How to know what kind of autism has my toddler?

[Dani11]

Hi everyone. I am new here, last week, my 22-month-old son has been diagnosed autism, the psychologist told us he doesn't know yet if he is asperger, atypical, etc. By now he said his intelligence seems not affected. How did you know your kid had mild or severe Autism? I think my son doesn't have many symptoms. Still I accept the fact he has autism. Here I write a couple of the symptoms my son has at the moment.

1. He doesn’t answer when we call his name, he doesn’t follow directions, only when i sing a song about putting his shoes on, he knows we are going out so he brings the shoes to me so i can help him to put them on, because he loves being outside.
2. He doesn’t smile back, but when he is really happy he takes my hand or hugs me so we can jump or dance together, he does it with his father too or with his grandma when we are not around.
3. He doesn’t make enough eye contact, sometimes he just looks at strangers and wants to touch their eyes, nose, mouth, like if they were an object, but after he checked the person he just ignore them like they weren’t there. He makes better eye contact with me.
4. When he wants to know the name of some object or letter or number he doesn’t know, he looks at me in the eye showing me the object or pointing at the book he is “reading”, and he waits until he gets a response.
5. He doesn’t point to show me what he likes, or what he finds cool. He just do it to ask for help.
6. He likes to play alone, he was in nursery for 2 months and he would always play alone.
7. He likes letters and numbers, he recognizes many letters of the alphabet and numbers from 1-10. He likes counting every step he takes or every detail from the stuff he plays with.
8. He doesn’t move his hands in a weird way or anything, he moves his head saying know sometimes but very rarely, maybe twice a week.
9. He mimics only the characters of the tv, when he sees someone clapping or jumping he does it too, he hardly does it with us.
10. When we are upset because he did something wrong, he cries, and hugs us like saying sorry.
11. He gets jealous when his father hugs me. He push him back and hugs me, like saying she’s mine
12. When we teach him how to play he does it sometimes, for 1 minute and then when he learns how to, he goes away and looks for another toy to play with.
13. He likes playing with my hair, that makes him relax.
14. He used to be very friendly until 15 months old.
15. He says around 20 words btw these words, numbers, alphabet letters, animal sounds, some colors, geometric forms, and he says it only to himself not to show us he knows it, sometimes he hides behind the sofa with his book and “reads” and points the pictures and says the name out loud or just makes words out when he doenst know whats the name of the object. We are a bilingual family speaking German and Spanish at home . Most of the words he speaks at home is Spanish because I am the one who speaks it, and we are all day together, sometimes he seems to say words in german at night when he is trying to sleep but they don’t make any sense with the context or moment… its like he just repeats what he heard during the day.
16. He doesn’t seem to be sensitive to loud sounds, sometimes he seems not to hear it but some other times he just look+++s at the direction where the sound comes from just to make sure what it is, and then he goes back to his stuff, we were in an airplanes show a couple months ago and he didn’t care about the airplanes loud noises , he loved to see the helicopters. -Extra: when he was born he didn’t cry like the other new-borns in the hospital, he was always quiet, he didn’t eat for 2 days because he fell asleep while eating, he would wake up in the middle of the night, without crying or asking for milk, I catch him once when he was only 1 day old looking at me like analysing me, like if he could see perfectly. I got a bit scared... he didn’t cry when he got vaccinated until he turned 1 year old, he would cry a Little bit and after distracting him he would smile again. He seemed very mature for his age at that time, he slept all night, 12 hours long and ate at morning. He hated milk, when he saw the baby milk he would cry before I gave it to him.
17. He doesn’t walk on his toes, or spins objects or spins himself, he doesn’t line up objects, he just separates sometimes by form or colour, but not always, he likes to put objects inside and out of the toys box. He likes hiding his toys in specific places, like his letters under the sofa and the balls behind the doors, so most of the times we know where he hides things. And he knows it too. He doesn’t-t want everything in a specific order.
18. He likes lights but he doesn’t-t get obsessed with it. He is only obsessed with colors, animal sounds and letters.
19. He dances when he hears music, sometimes tries to sing along.

Sorry for my bad English, it’s been a long time I don’t speak it or write it, and sorry for the long post. I hope someone could tell me how can I know what kind of autism has my son, or if I should wait a little bit more…



Thanks in advance!

 

[Mr Allen]

Hi everyone. I am new here, last week, my 22-month-old son has been diagnosed autism, the psychologist told us he doesn't know yet if he is asperger, atypical, etc. By now he said his intelligence seems not affected. How did you know your kid had mild or severe Autism? I think my son doesn't have many symptoms. Still I accept the fact he has autism. Here I write a couple of the symptoms my son has at the moment.

1. He doesn’t answer when we call his name, he doesn’t follow directions, only when i sing a song about putting his shoes on, he knows we are going out so he brings the shoes to me so i can help him to put them on, because he loves being outside.
2. He doesn’t smile back, but when he is really happy he takes my hand or hugs me so we can jump or dance together, he does it with his father too or with his grandma when we are not around.
3. He doesn’t make enough eye contact, sometimes he just looks at strangers and wants to touch their eyes, nose, mouth, like if they were an object, but after he checked the person he just ignore them like they weren’t there. He makes better eye contact with me.
4. When he wants to know the name of some object or letter or number he doesn’t know, he looks at me in the eye showing me the object or pointing at the book he is “reading”, and he waits until he gets a response.
5. He doesn’t point to show me what he likes, or what he finds cool. He just do it to ask for help.
6. He likes to play alone, he was in nursery for 2 months and he would always play alone.
7. He likes letters and numbers, he recognizes many letters of the alphabet and numbers from 1-10. He likes counting every step he takes or every detail from the stuff he plays with.
8. He doesn’t move his hands in a weird way or anything, he moves his head saying know sometimes but very rarely, maybe twice a week.
9. He mimics only the characters of the tv, when he sees someone clapping or jumping he does it too, he hardly does it with us.
10. When we are upset because he did something wrong, he cries, and hugs us like saying sorry.
11. He gets jealous when his father hugs me. He push him back and hugs me, like saying she’s mine
12. When we teach him how to play he does it sometimes, for 1 minute and then when he learns how to, he goes away and looks for another toy to play with.
13. He likes playing with my hair, that makes him relax.
14. He used to be very friendly until 15 months old.
15. He says around 20 words btw these words, numbers, alphabet letters, animal sounds, some colors, geometric forms, and he says it only to himself not to show us he knows it, sometimes he hides behind the sofa with his book and “reads” and points the pictures and says the name out loud or just makes words out when he doenst know whats the name of the object. We are a bilingual family speaking German and Spanish at home . Most of the words he speaks at home is Spanish because I am the one who speaks it, and we are all day together, sometimes he seems to say words in german at night when he is trying to sleep but they don’t make any sense with the context or moment… its like he just repeats what he heard during the day.
16. He doesn’t seem to be sensitive to loud sounds, sometimes he seems not to hear it but some other times he just look+++s at the direction where the sound comes from just to make sure what it is, and then he goes back to his stuff, we were in an airplanes show a couple months ago and he didn’t care about the airplanes loud noises , he loved to see the helicopters. -Extra: when he was born he didn’t cry like the other new-borns in the hospital, he was always quiet, he didn’t eat for 2 days because he fell asleep while eating, he would wake up in the middle of the night, without crying or asking for milk, I catch him once when he was only 1 day old looking at me like analysing me, like if he could see perfectly. I got a bit scared... he didn’t cry when he got vaccinated until he turned 1 year old, he would cry a Little bit and after distracting him he would smile again. He seemed very mature for his age at that time, he slept all night, 12 hours long and ate at morning. He hated milk, when he saw the baby milk he would cry before I gave it to him.
17. He doesn’t walk on his toes, or spins objects or spins himself, he doesn’t line up objects, he just separates sometimes by form or colour, but not always, he likes to put objects inside and out of the toys box. He likes hiding his toys in specific places, like his letters under the sofa and the balls behind the doors, so most of the times we know where he hides things. And he knows it too. He doesn’t-t want everything in a specific order.
18. He likes lights but he doesn’t-t get obsessed with it. He is only obsessed with colors, animal sounds and letters.
19. He dances when he hears music, sometimes tries to sing along.

Sorry for my bad English, it’s been a long time I don’t speak it or write it, and sorry for the long post. I hope someone could tell me how can I know what kind of autism has my son, or if I should wait a little bit more…



Thanks in advance!

First and foremost, you need to speak to a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL.

Of which there are none on this forum.

 

[Smiley]

At this age you really can't tell which "kind" of autism spectrum disorder your child has, and for all practical purposes it doesn't matter. Just keep a consistent routine for him, and provide him with unconditional love and plenty of opportunity to learn and explore. If you notice that he likes something in particular, let him explore it in more depth. Someday he will probably amaze you.

I say this as a mom of four children, and as a former nursery teacher: all children need security, love, and the opportunity to play for best development.

Your English is not perfect, but I think you've communicated your meaning very well. Keep being a good parent worry about the fine details as they come up. No need or benefit to predicting the future.

 

[Streetwise]

Hi everyone. I am new here, last week, my 22-month-old son has been diagnosed autism, the psychologist told us he doesn't know yet if he is asperger, atypical, etc. By now he said his intelligence seems not affected. How did you know your kid had mild or severe Autism? I think my son doesn't have many symptoms. Still I accept the fact he has autism. Here I write a couple of the symptoms my son has at the moment.

1. He doesn’t answer when we call his name, he doesn’t follow directions, only when i sing a song about putting his shoes on, he knows we are going out so he brings the shoes to me so i can help him to put them on, because he loves being outside.
2. He doesn’t smile back, but when he is really happy he takes my hand or hugs me so we can jump or dance together, he does it with his father too or with his grandma when we are not around.
3. He doesn’t make enough eye contact, sometimes he just looks at strangers and wants to touch their eyes, nose, mouth, like if they were an object, but after he checked the person he just ignore them like they weren’t there. He makes better eye contact with me.
4. When he wants to know the name of some object or letter or number he doesn’t know, he looks at me in the eye showing me the object or pointing at the book he is “reading”, and he waits until he gets a response.
5. He doesn’t point to show me what he likes, or what he finds cool. He just do it to ask for help.
6. He likes to play alone, he was in nursery for 2 months and he would always play alone.
7. He likes letters and numbers, he recognizes many letters of the alphabet and numbers from 1-10. He likes counting every step he takes or every detail from the stuff he plays with.
8. He doesn’t move his hands in a weird way or anything, he moves his head saying know sometimes but very rarely, maybe twice a week.
9. He mimics only the characters of the tv, when he sees someone clapping or jumping he does it too, he hardly does it with us.
10. When we are upset because he did something wrong, he cries, and hugs us like saying sorry.
11. He gets jealous when his father hugs me. He push him back and hugs me, like saying she’s mine
12. When we teach him how to play he does it sometimes, for 1 minute and then when he learns how to, he goes away and looks for another toy to play with.
13. He likes playing with my hair, that makes him relax.
14. He used to be very friendly until 15 months old.
15. He says around 20 words btw these words, numbers, alphabet letters, animal sounds, some colors, geometric forms, and he says it only to himself not to show us he knows it, sometimes he hides behind the sofa with his book and “reads” and points the pictures and says the name out loud or just makes words out when he doenst know whats the name of the object. We are a bilingual family speaking German and Spanish at home . Most of the words he speaks at home is Spanish because I am the one who speaks it, and we are all day together, sometimes he seems to say words in german at night when he is trying to sleep but they don’t make any sense with the context or moment… its like he just repeats what he heard during the day.
16. He doesn’t seem to be sensitive to loud sounds, sometimes he seems not to hear it but some other times he just look+++s at the direction where the sound comes from just to make sure what it is, and then he goes back to his stuff, we were in an airplanes show a couple months ago and he didn’t care about the airplanes loud noises , he loved to see the helicopters. -Extra: when he was born he didn’t cry like the other new-borns in the hospital, he was always quiet, he didn’t eat for 2 days because he fell asleep while eating, he would wake up in the middle of the night, without crying or asking for milk, I catch him once when he was only 1 day old looking at me like analysing me, like if he could see perfectly. I got a bit scared... he didn’t cry when he got vaccinated until he turned 1 year old, he would cry a Little bit and after distracting him he would smile again. He seemed very mature for his age at that time, he slept all night, 12 hours long and ate at morning. He hated milk, when he saw the baby milk he would cry before I gave it to him.
17. He doesn’t walk on his toes, or spins objects or spins himself, he doesn’t line up objects, he just separates sometimes by form or colour, but not always, he likes to put objects inside and out of the toys box. He likes hiding his toys in specific places, like his letters under the sofa and the balls behind the doors, so most of the times we know where he hides things. And he knows it too. He doesn’t-t want everything in a specific order.
18. He likes lights but he doesn’t-t get obsessed with it. He is only obsessed with colors, animal sounds and letters.
19. He dances when he hears music, sometimes tries to sing along.

Sorry for my bad English, it’s been a long time I don’t speak it or write it, and sorry for the long post. I hope someone could tell me how can I know what kind of autism has my son, or if I should wait a little bit more…



Thanks in advance!

how stressed are you by his reactions? until you see a therapist do the best you can .
dont give the name a lot of importance if he is on the spectrum he may !!!!!!!change very slightly when he gets older !for instance speaking! I can't tell you any more than that because I wasn't anything like him !I was diagnosed with high functioning autism two years ago in my late 40s.
i'm no different from the second they give me the diagnosis to the second before when I didn't have it .
don't apologise about the way you speak English .

 

[pjcnet]

I agree with @Mr Allen, but when I was very young they thought I was autistic in the 1970s at a time where there was no such thing as Asperger Syndrome or high functioning autism, they believed I was the same as my brothers who are both on the very low functioning part of the autistic spectrum, but I started improving when they didn't, although I kept numerous autistic traits to this day. I was very slow with speech development and a lot of people didn't fully understand my voice until I was about 6 or 7, but not long after I was playing chess to a very high standard and when I got introduced to computers at the age of 10 in 1979 I was writing complex programs. Not all autistic children are however slow developing speech, if your child isn't slow developing then it's very unlikely to be low functioning autism, but even if he is, he could still later develop as I did with higher functioning autism.

In other words it's difficult to tell at his age although from the characteristics so far it doesn't sound like he's on the lower functioning end of the autistic spectrum, my low functioning autistic brothers had virtually no proper language at his age and I apparently had very little too. My now adult brothers still can't count to 5, add 2 and 2 together or read / write, although they're intelligent in other ways and can now communicate fairly well via speech, although it's clear to anyone that their language is impaired even now. All 3 of us used to carry possessions around with us, for instance a teddy bear or for one brother even a piece of plastic when we was very young and one of my brothers still does, if anyone takes it or it's lost, we would have a full meltdown, plus all 3 of us were hyperactive and had severe behaviour issues, my adult brothers still do, especially the youngest and he bites his finger growling when he's upset, plus he's constantly going on and on repeating things getting stressed (even I do this). Different autistic people are different however and even if your autistic son starts counting, although it's a good sign, it doesn't mean he won't be low functioning in other ways. It's also important to remember that different autistic people have different levels of autistic traits and they may not have some at all, for instance many autistic people have impaired motor functions and coordination, but my youngest brother is amazing at controlling a football (AKA. soccer ball) with his feet, it's a shame he is unable to comprehend the rules of the game and he wouldn't play with other people anyway.

I'm not criticising and speaking 2 different languages around him may be unavoidable, but in my opinion this probably isn't ideal, especially if a child is slower developing speech. I found it hard enough to pick up just English, I might have struggled a lot more if there was 2 languages spoken and I'd most likely get mixed up, but I would imagine any child may have this problem to a certain degree.

Anyway I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Bolletje]

First and foremost, you need to speak to a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL.

Of which there are none on this forum.

While the second bit is not technically true, I wholeheartedly agree with the first half of your statement.

 

[Progster]

I don't think that strangers on an internet forum can tell you what kind of autism your son has - as others have pointed out, only an psychiatrist with experience/training in autism who assesses him can make that judgement. Now, autism is diagnosed under the umbrella term ASD and not separated into different diagnoses.

 

[Butterfly88]

I agree that we cannot tell you what kind of autism your son has. I don't know where you live but in the US it now known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and there are three levels of functioning, it may be hard to know where he fits until he is a bit older. Here's an article an English if you want to look, or you could try searching for one in your native language if that is easier.

What Are the 3 Levels of Autism?