could it be autism?

Question

my son just turned 3 and he can only say 5-6 words (mom, bye, hi,no,etc.) he has had alot of ear infections we are on his 3rd set of tubes. he receives speech and ot therapy but I really dont see much improvement. he has been in early intevention since he was 19 mon. old that helped some. I have also taken him to a developmental spec. she thinks he is adhd and mixed lang. disorder. i ask about autsim she said no. but sometimes i think he may show some small signs. i noticed he isnt doing things kids his age are doing. please help!

Answer 1

Like other posters have said, look for things like making direct eye contact (or avoiding it), toe walking and any 'self-stim' type behaviors (looking at things out of the corner of his eye, spinning things, being very into watching things fall, etc). How are his social skills? Is he motivated in social situations? While his language is currently limited, does he make communicative attempts? Does he show pleasure and joy from smiles and other 'social' things? If not, then perhaps autism, but you say nothing in your question that would lead me to believe that he has anything more than a communication disorder. Tubes and ear infections can really effect language development. And, since he just turned three, he is still a very young 3 year old. Keep the speech services going and ask your SLP what kinds of things you could be doing at home to help with his language development. Early intervention is great, but obviously, he spends the most time with you and his family and while the SLP is an expert on language and speech development, you are the expert about your son. Language will increase and grow much faster if there are things you can work on with him at home as you have the best relationship with him and as mentioned, he spends the most time with you. ADHD at age 3 (barely 3 at that) is too young to diagnose. What are the 'small' signs you notice? Have you asked the SLP about an autism assessment? If you want the assessment, they must do it, however, it really doesn't sound like autism from what you mention here. Language delays are very common in children and particularly in boys. My guess is that in the next 6 months or so you will see good progress in his language development. Good luck!

Answer 2

Wow, you are describing my son to a T. And my son was diagnosed with PDD NOS, which is a mild form of autism - it stands for "pervasive developmental delays" - in other words, he had many areas of development that were delayed. My son is now 4 and has also had tubes three times. My developmental pediatrician said she feels he may go down the path of eventually having ADHD and a language disorder, rather than being full blown "autistic" - because he is strong socially - but at age 4 they won't give them an ADHD diagnosis.

I'm surprised your developmental specialist said he may have ADHD. He is WAY too young to be diagnosed with that.
All three year olds have a touch of it! :) I would definitely recommend a 2nd opinion. Your son does have some red flags (the speech delay, sensory issues) that you mention above. I'm not sure what other things he is/isn't doing. How is his eye contact? How is his receptive language (does he understand what you are telling him, can he follow simple directions?) How is he socially with other kids?

Anyways, I would recommend getting a second opinion - take him to see a neurologist or a different developmental pediatrician. Also - my son made tremendous strides once he started in our town's public preschool - he received speech, occupational and physical therapy while in school, where he attended 4 full days a week - he also attends 6 weeks over the summer. He is a different child now. He started preschool when he turned three..... prior to that we did speech/OT/PT through early intervention, which was kidn of a joke - they came once a week for an hour each. A child with these issues need a full time program to help.

Go with your instincts..... mother's know best. Good luck!!!

Answer 3

Does your son interact with others? Does he look you in the eye when you are talking to him? Does he like to do things in repetitive movements--meaning will he play with a toy and only do the same thing with it over and over (throw it, spin it) and nothing different? When you are standing behind him and you call his name, does he respond immediately by turning around? These are some simple tests you can do just to guage where he is in that respect. Not looking at people in the eye or responding to his name being called or doing repetitive things CAN be signs of autism. Your child is young and still developing, so even these tests aren't set in stone in detecting autis, but they could be a start.

You have to remember that autism is a spectrum disorder--meaning that kids can fall in a long line of different autism disorders and it doesn't mean they are going to be like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. It can take a long time for autism symptoms to manifest themselves so a proper diagnosis can be rendered. Like I said before, your son is young and still developing so things change quickly.

Sometimes speech delays are just that--speech delays. Given that your son has had issues with his ears and hearing, that can explain why his speech has been delayed. Ask if the development specialist has been trained on identifying autism and autism spectrum disorders. If he/she has, then I would take what they are telling you when they don't suspect austism at this point. If they are not trained, you may want to take your son to someone who is just for a second opinoin.

I know I'm not givnng you any certain answers, but that is the problem with autism---there isn't anything absolute in a diagnosis.

Be patient. I wish I had something concrete to tell you. Good luck!

Answer 4

Autism is a spectrum disorder and can range from children who are non-verbal, non-responsive to children who are actually very functional but socially inept. Autism is the diagnosis of the day unfortunately, and many kids are given this diagnosis to readily which can lead to missing the true etiology of the problem. I would find a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist that you trust or know has an excellent reputation and have them do an evaluation, not just for Autism, but for any behavioral or learning disorder. Good Luck.

Answer 5

get him checked by a OT for sensory integration dysfunction. I had the same problem with my child until I found out that my cousin has SID.
a lot people think adhd bec she is hyper around noise but that's not adhd but sometimes she'll get overstimulated and she'll not even hear her name. If you put her in a normal room she will be relaxed and have no problem. She also has problem with touch and taste
Only an OT can help you with the disorder SID. He may also have autism (my child has to be checked by a neurologist)
neurologist are better trained at finding neurology disorders like autism

Answer 6

okay i am proud of you thats for sure because you are doing all the right things already. Autism is so hard to diagnose especially at 3 but my son has it and i can tell u things he does he rocks alot his facial features almost look bland even when he tries to smile it doesnt look like he is smileing. he is very off to hisself and does not like to be in a crowd and will let me know in a heartbeat if there is to many people cramping him up. also he does not play with other children except kids he sees on a regular almost every day basis. He isalso a picky eater and lots more. if things dont change and u still feel this could be what is wrong u keep asking repeatedly because noone knows your child better than u and y;our with your child more than they are and children can act one way at one place and completely different at home. good luck and best wishes

Answer 7

Hi,
I have a 3 years old son, and he wasn't speaking a lot since a week ago. Suddenly, he started to speak. I have seen a doctor last year and they told me that he had a language disability. By talking with other mothers I realize that little boy are so active that they don't have time to stop and talk.

Maybe your son have something more, I am not a doctor to tell you this. But talk about to your pediatrician he will be in better condition to tell you the truth. Don't stress to much about that, I have stress about autism for two years and I should have listem to my pediatrician.

Good luck.

Answer 8

My son who is now almost 15 was misdiagnosed as Autistic, which turned out to be ADHD and he didn't speak (other than gibberish) until about 1st grade. They thought he was Autistic because he didn't respond well and was focused on playing with the toys in the doctors office. They were however able to ask him some questions that showed his intelligence was high, unlike Autistic children his age (kindergarden). It was the computer that had taught him so well, which was a Godsend because you couldn't get him to sit for more than a few seconds to read books in order to learn ABC's, etc. The computer was interesting enough to hold his attention and educated him through learning games. So, I suggest getting a good fast PC and lots of educational games, and if he learns well, from what I know about Autism, it means he couldn't possibly have it. They seem to have trouble learning. My son now speaks 2 languages although not well in either one, and is managing to progress in school, although with some difficulty probably due to the ADHD, which has gotten much better since those early days. I'm thankful he didn't have Autism and yet dealing with the ADHD has been tough. So my best advice is to try to see how well he learns the basics such as ABC's, 123's, colors, animals, etc. At the time he was misdiagnosed with Autism, I believed they were wrong because of his high level of intelligence, thanks to the PC. Had it not been for the PC, he wouldn't have been able to learn those things and I may very well have believed their diagnosis of Autism. Scares me to think about that. He started using a PC at age 3, and now he is a computer wiz and loves high tech stuff, so the PC helped him become technically savvy as well. By the way, we started out letting him take Ritalin but it's effectiveness ran out after about a year, and we hated watching the side affects. He was as skinny as a refugee, and had almost zero appetite. He now is happy, healthy, and filled out nicely about age 8, which was within a year after stopping the Ritalin. I don't believe my sons education was more important than his growth and health. If they could have just tailored his education around his ADHD, he wouldn't have needed to take meds. We think there has to be a pill for every ailment, and that education has to be given in the same way to every child, no matter what their individual needs or disabilities. I think he should have been given his own PC in school along with the appropriate software for his grade level. All of his courses could have been taught in the PC and since the PC could hold his attention unlike a teacher giving boring lectures, he would have excelled. You can however take it upon yourself and just supply him with all of the programs he needs because you will find that unless you medicate him, he will struggle in school, and the teacher/school will probably insist you medicate him, or put him in a class for all of the rejects who for whatever reason can't be "Mainstreamed", which is their goal. So, just try to understand your son may not ever be the kind of student you had hoped for, like other children. No matter what you do, he may always struggle and not keep up with kids his age, unless you are successful in finding alternate methods of teaching him, like I suggest. There are so many good children's educational programs out there, and I must have owned at least one of each available. The thing is as he gets older, there is less available software that teaches his age level with the same fun that there was when he was younger. The attraction for him was most definitely the fun factor, but nonetheless, he received the knowledge he needed to master the games he played. He loved mastering the highest level of each game he played, but he had to learn in order to do it. So, be patient and understanding and try and see if the PC doesn't help, at least till he is older, when he may be able to learn more in the conventional way. Pray it isn't Autism. Good luck

Answer 9

the same thing happened to my son with the ear problems and the speech hes been in speech class for about a year now and is getting better so just wait awhile as for adhd in a 3year old i would get another doctor to check him for that to make sure.

Answer 10

If he has had ear infections, his language processing is behind. He is probably going to behind in other things as well, such as interacting with peers. If you are worried, take him to a specialist. It is hard to give an opinion since you didn't say what things he isn't doing that other kids are.