Early signs of autism

[Tam]

Anyone out there dealt with autism? I keep my 2-year old nephew and I am so worried about him. He is just not developing as he should. He is still very unsteady walking; loses his balance and falls a lot. He isn't talking. His vocabulary is maybe 7 or 8 words. He will not follow simple commands; "Go get your cup and I'll put juice in it". He just cannot seem to communicate. He can't tell you when he's hungry or anything.

His parents are either in denial or just completely oblivious and I know they are defensive if anything remotely negative is said about their baby, so I stay quiet. But I am concerned.

Just curious if any of you have dealt with this issue.

Thanks!

Tam

[kymommy]

I have not dealt with Autism, but my daughter has multiple disabilities, and I work for our states early intervention program. Your nephew can get a free developmental evaluation from your states early intervention program. He may qualify for speech therapy, OT, PT, and other services. All states have an early intevention program. Usually you find out about these through your local health dept. I really beleive that intervening early is really the key to helping children, and studies show that with Autism, kids have much better outcomes the earlier therapy is started. I pray your nephew does not have Autism, but I would talk with someone ASAP to either rule it out, or start intervening.

[Tam]

Thank you so much for your suggestion, kymommy.

He will be going for his 2 year check up in the next couple of weeks and I feel sure the doctors will get firm with the paretns and tell them that it is time to think about what might be going.

Another thng he does is cry A LOT. He cries uncontrollably when I can't hold him right when he wants. I think he cries a lot of the time just out of frustration because he can't voice what he feels or wants.

thanks again.

[Rach]

Yup, we have a 5 year old. It is a lot different being there than it is looking in or looking back, that's for sure.

We only recently really accepted the fact that he's autistic. We've known for a while that he has cognitive impairment. So both of them together, ugh. He doesn't talk, still wears diapers, can't understand simple commands 75% of the time, etc.

He looks completely normal and cute! So it's hard trying to explain to anyone else as well...

oh I could go on forever, but I won't.

What you could do is tell them that school districts usually offer speech therapy and it's free to get an evaluation. It is a big process. Then with the eval they will have some 'factual' information. As a parent, I think you just keep thinking, he's so close... any day now... and the odd behaviours and delays just become normal to you. It wasn't until my 2 year old was passing Willie up that it really sunk in how far behind and how 'abnormal' he is. (and the 2 yo is speech delayed, too).

One day at a time, with God's help. That's my motto.