2 year old and autism?

[emmadibbs]

Hi there
I am looking for a bit of advice.  I care for a 2 year old girl who seems to be showing some signs which I am trying to work out if they are related to a possible autistic disorder or if they are psycological.

She has just turned 2 and has had a number of different carers, she has been with me for 4 months.  Her language is very advanced for her age and she can string several words together.  She gets very obsesive about her language though.  As am example if I say to her 'we will be going to collect the boys soon' she then cycles through this over and over listing all the names of who we will collect over and over.  I am not sure whether to stop her doing this or to let her continue and ignore.  She also has no understanding of emotions and this is a bit worrying.  She will pinch other children without remorse and was very cruel to my dog when she first started here and although I would explain that she was hurting her and to stop she would go to do it again right in front of me, I cannot leave her unsupervised with anyone or anything.

She is very defiant also.  As an exmple she was in the bottom seat of my buggy repeatidly kicking the seat in front which meant she was kicking my son in the back.  I asked her not to do this and she continued, I explained that she was hurting him and she continued, I explained she would need to go in time out and she continued, she went in time out and afterwards got back in the buggy and continued!  

Could these be signs of some sort of disorder or is it just bad behaviour?  I am aware that she has had multiple carers and this behaviour could just be as a result of that but thought I'd ask you guys.

Advice is greatly received.

Emma X

[Sally44]

Also google echolalia and delayed echolalia and see if she is doing that.
Also google perseverant speech and see if she is doing that.

[emmadibbs]

Thankyou very much.  I will call my HV and see what she suggests.  

[Sally44]

You are right to have firm boundaries and to use time out when the child does not respond to what you have said.
At 2 her social side should be starting to develop.
For the kinds of things you have mentioned regarding her speech, the professional that would see her would be a speech and language therapist.  When a child is in nursery the nursery provider can ask the parents if they can get advice from a SALT.  If you are a child minder I am not sure what your procedure would be.  But you could contact your local SALT department and ask them.
Children on the autistic spectrum can have a whole range of speech and language and social communication difficulties.  These can range from being totally non-verbal to being hyper verbal called 'hyperlexia'.  Children with this may speak or read years in advance of their age, but not have any real understanding of what they are saying or reading.  That sounds more like what she maybe doing.  But a SALT would be the first professional to be involved and they would be able to refer onto other professionals.  Or the parent can go to their GP and ask for a referal to a multi disciplinary team that has experience of diagnosing autistic spectrum disorders.  There is also telephone helplines for advice from the National Autistic Society at www.nas.org.uk and at www.ipsea.org.uk.