Hi, my 19 month old son has just been diagnosed as being High functioning autistic. This was a huge shock to us. We previously raised concerns to our HV about his lack of speech (he has about 20 words) but isnt very chatty. He has always rolled items between his hands and for about the last 2 months has looked out the sides of his eyes ocassionally. He wouldnt be interested much in playing with toys although he does play with them for a while. He doesnt take much interest in other kids apart from his cousin who he chases about and laughs with when he visits him once a week. Prior to the diagnosis we had engaged the help of a private ABA company who also carried out an assessment called VB MAPP - my son scored 12 out of 45 and the psychiatrist reckoned his speech dealy was causing him frustration and affecting his interaction. We started ABA therapy a few weeks ago - small steps with PECS, mimicking etc with a view to building it up to intensive 20-25 hours per week. My son is the youngest patient they have ever treated.
We then had a separate appointment with a Private Autism expert last week, which we though would be another assessment - she asked us did we want a diagnosis so we said yes. She assessed my son and we thought it went very well - he played with cars, laughed and great eye contact etc. At the end she said I believe he has HF Autism due to his repetitive play (we told her he likes playing with stones everyday but not obsessively), lack of social interaction (again I would dispute that as he does interact with people he knows and has very good eye contact) and lack of speech (although quiet I think he isnt bad at talking) - the diagnosis totally floored us.
Has anyone else had a child diagnosed at such a young age?
Any help or advice would be very welcome as we are in a bit of a spin atm