were awful from the time he was 9 months old. At 13 months, he would tantrum for over an hour- AN HOUR...no matter what we did we could not get him "off" of what he was fixated on.

-No babbling at all.

-Lack of speech- he started to say mama at 12 months and then that was it until he turned 2.5 years.

-Aversions to change and to new situations. Taking him to the mall at X-Mas would set him off because of all the lights, people, etc. He was overstimulated. We attributed this to him having stranger anxiety.

Wheels on cars: our son's first fascination was with cars and trucks. If it had wheels, he was amazed. From the time he was about 15 months old, he was lining up his toys. I would play with him and purposely turn one of his cars in the wrong direction and he would see it after a time, and change it. He studied his cars and trucks. When he was 3, his fascination became Tornado's. Then, dinosaurs. We are on Lego's right now. He is building these amazing Lego cities.

The good news: Turning wheels on cars is normal. Our baby does this, and it's to see how they work. She is not autistic at all. There is a 10 year age gap between the 2 children. It's like starting over in every way possible because she doesn't have outrageous tantrums. If we take something away, we hand her something else (as we did with him) and she is fine. He was not.

He is 11 now and a delight.

I watched very carefully when she was younger and worried, but she is hitting all of her milestones on time. She is talking in 2 word sentences now- Hi daddy, Hi kitty, etc. She says, "See it..." she has a huge vocabulary. She is 16 months old now.

I would try not to worry as much. Enjoy your baby.

We knew something was wrong with our son when he was a baby. I couldn't get anyone to listen: 11 years ago, autism was considered rare. We were referred to a therapist because of his tantrums and the lack of speech. He was diagnosed at 2 years and 3 months old and started OT, PT, speech, and play therapy at that time, so he is doing well. He is mainstreamed in the regular classroom with an aide for him.

We tested his IQ at 8 years of age- and he tested out at 130. I thought, "Ok, that is pretty good...". Then I was told most adults top out between 100 and 120- and he was only 8! I cannot answer his questions anymore- they are very high level and they are sometimes hypothetical without an answer. He demands an answer: so we spend a lot of time googling. He reads college textbooks in science for enjoyment but cannot focus on say a Harry Potter book. He is an amazing kid!

Good luck to you!

My son is Autistic. He never did the wheels thing. But we didn't even know he was Autistic until his speech changed at around 18 months...he lost a bunch of his words and ended up with a kind of made up language. We called in Alien Speak. He went for Speech Therapy at 3 and they tested him. He's very very low spectrum. He's friendly and sentive and sweet. Low learning disabled and just this last summer developed a non convulsive form of epilepsy (he's 10 yrs old).

I've read a ton on autism and he didn't have ONE sign...except the speech thing.

An MRI has found some damaged areas (very small but very significant) in his brain that definitely caused the epilepsy and could have caused the Autism....it happened before he was born.

Don't worry too much. If your son is doing that for hours, then it would be OK to worry. But it sounds like he's just being a typical toddler.

To be honest, yes, autism scares me half to death. My three - year - old is the exact opposite of autistic, but it seems like every other young child is diagnosed these days. I have worked with many children with autism over the years, and it has been a truly rewarding experience. But I can hardly imagine what their parents experience. Imagine pouring your heart and soul into the child you love more than anything in the world, but he can't even say, "Mama" or give you a hug. Of course, many children with autism can learn to do those things, but there are others who never can.

With Baby #2 on the way, I find myself worrying even more about autism. However, I find comfort in knowing that if I ever do have a child with autism, there are many resources and therapies to help. People with autism have a much greater chance at leading a normal or a nearly normal life these days than they did 50 years ago, and I'm very grateful for that.

*Edit* To those who say it's genetic or caused by environmental factors, that's not necessarily true. A good friend of mine has a son with autism. Her son wasn't vaccined, she took perfect care of herself during pregnancy, and there has never been anyone on either side of the family with autism. It's the many "unknowns" surrounding a developmental disability that is diagnosed in 1 out of every 150 children that scare me.

I think turning wheels is perfectly normal. curiosity and learning the function of things is completely normal. You are scared, and that's normal we all have fears. One of mine is, well the whole Madeleine mccann story, ever since that happened, I have had my daughter sleep in my bed with me. I know, but it is a fear, someone taking my child while we all sleep. So I totally understand fear. I think if you are afraid of this, then the best thing to do is educate yourself for signs of it, because the more you know, if it ends up that he is, then the better you can help him. But I think he sounds just fine from what you are saying. Google early signs of autism online

it's normal... to worry.. I have a 21 month old and I still do even though she seems fine..

Turning wheels is pretty normal.. my daughter did that too and the fact that he likes turning wheels does not immediately mean that he has autism.

there's way more factors then that..

does he respond when you cal him by his name (even if he doesn't right away sometimes they do ignore you)

does he smile a lot

does he laugh

do you feel that he is aware of his surroundings?

even if those questions have a no, even then it still doesn;t necessarily mean Autism.. it could be a hearing problem etc.. if you are really worried talk to your pediatrician I am sure more and more pediatricians are getting used to having this questions asked to them.

Yes, I would have that concern today. We didn't know at the time that my brother was autistic (Aspergers). Another thing in our family to be concerned about is inherited depression and unfortunately, my son inherited it (being adopted didn't help the situation). I don't have it...I'm just a carrier.

The most common signs of autism in an infant is the tendency not to look into people's eyes and to have some developmental delays particularly speech. This was the case with both my brother and my cousin's son.

Current research indicates that it is environmental and that the damage occurs prenatally.

Behavior

Performs repetitive movements, such as rocking, spinning or hand-flapping

Develops specific routines or rituals

Becomes disturbed at the slightest change in routines or rituals

Moves constantly

May be fascinated by parts of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car

May be unusually sensitive to light, sound and touch

i would go to his pediatrician and if this advice does not help maybe they can help

-hope it helps

The Autism Spectrum is so vast now, many children seem to fall into the upper ranges, if someone wants to give them a label. There is no ONE defining "symptom" of autism, but there is a laundry list of "possible symptoms" that might lead to further invetigation.

KIds are fascinated by motion. It's normal for a boy to spin the wheels on a toy car - it's cool...Babies stare at lights or ceiling fans - they're trying to figure things out.

Does he make eye contact with people? Does he display a range of emotions? Does he run to give you a hug? Does he seek comfort from humans (as opposed to an object, or spinning wheels, or spinning hands...)?

We are living in a hypersensitive world to this now. Autism is not contagious, he can't catch it from his playmates, although he may imitate their behaviour becasue that's what kids do when they interact.

ETA:

Steph R- so many of the things you list could also be other things.....

Performs repetitive movements, such as rocking,

spinning or hand-flapping -

kids do this because it's soothing. I tend to have

hand flaps when I feel myself hitting panic mode

or feel unsettled or anxious. Done it all my life.

Does that make me autistic?

Develops specific routines or rituals/ Becomes disturbed

at the slightest change in routines or rituals-

Children crave routine. Structure is their friend.

Most people learn how to live with change,

some even thrive on it, but children like sameness.

One of the children I used to care for is deaf and from an early age, if her routine was altered at all she became very upset because she didn't understand. Just last month my neice was funny about her "routine" - I bathed them, put on their jammies, and let them eat dessert while watching a movie and then sent them to bed. But she hadn't brushed her teeth before putting on her jammies (her usual routine), she went into the bedroom, took off her jammies and went in and brushed her teeth naked because you always put your jammies on AFTER you brush. Finished her teeth, put the jammies back on and went to sleep.

Moves constantly -

ADD/ADHD or interested in many things,

just simply has a lot of energy or has the jitters (I often bounce on my toes when bored

or have my knee "jittering" while sitting)...

Some Autistic kids can sit and stare for hours without

moving

May be fascinated by parts of an object,

such as the spinning wheels of a toy car

Again - movement is cool.

May be unusually sensitive to light, sound and touch

I have vision problems - I hate really bright light, but

have problems seeing in low light. I startle easily

at loud sudden noises.

Someone else mentioned lack of speech -

my nephew didn't speak in an understandable mannor til he was 5 or 6 - turned out his undiagnosed allergies meant that he couildn't hear properly so the sound he heard didn't make sense to him.

According to your list, I should be diagnosed with Autism....

Trinisam!!!!! Ah doh understand yuh!!! How much Trini you know doh know how tuh use they tongue to inflict some serious emotional licks on anyone who they feel deserve it, although sometime they ain't deserve it but does get it anyway. The woman is ah product of Trinidad and Tobago, ok!!! And doh bother to contact no discovery channel or nova, they might get cuss too!!!

Actually no. I never worry. A lot of the time, it's genetic, and it doesn't run in our family. Those crazies that freak about the vaccinations just want you to think all these babiea are suddenly autistic. Don't fret yourself, it's not all that common, and your mom instincts would kick in if there was something off.