This doesn't sound like mild autism to me

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

One of my Facebook friends, a lady I used to work with, has a grandson who just turned 2 years old. In the past few months, the family has noticed that he hasn’t started talking, or apparently even understanding words, although he definitely is not deaf. She does in-home daycare, and at the same time the other children, who are all preschoolers themselves, have asked her, “What’s wrong with him?”

She also says that she’s already gotten dirty looks while out in public, and she raised 4 kids (3 bio, one step) so she knows the difference and that no, it’s not because she’s more sensitive to it because she knows he has special needs.

BTW, this isn’t her first experience with special needs kids. She has said many times that she and her husband had been through a lot together in their 20-plus years of marriage; until recently, I had no idea just how much. Her stepdaughter, of whom her husband always had primary custody, was diagnosed with cancer about a year after the place where we worked closed. :eek: :frowning: She’s a healthy adult now.

Anyway, I don’t doubt that they will do the best they can to get him the help he needs, but I just can’t imagine that a person with “mild autism”, which is what she posted, would be diagnosable this early, or have symptoms that profound.

I have seen commentaries from people who said they knew their child was on the spectrum before they left the hospital, even kids who were very mildly affected, so I do know kids are born that way and don’t get it from vaccines or other similar nonsense.

2

There are many other causes of developmental delay/problems than autism. What exactly are you asking?

3

Autism can certainly be diagnosed early. Your statements seem contradictory, so I can’t work out if you’re asking how soon diagnosis is possible, or if she has received the wrong diagnosis, or ?? I also can’t tell from your OP whether the grandchild has received a formal diagnosis or not.

Could you rephrase?

4

Just turning two and not talking is troubling but still on the far side of normal. It is troubling enough that the parents should start talking to the doctor about it. My younger daughter was almost non-verbal at two but started talking soon after. However it was obvious she understood words and understood concepts well above her age level. She did wind up being mildly autistic.

5

Your OP could be a description of my Small Boy at 2. He ended up with a diagnosis of “mild to moderate” autism. These days he’s in mainstream school, hitting age-appropriate targets, and I’ve never had anyone (who doesn’t already know) comment that he seems ‘different’ - though he still is, under the hood.

Early Intervention FTW

6

Well people used to call Asperger’s mild autism, but Asperger’s is not associated with a speech delay, and they’ve reclassified everything now to just Autism Spectrum Disorder. Sometimes most of the hallmarks of autism are there, such as no eye contact, speech delay, stimming such as hand flapping but they aren’t quite as severe and they get diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. The most important thing is to get an official diagnosis and start educational and behavioral interventions as soon as possible.

7

I think your question is about the word “mild” is that correct? If so, yes. Severe autism is worse than you seem to realize. If he is interacting and communicating (just not verbally) then it is mild or perhaps moderate.

8

According to my mother, I didn’t talk until quite late. She was so concerned that she consulted specialists, who told her not to worry and that once I started to talk I would not stop. Still haven’t.

9

Screening and evaluation can be done as early as 18 months. Autism, like few other neurological or deficit disorders, responds extremely well to intensive therapy if begun early enough. The effective window is about 18-48 months, after which the returns from even intensive therapy begin to decline steeply. The less the severity, the more likely timely intervention can correct the deficits completely and put the child on a mainstream education path.

The OP’s acquaintance should get an evaluation by the best available pediatric neurologist in their area. It can take weeks or months to get in for an evaluation; they need to be calling NOW. RIGHT NOW. Not after they’ve waited a few more months or a year “to see.” Think of it as waiting a while to see what that painful lump in a breast or testicle might be - you don’t.

10

This sounds exactly like my child. Age two is entirely plausible for an autism diagnosis.

11

My son didn’t start talking till past 2. But once he started, he spoke complete sentences. Eventually he graduated phi beta kappa from Princeton and has written 2 books. No signs of autism.

12

There is a great deal more to autism than “not talking.” The basic signs can be googled, but nothing is a substitute for a professional evaluation as soon as one can be arranged.

13

I don’t understand why she thinks she gets dirty looks in public. How would random passersby notice anything amiss?

14

It was a formal diagnosis.

15

What was a formal diagnosis? Your OP says anything but.

16

They took him to a doctor who does this kind of thing and got the diagnosis. :rolleyes:

I have not met this child; he may be the type that you can tell something’s wrong with him the instant you meet him (I get the impression that this is the case) or maybe you have to spend some time with him to figure it out.

17

Okay. Your OP is a little unclear but now it all makes sense.

Autism can be diagnosed with some precision at 18 months and some doctors have made reliable diagnoses at a year. Obviously, it depends on severity. If the child you reference really has a “mild” case, then appropriate therapy can put him or her back on a normal educational and life track. I hope they got good information and are not relying on public school or Birth to Three programs.

18

Okay, parent of a child on the spectrum. What I wish I knew then that I knew now. We didn’t get to a diagnosis until 6 years old after we moved back to the US. Our pediatrician, who we love dearly (he resuscitated my daughter at birth), had no experience with autism. My wife saw a Chinese autism doctor and he immediately pegged my daughter as obviously non neurotypical. We have a neurotypical twin daughter. We knew something was not right. I eventually uprooted my born and raised in China family to move to the US to get help. Let’s just say my only true regret in life was not moving to the US for help years earlier. You simply don’t get a second chance at early intervention…

Grandma’s gut feeling is probably accurate in that grandchild is outside the normal spectrum for his age group. Please don’t ignore this gut feel.

What it may be is something to get some pro’s involved with. Maybe it is late development yet within the normal range. Grandma’s spidey sense that this is something outside of the normal range may prove to be false. IMHO, care givers that spend a lot of time around kids at the age just “know” when it isn’t normal. There may be nothing to worry about but Grandma is probably right. Why take the risk?

That said, early intervention is HUGE for autism. As a spectrum parent, here’s why: Kids on the spectrum can’t communicate. Think about being 2 years old and not being able to say “want more ice cream”, “watch tv” “play with dog” “need to poop” etc. The 2 year old has a form of locked in syndrome. And it sucks for the 2 year old, and everyone else. Behavioral issues will manifest. Poor kid can’t say he wants to go play with the dog, so he tries to climb out the 2nd floor window and down the water drain to go pet the dog. He doesn’t understand danger, doesn’t understand parental units would think he’s a bad boy, doesn’t understand any words, nope, he just wants to go pet the dog & some meanie he can’t understand is preventing him. What would you do?

ANYTHING you can do as a parent to speed up communication skills (including non verbal) & speech acquisition will help. Probably immeasurably.

Get the family doc to refer to a specialist. I would recommend the Children’s hospital autism clinic nearest you. It’s probably a 6 month wait. They will put grandson through a simple hour or two long range of tests that will result in either a) he’s a late developer or b) Autism spectrum or something else.

The one test I remember from my daughter at 6 years old. The PhD blew up a ballon and held it out at arms length. Neurototypical kids will glance at the ballon, glance at the face of the person holding the ballon, and keep glancing back and forth. Non neurotypical kids or autism spectrum kids will stare at the balloon until the holder let’s it fly away. The testing involved a lot of interaction scenarios like the balloon.

Also, should ask grandma if the grandson has normal range of core trunk strength, normal sleep patterns, attention span, will he watch an age appropriate TV show like teletubbies, does he make sounds or hand gestures to communicate or interact at all, etc. These are all spectrum signs.

Best of luck to Grandma and Grandson

19

Coming back a few months later: He’s started ABA therapy, but he almost sounds like he’s regressing every time Grandma posts an update. :frowning: She talks about having him over for visits, and he does not speak or even apparently communicate on any level at all, which makes me wonder if he actually has some kind of degenerative brain disorder that presents with autism-like symptoms. :confused:

20

Grandma’s not a expert. She may be expecting too much, too soon and with too much consistency. The early stages of treatment produce what parents and nonexperts might see as very erratic results - but the pros can see exactly what’s happening, and should.

That said, the quality of what’s called “ABA therapy” varies enormously. It takes skilled therapists (not “weekend wonders” who have been to a seminar), under the continual supervision of an experienced senior therapist or BCBA, and under frequent review from a BCBA with advanced training in autism therapy. Anything less, and it’s between worse than nothing and of limited effectiveness.

Not saying it’s the case, but far too many school-based/Birth-to-Three programs have barely-trained therapist/paras supervised by a Special Ed teacher, with a BCBA orbiting somewhere between multiple schools and dozens of kids. Many SpecEd teachers are between inadequately trained on and actively hostile towards autism, since it doesn’t fit the classroom practices and group work used with retardation, Down’s, and other more general special-needs kids. Autism takes a ton of one on one, and it’s hard to fit into a school budget or a classroom time/staff budget.

So I hope this is a case where Grandma is worrying too much, rather than the child being in ineffective program.