Signs of autism in toddlers

If he’s happy and thriving I wouldn’t be too concerned. You mentioned about giving eye contact and sociable - autism isn’t always a lack of these things, that’s just the stereotype, you can have high functioning autism it’s actually common in autistic children but rarely spoke about. My brother is on the spectrum and on the social side of things you wouldn’t even know it. That’s not to worry you it’s more just an fyi. It’s hard at the toddler age. I feel it may be a bit too young to tell as sometimes kids can be advanced but I do feel you because I’m told how advanced my son is too in terms of his speech and stuff. And he’s showing very similar characteristics as my brother did at that age. But where he’s happy and thriving I’m not looking into it. I feel it will be easier when they get older to assess but the fact your child’s nursery has pin pointed it maybe wouldn’t do no harm in them getting the additional needs worker in and see what they think / say x

My mum used to work in a pre-school and as im aware the spectrum is very vast, some children are advanced and some can be behind learning wise, some are really sociable and some struggle in different situations or to make friends etc. If they are bringing in an additional needs worker for him id imagine they think he may be autistic and they want the support to challenge him etc Has he had his 2 ye review yet with the health visitor because they look for signs at that x

I asked when I picked him up and they said no, he shows no signs of autism. They really just want to know what they should be doing to challenge his mind at nursery so he’s not bored x

@Lynsay i wouldnt worry then if they had concerns im sure they would tell you ☺️

I have read that it can be - it's called Hyperlexia. I have wondered about my son too. He's not reading but he is really advanced with his speech (I know that delayed speech is usually an indicator but I'm wondering if it can go both ways), very knowledgeable on animals (he knows sharks have dorsal fins, and that killer whales are also known as Orcas - a couple of examples!) And he can tell us what type of dinosaur or shark he sees, knows all his colours, can count to 20 I think, but we haven't really taught him any more! I have other reasons to suspect autism other than him having an awesome memory though - his dad is autistic so there is a high chance. But he was the opposite at 2, with delayed speech, so I don't know!

Tbh i havent suspected autism other than for the fact he’s really quite smart, but I’ve also put the work in for that. It’s not like it’s just came out of nowhere but my knowledge of autism is somewhat limited so I just worry that he’s needing more from me and not getting it because I’m just not aware of the signs other than what google tells you x

@Lynsay how might have hyperlexia - it can be connected with autism but you would know - eg not clapping, responding to his name , waving or pointing by 18 months