https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 28 Apr 2026 06:56:58 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787117 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 11:06:10 +0000 hellobeeboston 2787117@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@arosebyany: it’s hard to know if it’s the speech therapy/group, or just him growing, but it’s all good! Yeah I think we’ve been doing this for about 4 months now!! He will string 4 words together now, and is repeating everything, but his speech isn’t very clear so only we understand fully, others probably understand about 50%. 😀 </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787115 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 11:01:14 +0000 arosebyany 2787115@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: I can't wait to be able to say that about DS, but right now weve only been to 3 sessions lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787114 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 11:00:05 +0000 hellobeeboston 2787114@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@arosebyany: haha. Good call!! Yeah, I’m sure you’re right. It’s what she sees all day. </p> <p>We do another big evaluation with his team in January too, so we will see how he does, and if he’s keeping on track! He’s come so far in the few months since he started. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787112 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:57:06 +0000 arosebyany 2787112@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: if he scored a one I would probably print out that paper and then every time she brings it up I would show it to her, and then precede to roll my eyes 😂😂. IMO I think that therapist are a little more sensitive to disabilities then your average joe, because they literally deal with them everyday. Ds ST has 4 other autistic children she sees, so I can imagine she sees red flags everywhere all the time in Neurotypical children, </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787109 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:52:57 +0000 hellobeeboston 2787109@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@arosebyany: I know. I agree with you. I think he’s very borderline. That’s why they keep saying wait &amp; see and he’s in early intervention already so we’re already doing what we can to help him. We will see what the pediatrician says. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787108 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:51:41 +0000 arosebyany 2787108@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: lol we cross posted! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787107 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:50:46 +0000 arosebyany 2787107@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: <a href="https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/diagnosis/mchat" rel="nofollow">https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/diagnosis/mchat</a><br /> Here it is! You can skip the personal questions part and it's just 20 questions. I'm not sure why your therapist would be telling you to wait, even if it is just normal toddler behavior and he was diagnosed with ASD he could drop the diagnosis later. just my 2 cents :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787105 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:48:24 +0000 hellobeeboston 2787105@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@arosebyany: ok. So I just did this online and he has a risk score of 1. This one therapist really gets to me every time we see her. She’s always very concerned, she even raises a lot of things with my older son. I do think she’s trying to be helpful, but her methods aren’t great. She puts me in panic mode. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787104 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:43:47 +0000 hellobeeboston 2787104@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@arosebyany: . Is it online? Our EI therapists say wait. He is seen weekly and we do a group also. This one therapist just keeps raising very rare things that he does , but then thinks we should wait. Honestly I would just want to know either way! We go to the pediatrician next week and I’m going to talk to him about it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787095 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:22:12 +0000 arosebyany 2787095@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: hey mama, have you filled out an MCHATR? My peds office gives them out at 18 month and 24 month well visits. It may put your mind at ease? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2787090 Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:11:44 +0000 hellobeeboston 2787090@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@oskarsmommy: ok so yes. This one therapist totally does that to me. Everything he does she brings up and say “does he always do that” exactly! Ugh. </p> <p>@KatieBklyn: thanks so much for sharing!! I’m feeling like my son could be in this very borderline place? But it could also be the age. So, same camp. Give him everything we can, speech therapy, socialization groups, etc and wait and see. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2777453 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 09:50:33 +0000 KatieBklyn 2777453@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My 2.5 year old (exactly 2.5) was just diagnosed with ASD through early intervention. He was first assessed at 26 months and got speech therapy. The psychologist said she saw red flags but it was too early to diagnose. Then this week, at 30 months, he was diagnosed. </p> <p>My son sounds a lot like your son with some significant differences, some of which we only noticed as he started talking more. First, my son's expressive speech is behind yours - he is just now starting to put two words together, though he has a pretty big vocabulary of nouns, and he just started using requesting words at 28 months. (like open, close, help, more.) My son also flaps his arms when he's really excited or upset, and as he is talking more we are noticing a lot of echolalia and verbal perseverating. (Like, he will see the number 18 and say "eighteen! Eighteen!" over and over and over.) </p> <p>Besides that, he has great joint attention, loves social games like peekaboo, is very empathetic, is a huge cuddler, makes decent eye contact with familiar people and does pretend play. The psychologist who diagnosed him said plenty of kids on the spectrum have those skills and that's why it's a spectrum. Our pediatrician says that the diagnostic criteria for ASD has widened so much that kids are being overdiagnosed and she thinks he is just exhibiting typical toddler behavior. So - same kid, two very different medical opinions. </p> <p>We are increasing his speech therapy and adding some ABA therapy, and I've been reading and using play techniques from "An Early Start for Your Child With Autism" which is based on the Early Start Denver Model and offers some great suggestions for engaging your toddler with play. Even if he turns out to be completely neurotypical, it can't hurt to play more! But my philosophy is basically I'll explore interventions that help him be better able to express himself and learn to socialize but I'm wary of anything that promises to make him "normal." So speech therapy, yes; special diets, no. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776760 Sat, 30 Sep 2017 21:40:11 +0000 oskarsmommy 2776760@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: I only have like 2 seconds to give a response - but first - I agree with others this sounds normal. AND we did EI for a bit for my oldest for gross motor and had 3 therapists (there was a high turnover) and one of them - oh my god - she saw pathology in everything he did. It was always "does he always do that". I wanted to stop services at 14 months but we kept them until almost 20 months just because she was getting in my head. (He is a healthy 3.5 year old now)</p> <p>That's my 2 cents. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776728 Sat, 30 Sep 2017 08:54:21 +0000 hellobeeboston 2776728@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@arosebyany: hi! yeah, so that was the story here in MA, not sure about TX. It might just be worth a call to a place of your choice to inquire about pricing so you can get a sense.... If we had reached our deductible our insurance would have covered and it would have only been $5 a session.... So I would check your insurance coverage, and call just to inquire, but I bet the state-funded will still end up being cheaper though, especially if you're looking at multiple sessions a week. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776725 Sat, 30 Sep 2017 08:20:28 +0000 arosebyany 2776725@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: thanks again for giving me an idea of what I'm looking at! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776723 Sat, 30 Sep 2017 08:19:59 +0000 arosebyany 2776723@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: ouch! I figure with DS being non verbal so far, that would be two possibly 3 speech sessions a week, plus OT for his cognitive development and feeding therapy. He's making a lot of progress but he's still behind and will qualify again. It sounds like EI at $700 a month may end up cheaper. I'm going to ask the EI board. We have an HSA and everything renews in December. So I think I may double what we've been putting in it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776630 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 13:29:14 +0000 hellobeeboston 2776630@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@arosebyany: Oh wow. That is a TOTALLY different scenario than what we've got going on here in Massachusetts. For some reason I just assumed other states structured it the same way. dumb... </p> <p>We had our then 3-year old in OT for fine motor and sensory issues for 6 months once a week and I believe it was about $3,500 total. We signed up for a HDHP this year so we could get an HSA, so we too hadn't reached our deductible and paid for all of it (but out of our HSA), I think our deductible is like $4k? so we got close and then it would have been cheaper after that, but he 'graduated'....</p> <p>Anyway, we LOVED our private OT, and it was nice that we got to pick who we worked with like you said, so that is a good plus..... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776606 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 12:44:04 +0000 arosebyany 2776606@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: :heart: thank you for your response. We had him evealuated by EI at 16months old for some fine motor delays, at that age they wouldnt even give him a speech assessment. He didn't actually qualify at the time for anything but feeding therapy. I think he was around 20 percent delayed in almost everything, but he needed to be 30 or 35 percent to qualify. With that being said I live in Texas and it's income based. For us that was going to equate to almost $700 a month. We also have a HD insurance so it would be $3500 out of pocket before it would even kick in. The case worker is the one who suggested going the private route. We'll probably have an eval done both private and EI and see how much and what therapys he'll need before deciding which way to go. Also I wasn't really impressed with the case worker and therapist that came out to the house to do his eval then. It seemed like they were in a hurry, and they barely asked any questions. If it's not to personal could you give me an idea of what you pid for private therapy? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776594 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 12:15:15 +0000 bubblegum 2776594@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: Of course! Best of luck with everything. Enjoy your sweet angel for his perfect 2 y.o self! :heart: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776592 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 12:05:50 +0000 hellobeeboston 2776592@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Freckles: I know. I look back to some of my concerns with my first born and can see in hindsight that some stuff was silly, but when you're in it, it's hard to get the bigger picture! </p> <p>And I also do think they go through phases, so it's hard to know if waiting to see is the appropriate route? or get on top of it before it's too late is the route. Ugh. being a mom is stressful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776590 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 12:03:35 +0000 hellobeeboston 2776590@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bubblegum: Thanks for sharing! I like your doc's response - let him be 2.... i need to keep that in mind.</p> <p>@wrkbrk: good to hear!</p> <p>@arosebyany: Thank you so much for sharing. I've been told by a few people that since my son is home with the nanny and his older brother half the week, and he misses out on the preschool/daycare social interaction that could be factoring in the language delay. It's good you started the groups! Per our EI, we put him in a local social play group for kids under 3, and we're starting a group thats set up like a preschool every monday from 9:30-11:30 that will be great for him (i hope). so hopefully both you and I will see some good results from the group settings! Good luck... I know its hard to take that first step and do the evaluation, and it can be hard to hear, but from everything i've read/heard, the earlier you get them started the better... Just curious why you wouldn't go the EI route? its free if he qualifies.... And pre-age 3 it doesn't go in his public school record. We had to pay out of pocket for private OT for my older son, and while totally worth it, it was very expensive. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776570 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 10:40:07 +0000 Freckles 2776570@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I completely understand your concerns. I had these same thoughts with my daughter, now 5. At 2 her expressive language was very weak compared to her receptive language skills. I'm pretty sure she had the minimum number of words. She was always quiet and sucking her fingers and touching her tag blanket to calm down. She didn't play like all the other kids, was content to just sit and look at books for hours. Once she hit 3 she completely changed and the pendulum has swung the opposite way. My problem was that she was my first, and i compared her to all of the other kids who seemed "normal". Some friends even hinted that she may be behind. Now when i look back, it was so ridiculous - everyone develops differently. I hope you get a second opinion. :heart: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776558 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 10:09:55 +0000 arosebyany 2776558@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: autism has really been on my mind lately, because I fear Ds is all the time. He is 21 months, and I'm going to lay my fears on his ped at his 2 year well visit. I Know Because of DS lack of speech he's going to qualify for EI, although we may go the private route. I can't even discuss it with anyone because I live in the woods with a bunch of backwoods hillbillys who think autism is ONLY ever severe. For your peace of mind I'm going to list what I've noticed about DS. He NEVER responds to his name, if he does I'm pretty sure it's by chance and not because he knows I'm talking to him. He is obsesses with all things that spin, like literally he will search out tires and wheels. If my flip flop is laying on the ground he will spin it. At 21 months he still has no words and his receptive language is also severely lacking. He does not point, nor does he follow when I point. His interaction with other children is hit and miss. He will not acknowledge when a stranger speaks to him. He never bRings me toys to show me his interest. I will say that he is super affectionate to family and close friends, has perfect eye contact and smiles constantly. He also mimics, and looks at me for a reaction when he's experiencing something new. I go back and forth in my mind as to wether he's autistic or just severely delayed in language. We just started him in a twice a week Mother's Day out program, im giving it two months to see if anything improves. This is his very first time being away from me and around other children his age. What your describing about your son sounds normal to me. I would be estatic if DS has 30-50 words at 2 lol. From what I understand most doctors don't like to diagnose autism before 3 because all toddlers have a few autistic traits, that they grow out of by then. I hope this helps! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776550 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 09:56:12 +0000 wrkbrk 2776550@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: Just chiming in with another "sounds like normal 2 year old stuff to me." My son is 22 months, only really started talking recently, ignores me plenty of the time, lines up all of his toys in color order, and rubs a little lamb soothie to calm down. My pediatrician laughed at me when I asked her if any of this was troubling! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776497 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 08:18:54 +0000 bubblegum 2776497@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: Sounds exactly like DS who WAS tested for autism and was NOT autistic. DS has a major speech delay at 2 years old with my 15-20 words in his vocabulary. We started EI, where we got an OT, PT, SI and speech therapist. SI suggested that she saw some red flags and we should get him tested. I honestly thought maybe he is on the spectrum somewhere. If he was heavily engaged in an activity he would not respond to his name, never held eye contact, things like that so I thought hmmm maybe. We went the process (super long process) and nope! He was diagnosed with mixed receptive-expressive language disorder and does have slight sensory issues. The Dr was amazing and so reassuring and said "he's 2 just let him be 2." I think our kids legit just have selective hearing! lol DS is 3 and still receiving EI and he's a totally different kid! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776478 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 07:33:40 +0000 travellingbee 2776478@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: Yes, same with us about the older one being dependent and the younger one being independent. My mom says it was the same way with my brother and me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776477 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 07:32:22 +0000 travellingbee 2776477@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This sounds very much like my son. I highly doubt he's on the spectrum, that sounds pretty normal to me as far as not always responding to his name and getting focused on an activity . </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776469 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 07:00:03 +0000 Adira 2776469@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: That was my issue too exactly! My older son was very clingy and engaged with us ALL THE TIME. He didn't really start playing independently until younger brother came along, and still, it was reluctantly. But younger brother has always been more independent, and so I wasn't sure what was going on! Personality differences I guess! Hopefully it's similar for you and nothing too serious going on. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776467 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 06:54:37 +0000 hellobeeboston 2776467@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@honeybear: yes. Its only been about 5 weeks or so so I'm trying to give her a little more time. She is very....... dramatic, like I mentioned above. "ALARMIST" is the word both the nanny and I think fits her. So yes, I think I need to take her comments with a grain of salt. The good news is there is a speech therapist starting with him weekly, and she as our "generalist" will be going down to bi-weekly, then monthly, which will be good.</p> <p>Thanks all. Its good to hear from others. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/autism-red-flags#post-2776466 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 06:52:08 +0000 hellobeeboston 2776466@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catomd00: thanks for sharing. </p> <p>@Mrs. Goose: thanks</p> <p>@Adira: thanks.... yeah, it's hard not to compare to older LO who was, and still is, VERY dependent on us. He is the opposite and cannot play independently at all and is therefore overly engaged with us. younger LO just seems more independent like you say, which we have been thrilled about actually. yes, will continue to monitor, glad we're already working with EI so the can help us out. </p>