How soon can you really tell if your child is on the spectrum??

My younger DD has never really responded like other babies her age. She doesn't respond to her name, and she is hard to get to smile.

Her pediatrition has been talking about the possibility of autism. Can they really tell at this age? (just about 9 months) or am I worrying over nothing?

When I think back in retrospect there were things about Gus that pointed to his autism, but only now in hindsight - nothing stood out to me then. Unfortunately, I wasn't taking him to well-baby checkups nor following the vaccine schedule then - my husband was deployed and I was overwhelmed with 3 little ones with 15 months between each of them, a lot of things got put off. And he always smiled, he was an easy smiler. His symptoms weren't really apparent to others until he was around 2. But I read that the AAP wants doctors to start screening kids for autism at younger ages, they are saying now that kids should have 2 autism screenings at well-baby visits by age 2! So it seems the signs can be there for those who know what to look for. I have no personal experience with early diagnosis, our Dx was not until he was 2½ . I wouldn't get worried if I were you, but it can't hurt to have a screening if only to ease your fears!

With Alexander, the signs were there from day one. He also was very difficult to get to smile, and didn't really respond to his name. He never really reacted to much either. Our pedi kept telling us that since he looked at him (for a second) he couldn't be autistic. That is a very old school way of thinking. Your doctor is being proactive, and I think that is good. If in fact your daughter has autism, it is much better to have her diagnosed early rather than later. Since Alexander has started therapy, it is like he is waking up out of a sleep. It can really help so much. The earlier the better. And kids are being diagnosed earlier all the time. Good luck and KUP.

I am not sure what to tell you. I think 9 months is way to early for a evaluation. I would try not to worry to much. I am not sure what the youngest age they can do a evaluation. I met somewhere around here that had there son evaluated at 18 months and was dx with autism.

I know that most drs wont even consider looking at them until approx 18 months. My Neuroogist wont DX before they are two. Have you talked to your dr about a developmental Ped? May be a good idea to see about having her seen by one. I wish you luck.

Does your DD respond well to touch? Make eye contact?

Whats the differnece between a Pediatrition and a developmental Ped??

I'll deffinitly need to be asking more questions. DD is already in physio due to her CMTC so if she needs further tharipy she's already in the right place.

The only "sign" I had, looking back, was that Freddy had/has an extreme attachment to me. He hated other people to hold him or do anything with him except me. We were always dealing with separation anxiety. The rest of his symptoms didn't start showing up til later. He's a smiley kid too, so I never thought autism until we started looking into why his speech was so crummy. And now here we are.
It's hard to say what age is too young to diagnose...

A pediatrician is a doctor who specializes in children, but not in a specific area. A developmental pediatrician has taken additional training and practicum in the area of infant/child development and behaviour. Here, the details :) http://www.aap.org/family/WhatisDevBehPeds.pdf

Gus had sensory issues from infancy, but I thought that was just him, I didn't recognize it as an indication of anything. He was easily overstimulated. As soon as he was able to he would cover his head with a blanket and retreat from activity and interaction, and when he wanted to sleep. I ended up giving him silk playscarves for that because I was afraid he'd smother. He was happiest in his sling, all bunched up. He stuck his tongue out a lot and clenched his fists into balls when excited. By around 1 he had little mannerisms we thought were just his quirks - we didn't know he was stimming. He at times seemed not to hear us or his siblings and didn't always respond to his name - yet we knew that his hearing was fine, he responded to music. He didn't speak - we thought that was because he was the 3rd, and the older 2 were always talking. He would "sing" songs perfectly, but without words, he would just make a sound in place of a word - he had all the right notes and tempo though - another indication that there was nothing wrong with his hearing. He liked to pace, and was never really interested in playing with others or with baby activity toys in the way most babies do - he liked to stack things and line things up and open and close boxes, cupboard doors etc almost obsessively. All sorts of things that on their own didn't seem odd, but when added up, along with his speech delay, pointed to an ASD. He was such a happy, smiling child though, everyone just kept saying there was nothing to worry about...

Sorry didn't see this question somehow...

She'll respond to touch, but usually to get away from it, at least with others. She doesn't like a lot of noise or activity.

She'll make eye contact if you catch her eye. Its hard to explain, but sometimes it can take a few minutes to really get her attention, and then its fairly fleeting.

I often get told that she always looks "worried"

But when you do finally get her to smile or to laugh its enough to light the room up. Once she starts she goes, kwim?