Have you ever thought your child might be autistic but turns out they were not?

When we had psychologists/psychiatrists work over my son as a child, they mentioned signs of autism. But it was not conclusive, and he seems like a pretty normal adult.

It sounds like he’s a healthy child to me. As I understand it, autistic children are withdrawn in their own worlds, disinterested in other people. The fact that he is very social makes him being autistic very unlikely. Caveat: I’m not an expert, but I think this isn’t something you should be too concerned with.

My brother really thought I was retarded when I was young.
He’s 15 years older than me.
He’s kind of Spock like so when he told me that when I was older he didn’t understand why I was hurt.

In psychology class long ago I was taught that people fall on a continuum. With each diagnosis we might have 2 of the 10 symptoms possibly, which would mean you don’t qualify for the diagnosis, or if you meet 8 of the 10 typical behaviors then you are given the diagnosis, and there is any possibility from 0–10. Actually, diagnosis probably happens at 5 or 6. For some things we might say the person has tendencies, like OCD tendencies.

I hear people talk about the autism spectrum. At the lower end people have Asperger’s and even with that they need to meet enough parameters of Asperger’s to get that diagnosis.

It doesn’t sound to me like your child has enough “abnormal” behavior to be diagnosed, it really doesn’t sound to me like his behaviors will impact his ability to learn and socialize, or that he will actually fall on the spectrum, but the real way to know is to take him to an expert. However, I do feel like the experts like to diagnose, so be forewarned. I think don’t label your child if not necessary, and just know more about what things he may have trouble with so you can waych for it, and know about methods that help children with those issues. The diagnosis can be very helpful if he actually is autistic. It can help in school and help get assistance from the state for treatment if that becomes necessary, but it doesn’t sound like it will be.

I think my father has some Asperger’s traits, but I don’t think he would ever be diagnosable as being on the spectrum, and he loves to socialize with people. He just seems to have a lot of trouble reading people, which comes off as unsympathetic, and he can be needy, and he worked with scientists the majority of his life and is very analytical. I always say probably half of our greatest scientist had Asperger’s.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, counselor, and not even a mom. The above is just my unprofessional opinion.

If you want to get him checked I think ask his doctor about it, and they should know where to refer you. So many children are autistic I would assume pediatricians have that sort of information.

One of my children flapped her arms in wild circles (and later, just wiggled her hands, which she still does as an adult to a small degree) when excited or concentrating very hard. Combined with the fact that she is very bright, it really worried me for a while. But our doctor said it was just a tic, and she never has seemed autistic. Just one of her quirks. :)

my kid is an arm flapper, but also very social and emotive and curious about what other poeple say and do. Everyone is hypervigilant about autism these days, and special ed wants to slap that label on anyone they can because there is extra funding for autism, but many kids who are diagnoses with it these days barely have enough symptoms. When you see stories about qutism rates “skyrocketing”, some of it has to do with better diagnosis, but some with overdiagnoisis.

If you are worried, take him to a pediatric neurologist.

He sounds pretty normal to me.
Like the others have said, if you’re worried about him, then have him checked out.
I don’t think you need to be worried.

1) please vaccinate
2) your kid sounds normal

16 months is early for any diagnosis. My niece’s middle son, now aged 7, falls unambiguously on the high-functioning autism scale. He does a lot of stimming (repetitive physical motions) when stressed.He is intellectually off the charts. His social skills are on the low end of the bell curvef; no eye contact, screaming fits, difficulty playing with others, and the need for a quiet, restful, solitary place to retire to often…even at school.

His younger brother, aged 4, has been under the microscope since birth, understandably. When several of his toes crossed, making him clumsy when he was learning how to walk, his parents had him evaluated. The doc. suggested extra services (OT, PT, BT) just to be on the safe side.

This kid is engaged, talkative, outgoing, clever, and just fine, except for the hours he spends getting services he doesn’t need rather than being allowed to hang around, play with frogs and hit his friends over the head with plastic toys (and vice versa).

@gailcalled I thought most parents talk about really noticing symptoms around 18 month, and that children often are diagnosed during the toddler years. Recently, I heard that there can actually be earlier signs, and there is an ephasis on early diagnosis. I’m no expert on the topic of autism, my knowledge is quite limited, but what you wrote about 16 months being too early. I would think a lot of parents do start seeing signs at 16 months. I’m not saying the OP’s child is autistic; I am only saying I don’t think 16 months is too young for parents to have their child evaluated if they are questioning their child’s behavior.

OP needs to address the fine tuning with her pediatrician. My info comes from my niece and her experience over the past 5 years.

Whatever you and I think or heard is really irrelevant.

@gailcalled I basically said the same thing, eval by a specialist is the only way to know. I don’t see what that has to do with you saying 16 months is too early, when possibly it isn’t. You could be right, I just have heard differently. Do you have a link?

@flip86 I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound off on you, were you being serious when you mentioned vaccinated?

I don’t understand what autism has to do with prevention of vaccination in the first place. Please fill me in.

@pleiades about 10 years ago noted medical scholar and television personality Jenny Mcarthy was pushing the link between childhood vaccinations and autism, based on a study that has recently been found to be wholly fraudulent. Thanks to Mcarthy, many families chose not to vaccinate their children, with measles and whooping cough outbreaks being the end result.

@drhat77 Their was a huge movement before McCarthy. The reason she new about a possible connection was because of what she had read and heard herself. She, while I agree scared some people, at the same time she also asked for more research. The newer studies consider most conclusive are post McCarthy. I never believed the mercury autism connection, but it didn’t mean there was not some sort of vaccine connection. My mother used to collect the Vaers forms. I can tell you vaccine adverse reactions are extremely under reported. I have my own experience, I won’t bother to go into, but be assured the hospital did not want me to write up anything, and they cannot even be hurt by it. They were total idiots.

I am not anti-vaccine, but I am cautious about any vaccine or medication. Many doctors seem to not worry about side effects at all, except for maybe driugs that are known to pretty much also have severe side effects and are taken only when it is a rather desperate measure.

Empathy? That’s my big clue that he’s not autistic. However, that’s a bit tricky to really tell if he’s too young to talk.

Truly autistic people are so trapped inside their heads amidst sensory overload and synesthesia that they may not even know other people are present. More mild cases like myself tend to be a bit withdrawn, just seeking a little peace and quiet in a world full of loud noises and bright lights and constant distractions, many of which aren’t even noticed by most people.

One big clue to me that he’s not autistic or if he is its very mild: he plays with toys in a typical manner. My son didn’t play with cars in a typical way until around age 7.

To clue you in @pleiades, my son and husband are both gifted aspies with SPD, ADHD, et. al.

By age 16 mos, my son:
– would not be typically social with other children (he would observe them….he asked me to ‘translate’ for him since they spoke ‘baby’ talk….he was convinced it was a separate language only his mommy understood)
– he was extremely hypersensitive to temperature change, types of clothing, smells, food textures and noises
– would not make car noises or play with cars by rolling them in any fashion…..(instead they were lined up, or made into a static ‘scene’ from a book or picture he had in his mind)
– my son was speaking sentences
– could sit for over an hour and a half while being read to
– preferred drawing and other types of quiet, clean indoor play.
– social situations with family stressed him out
– he rarely slept for more than a couple hours at a time

The list goes on.

Red flags you can look for in the future:
– extreme sensitivity or the opposite, hyposensitivity to all stimulus
– humming, rocking, chewing or other types of self stimulation (stims)
– the inability to make one’s self dizzy

If you have any specific situations you’d like to go over, feel free to list them here or PM me.

@pleiades I was not trolling at all. When I said fear of Autism, what I meant was a fear that your child might somehow “catch” it. Some people become obsessed over Autism and claim any little off behavior as a sign of it. Also, as drhat pointed out, there are people who spread the unfounded claim that vaccinations cause autism and this causes people to not vaccinate their children. Putting them at risk.

I never doubted that you love your child.

@flip86 Thanks for clearing that up I super appreciate it that. And yes it was my fault for not understanding the correlation between autism and vaccinations. I had never heard of it until this thread!

@pleiades That “vaccines cause Autism!!!!” scare is all that many people do know of Autism.