Unusual set of symptoms

[Katherine Rawstron]

Your daughter may just be slower developing in some areas than others, or she may be mildly autistic. Presumably, she has had her hearing tested? If she is autistic, she will grow out of some symptoms, or show improvement, only for other symptoms to replace them or get worse; so it is a balancing act. You may find yourselves having to decide on the lesser of two evils, and ignore one symptom in order to avoid another, worse, one. I'm English and, due to my age, self-diagnosed, so am not familiar with diagnostic procedures, especially in America. My great-niece is about 8 and has fairly recently been diagnosed with autism, along with other things, and getting the diagnosis was a nightmare for my niece. It may be better to wait until your daughter is a bit older before going for a formal diagnosis.

 

[Fitzo]

My nephew is now about 2 yrs 9 months. He had very little speech by two and showed some other possible ASD traits. Some hand flapping, sometimes just appearing not to hear when spoken to, sporadic eye contact, lining up toys etc. He has been having speech therapy for the last six or so months and his parents are also working with him. He is now speaking a lot more, but is still definitely behind for his age. He saw a paediatrician and also went to the ASD clinic. They said he does show ASD traits, but there is really nothing they can offer in the way of treatment/intervention at this stage beyond what is already being done. He is obviously intelligent, mostly happy, and affectionate to others. He can count to thirty and knows the alphabet, is very good at puzzles and will mostly do what he is asked. Eye contact is still sporadic. He doesn't show signs of sensory issues.
Essentially it is too early to know what other issues, if any he may have. I suspect the same may be the case for your daughter. 18 months is still very young.
I hope this helps you get some perspective.

 

[pjcnet]

I was very similar when I was a young child with very slow development including speech in the early 1970s, it took a while before experts could make an assumption (probably a bit older than your daughter), but at first experts thought I was autistic at a time when normally the only recognised autism was on the lower functioning end of the spectrum. I however surprised everyone and started greatly improving as I got older, but I was left with numerous autistic traits which I've kept even as an adult (I am now on the higher functioning end of the autistic spectrum). If your daughter is autistic then hopefully this will be the case with her too, however I'm sorry because I can't totally rule out autism on the lower end of the spectrum either that doesn't change like my brothers, although it's less likely (even if she was it doesn't mean she can't have a good and happy life, my brothers for instance enjoy life). It's important to note that not every person with autism has all the common traits and some traits may not even be obvious at her age, for instance she is probably a bit young to develop any long term special interest, I enjoyed lots of different toys at her age, but I now have OCD and I also didn't show a number of other autistic traits until I was a bit older. From what you've described it is possible she is autistic, although it's not likely to be conclusive even to the experts at her age and it could still be something else. You will obviously discover more as she gets a bit older and at the moment the most important thing is to give her as much love and attention as possible. I sincerely wish you the best.

My brothers and I also had epilepsy up to about 5 years of age. Unlike my brothers I also have a few other small physical defects, one is my tongue is misshaped, although it wasn't considered severe enough to have an operation even though it was once planned. The second small defect is spasticity in my back and a small part is apparently paralysed, this has always prevented me from reaching beyond my knees when attempting to touch my toes and is causing back pain in later life as doctors back then warned might happen. The difference however may have been because my mother suffered from asthma, we all had difficult births and needed oxygen and my brother Daniel who is the least able of all stopped breathing completely for a while and had to be resuscitated after birth (it was touch and go, especially in those days and my parents suspect he is also brain damaged). Does your daughter have any physical differences or illnesses? Was there any complications during pregnancy or birth? Obviously with a lot of autistic people the answer would be no for both questions, but if she did it could also be an important clue to this or another condition.

Edit:

I've just read one of your later responses which confirms complications and this definitely increases the chances of your daughter being autistic I'm afraid (either lower, higher functioning or even perhaps in between), and it may also be the cause. If possible please let us know more as your daughter grows up and again I sincerely wish you the best.

 

[CWard12213]

Thanks for the responses all. There is some exciting news, she is walking very consistently this week! She has been physically able to walk for several months but has rarely chosen to do so, so it is great to see her sticking with it. She also has an 18 month check up soon and I think we will advocate for adding speech therapy to her treatment. There are so many times where it seems like she is trying to speak but doesn't know how. She mimics tone of voice and number of syllables fairly regularly, but the sounds she produces usually aren't very speech-like. She has had her hearing tested and it was fine. She very clearly responds to certain auditory stimuli, including some sounds that I make that indicate I want to play a game, just not to general speech. It is like she has an internal hierarchy of how interesting things are, and she won't stop doing an activity for a different activity she considers less interesting.

Just to clarify, I am not scared to have a daughter with autism. I am scared of having a daughter who is misdiagnosed with having autism, as well as having a daughter who does have autism but is not properly diagnosed and does not receive appropriate services. It's literally a miracle that she even exists, so I'm grateful for every day with her no matter what it looks like.

Interesting enough, we also thought our 5 year old NT son may have autism for the first couple years of his life but for completely opposite reasons. He had extreme sensory sensitivity, the most glaring example I can think of is on his first birthday we gave him a cupcake, he put his hand on the frosting and vomited from the texture without even trying to eat it. He was an insanely picky eater, could not leave the house without having a meltdown due to feeling sun, wind, etc, and was incredibly rigid. He would not allow ANYONE except me or my wife to watch him, feed him, or put him to bed without nuclear meltdown. Sometimes he would cry if other people even looked at him. Somewhere between 2 and 3 years of age he really started to mellow out, he's still a super picky eater and sometimes gets bothered by tags and whatnot, but he's in preschool, happy, and functional. So who knows???

 

[CWard12213]

My nephew is now about 2 yrs 9 months. He had very little speech by two and showed some other possible ASD traits. Some hand flapping, sometimes just appearing not to hear when spoken to, sporadic eye contact, lining up toys etc. He has been having speech therapy for the last six or so months and his parents are also working with him. He is now speaking a lot more, but is still definitely behind for his age. He saw a paediatrician and also went to the ASD clinic. They said he does show ASD traits, but there is really nothing they can offer in the way of treatment/intervention at this stage beyond what is already being done. He is obviously intelligent, mostly happy, and affectionate to others. He can count to thirty and knows the alphabet, is very good at puzzles and will mostly do what he is asked. Eye contact is still sporadic. He doesn't show signs of sensory issues.
Essentially it is too early to know what other issues, if any he may have. I suspect the same may be the case for your daughter. 18 months is still very young.
I hope this helps you get some perspective.

That sounds so much like her!

 

[CWard12213]

Well, another significant update, she ate her first solid food yesterday! She normally just eats baby food puree and formula from her bottle and refuses to try anything else, but she ate a decent portion of a red velvet cupcake I got her for Valentine's day! Her 18 month check up is today.

 

[Buzzerfly]

A few thoughts:

My 5 year old daughter and husband are autistic. It became obvious my little girl was by about 1. She talked pretty well but with a lisp and an oddly intelligent way of mimicking phrases but using them accurately. She wasn't much for traditional toys unless she could take them apart, and oh wheels, how she loved wheels.she started walking at 9 months but did like to crawl more. Until, at some point she started putting on my flip flops and tearing around the house in the till she was an expert at walking in them (by trial and error). Many of her sensitivities didn't show boldly until later, as she came to know our world better. She did have a sensitive stomach with formula and many foods. She got very carsick, too.

At night, if she woke up and became restless, she climb out of her crib, put her yellow blanket over her head and wander into the kitchen, eventually lying down with me. She does flap her hands. About social play, though NTs are collective minded creatures, I don't think it's inherent for anyone to play social games. This is usually pushed by society and parents. So, if you're lacking at pushing that, I say way to go!

She might be autistic, have a retinal sight issue, or just be a cool nt, who knows? Don't worry!

 

[CWard12213]

A few thoughts:

My 5 year old daughter and husband are autistic. It became obvious my little girl was by about 1. She talked pretty well but with a lisp and an oddly intelligent way of mimicking phrases but using them accurately. She wasn't much for traditional toys unless she could take them apart, and oh wheels, how she loved wheels.she started walking at 9 months but did like to crawl more. Until, at some point she started putting on my flip flops and tearing around the house in the till she was an expert at walking in them (by trial and error). Many of her sensitivities didn't show boldly until later, as she came to know our world better. She did have a sensitive stomach with formula and many foods. She got very carsick, too.

At night, if she woke up and became restless, she climb out of her crib, put her yellow blanket over her head and wander into the kitchen, eventually lying down with me. She does flap her hands. About social play, though NTs are collective minded creatures, I don't think it's inherent for anyone to play social games. This is usually pushed by society and parents. So, if you're lacking at pushing that, I say way to go!

She might be autistic, have a retinal sight issue, or just be a cool nt, who knows? Don't worry!

Thanks for the reply! Your little one sounds almost nothing like mine, though I know that doesn't necessarily mean much given how the spectrum works. Your last sentence in particular is interesting. Her vision has been tested and appears to be OK, but she does have a lazy eye. And I have also wondered if there isn't truly anything diagnosable about her, but maybe she's just kind of a cool weirdo

 

[Buzzerfly]

Thanks for the reply! Your little one sounds almost nothing like mine, though I know that doesn't necessarily mean much given how the spectrum works. Your last sentence in particular is interesting. Her vision has been tested and appears to be OK, but she does have a lazy eye. And I have also wondered if there isn't truly anything diagnosable about her, but maybe she's just kind of a cool weirdo

I'm a pretty cool weirdo...but I also have a rare retinal condition.

Does she behave differently in the dark versus light? Does she "miss" things visually? She sounds more like me as a baby than my daughter, that's why I mentioned it.

 

[CWard12213]

I'm a pretty cool weirdo...but I also have a rare retinal condition.

Does she behave differently in the dark versus light? Does she "miss" things visually? She sounds more like me as a baby than my daughter, that's why I mentioned it.

I haven't noticed a difference, but she isn't in the dark very often. Overall her vision actually seems really good. She never runs into things or seems to miss objects when she tries to pick them up. She actually has really good visual/spatial skills for the most part. The only thing I notice with her vision (besides low eye contact and the lazy eye) is that she moves things towards and away from her face a lot and sometimes likes to hold things REALLY close to her face. Might just be a baby thing, but might be something.

The last couple days I've been trying really hard to teach her some signs and even though she hasn't really picked up on anything yet, she definitely shows more interest in it than she does in basic speech, so I might be on to something!

 

[Kathos]

Your daughter sounds very sweet. I’m curious about her lazy eye, at some point you might want to speak with a Developmental Optometrist and make sure she is not seeing double or having eye tracking issues. Many add and autism like behaviors in children are caused by vision problems. It is very disorienting which could explain why she chose to walk later and why she might have trouble with eye contact? You can google ted talks and vision therapy or developmental Optometry for some great information.
You also mentioned that your daughter only recently started solid food? She reminds me of my son who had low oral muscle tone. He only wanted to eat soft food (still does) and when he was a baby he drooled uncontrollably. When it was time to speak, he just grunted because he had poor tone and was too lazy to make the sound shapes with his mouth. That’s when we started speech therapy (18 mths old) and our therapist really fixed the problem.

 

[CWard12213]

Thanks for the feedback! She actually has seen an optometrist and her vision appeared to be normal. That was a while ago, right after her first birthday. In general, her vision seems excellent. She is one of the most coordinated and careful children I've ever seen.

I posted about a week ago that she had started to walk some, she has made unbelievable progress in the past week! She basically walks all the time now, I don't remember the last time I saw her crawl. She can walk forward, sideways, and backwards and I'm sure she has taken over 100 steps in a row. I took her and my son to the hardware store over the weekend and she was all over the place! Her incredibly rapid adjustment to walking makes me think that she has probably been capable of walking for a while, and simply has chosen not to. I've attached a pic because I think it's adorable

I don't think her barrier with eating other foods is a muscle weakness issue. She just doesn't even put food in her mouth for the most part. She isn't much of a drooler except when she is teething. However, she is very clearly trying to speak now and she is struggling a LOT with articulation. She will mimic a lot of words (mostly from a tablet app, still not much from people) but she doesn't really open her mouth. You can tell by the sounds and syllables that she is trying to say the word, but it's like she trying to hum the word instead of saying it. It's quite odd. But I am very encouraged that she is trying to speak! She also quacks any time she sees a duck

 

[CWard12213]

The more she grows and develops the more I lean towards her just being a TV obsessed introvert who has a language delay. Which definitely makes her look ASD-like at times, but I don't think it's really ASD.

 

[Kathos]

Yes it doesn’t sound like she is on the spectrum and ooo, she is very cute. She’d have to have at least a few of the characteristics and not just one minor delay. She is only 18 months old afterall, it’s great that you can love and enjoy her just as she is
Oh, and an Optometrist and Developmental Optometrist are entirely different things. Developmental Optometry often deals with vision related issues due to neurology. It’s very unpublicized but I see people all the time, mostly adults, who could have benefitted had they heard of it.