Could my son be autistic?

So me and my partner have recently noticed several things about our son (21months old) and are just looking for other parents opinions or general help from their experience.  

The most two obvious things we noticed is he doesn't respond to his name . However will respond if we say chocolate or something else he likes, but very rarely to his own name . His speech seems to have got worse over the last 4/ months aswell . The words he learnt mknths ago we cant get him to say alot of them anymore.  

I guess really we are just looking for any advice or past experiences to compare with. Are we doing the right thing when he doesn't respond to his name and we keep saying it over and over ? Should we seek help from the doctor?  

Any reply would be greatly appreciated . 

Thankyou 

Parents
  • Hi,

    I have been through a similar experience with my son (now 28 months old). He has only recently started responding to his name, and also looses words that he has previously used. We discussed our concerns with our health visitor who recommended a referral to paediatric services for a developmental assessment. We are currently waiting for an appointment. We initially went to the health visitor when he was 23 months old so the process is quite lengthy. 

    I found it really helpful to make a note of all the things my son does well, as well as the areas I was concerned about, before going to the health visitor. I also had a report from his child minder, which was really helpful. The actual referral was made by our GP but he wanted the health visitor's input so I was glad we had seen her prior to the GP. 

    In terms of getting him to respond to his name, we made a conscious effort to use his name a lot when we already had his attention, as well as to get his attention, and if he did respond we would make a big fuss. This seems to have helped a little as he does now respond most of the time (he does also ignore us sometimes if he is "busy"!).   

    I hope this helps. 

Reply
  • Hi,

    I have been through a similar experience with my son (now 28 months old). He has only recently started responding to his name, and also looses words that he has previously used. We discussed our concerns with our health visitor who recommended a referral to paediatric services for a developmental assessment. We are currently waiting for an appointment. We initially went to the health visitor when he was 23 months old so the process is quite lengthy. 

    I found it really helpful to make a note of all the things my son does well, as well as the areas I was concerned about, before going to the health visitor. I also had a report from his child minder, which was really helpful. The actual referral was made by our GP but he wanted the health visitor's input so I was glad we had seen her prior to the GP. 

    In terms of getting him to respond to his name, we made a conscious effort to use his name a lot when we already had his attention, as well as to get his attention, and if he did respond we would make a big fuss. This seems to have helped a little as he does now respond most of the time (he does also ignore us sometimes if he is "busy"!).   

    I hope this helps. 

Children
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