Are these autistic symptoms?

[REYNA33]

My son is 20 months old and has me worried. He has never really been a pointer, points at things of interest rarely, sometimes at things in books, not good at following the direction of my pointing.  He walks and runs on toes a lot but can walk flat. My husband did this as a child I am told.  He flaps hands a lot mostly when excited,but also when not, sometimes taps lips, has been licking things a lot, windows, but  my arm or leg, sometimes its just his lips rubbing over objects. He has hands in mouth a lot, will sometimes pull them out if I say so. He also presses his face into my arm and squeezes tight, or presses his forehead into mine tightly.  He stares at his reflection in the oven door a lot, usually for a few  minutes at a time, about 4-5 times a day.  He drops objects in front of it and picks them up, or squats, jogs in place,dances, he is usually smiling while doing this.  He mostly plays with books, looks thru them or "reads", likes to carry spoons around or any kind of cooking utensil, mostly in his mouth or tapping on something. He plays with his toy phone, brings it to me so I can say hello, also puts hand to ear and says ' who is it?' He claps a lot, this started about a month ago.  I attributed this to constant coaching, songs with clapping, as he never really clapped that much before.  He brings me books to read, toy phone,a hat for me to wear, which makes him laugh. He never tries to bring me over to where he is at for help or to show me anything though. He can kick a ball, kind of throw one, mostly drops it.  He can play peekaboo and hide and seek. Can say many words, is constantly talking or babbling. He has a good memory.  He has reached his milestones pretty much on time.Has good eye contact, likes kids, will go up to strangers sometimes and smile at them til they smile back.  Sometimes he seems a little zoned out in stores or busy places. He will repeat words multiple times then on to another word or gibberish. Is this normal?

[Eileen Roscoe, PhD]

Although one of the diagnostic criteria for an Autism Spectrum Disorder is stereotyped patterns of behavior similar to your son’s flapping, tapping, and clapping, there are a number of other criteria that need to be present to receive this diagnosis. In addition to stereotyped and repetitive motor movements, individuals with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder usually exhibit more than one form of impairment in social interaction (e.g., limited eye contact, lack of social initiations or interest in others). In addition, the impairment in social interaction and repetitive motor stereotypy limits the individual’s overall functioning. From your description, it sounds like your son may not meet all of the diagnostic criteria to receive a diagnosis. However, to determine the cause of his lack of pointing and repetitive clapping/tapping/licking and to receive services to treat this problem, I recommend that you seek the assistance of a qualified professional who specializes in the diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorders. This is the only way to definitely determine whether or not your son has a diagnosis of Asperger’s Disorder or a related disorder, and more importantly, it will allow you to identify appropriate services for your son. I also recommend that you seek the support of a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, who would be able to conduct an assessment and determine an effective intervention for decreasing your son’s problem behavior. Please visit the website of the Behavior Analysis Certification Board (http://www.bacb.com/) where you will find a directory of service providers.

[REYNA33]

A related discussion, to diagnose or not was started.

[noname11]

my 3 year old daughter does the flapping of the arms when excited also started pulling her hair again we got her to stop for a little while by placing a hat on her head but started again
today was her 3 year visit to doctors NOW im freaking out because when she was about
16 months maybe a little older she was doing same thing the doctor than said this is normal but today her doctor said this is not normal at her age and wants to send her to a specialist
she does the tippy toe walking,flapping of hands when excited,hair pulling(mainly when its bed time in her bed)
any comments would be nice
thanks
ps other than what i mentioned she acts like a normal 3 year old