Possible declining speech - other habits

[jgreen99]

My 9 month old son was saying "mama" and "dada" at 6-7 months and seemed to be progressing normally.  He now no longer will say "mama" or "dada" and seems to do more incoherent babbling.  He has yet to learn clapping or engage in peek-a-boo.  I also see he like to slap his hand on a hard surface in front of him, like a table or his high chair tray.

When I hold him, he won't make eye contact and in fact goes out of his way to avoid looking at me, though I try to put my face in front of him (he turns away). He's very squirmy and doesn't hold eye contact for long.

But he smiles and laughs a lot when we interact with him, and his physical development (crawling, pulling up) is great.  Are there any concerns with the speech "regression" and are any of his other behaviors a concern for autism?  I know it's early - I just don't know what's typical 9 month old, and what could be early warning signs.  I was 38 when I had him.

[jgreen99]

Thank you Melanie. I truly appreciate your comments and insight. It is wonderful to hear from families that have been successful in working with autism.  I truly hope we don't have to  worry about that with my son - but it is comforting that so many more resources are available today.

Best, Jennifer

[melanie223]

Hello, My name is Melanie, and our 3yr old son was diagnosed with autism right before he turned 2. I suggest you take your son to a neurologist and a pediatric specialist who might be able to diagnose him if anything is wrong..being he is young, it might be hard to tell yet.  But EI (early intervention) is great but as you may know it must be done before he is 3yrs old.  I'm hoping that your son is completely fine, and doing typical behavior at his age.  But if he does happen to be on the autism spectrum then I seriously suggest you treat him with RDI (relationship development intervention).  I try to pass this on to as many families as i can, as this seems to be the best for autistic children.  You can see if there are any special instruction teachers in EI who specialize in autism and RDI.  Any other doctor or SI teacher will probably tell you to do ABA or VBA..which trains your child like a robot,and will teach them skills..but do NOT help with autism, on the contrary it will only push them further toward the autism path rather than away from it.  Unfortunatly RDI is not well known, so that is why you will be told to do speech, ABA, VBA..etc, because that is all they know.  Trust me on this.  Our son has almost fully recovered from autism with the use of RDI.  

[William L. Holcomb, Ph.D., BCBA-D]

First of all, the fact that your son is only nine-months-old means that there is a great deal of range in what might be considered within normal limits for typical development.  The range of what might be considered typical can make it very difficult to determine if there are developmental problems.  I understand your concern if he was using “mama” and “dada” and now no longer is using these words.  On the other hand, if he was saying the words, but not necessarily using them in a consistent manner (i.e., to “label you or his father), then they may have been a form of babbling (which would be quite typical at his age).  Something like banging his hands on a highchair tray is something that any nine-month-old might do.  What may be important here is a description of the qualitative nature of what you are observing (i.e., does it look like your son is “tuning you out” when you try to get him look at you or say “mama”).  I encourage you to take your son to your pediatrician and discuss your concerns with him or her.  The pediatrician may suggest that you wait until your son’s next check up, or he or she may refer you to a local Early Intervention Program (EIP) for screening.  Given your son’s age, I would not be surprised if the recommendation is to wait, however, I always advise parents that if the recommendation is to wait, and you notice any decrease in your child’s development, you contact the pediatrician at that time and not wait.  In the meantime you may wish to take a look at the websites below.  They have information about early identification of children with ASD and general child development.  

About.com Pediatrics
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/weeklyquestion/a/04_signs_autism.htm
American Academy of Pediatrics
http://www.aap.org/healthtopics/Autism.cfm
First Signs
http://www.firstsigns.org/