What We Saw When We Started Looking...

Once we knew what to look for, the signs started jumping out at us. Since she is our first child, we just assumed that many of the signs were typical of a 2-year-old. And many of the signs ARE present in NT (neurotypical) children, but it is when you put them all together that it starts to look like autism.

There are way too many things for me to list here, but here are just a few examples of why we believe she is on the spectrum:

• Significant speech delay
• Occasionally appears deaf; does not react to her name being called; in her "own" world; she stares off into space and "has a conversation" with things that are not there, and she often will laugh at "nothing" and go into hysterics
• Self-stimulations ("stims") -- i.e. hand flapping, finger flicking, toe walking constantly, and other "odd" body movements, as well as verbal stims (suddenly saying, "Car, roll, roll, roll, hot, mama, dada, up, up, up, ding, ding, wow" and pointing all over the place)
• Perseverations (repetitive actions) -- i.e. she has an "obsession" with pointing to the stove and saying, "Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot" over and over. She also likes to go back and forth from one object to another if there is more than one of something
• Extremely visual/detail-oriented -- she will notice the smallest spec of dirt or a spot and become obsessed with it. She also is obsessed with the letter M and will find it in a pattern on the rug, the wood grain of a door, etc. She loves wheels, trains, cars, and clocks also.
• She likes to line up her toys or put them in piles and gets upset if they are not all in place.

Like I said, there are many other things as well, but this gives a rough idea. Before we knew the signs of autism, we assumed that many of her behaviors were just her being a cute 2-year-old -- the hand flapping, toe walking, saying the same word over and over and over and over. But once we started really paying attention, it became very clear.

I then pointed out these things to her Early Intervention team and her pediatrician and they agreed that she needs to be evaluated.