I am writing because I am concerned about my 14 month old boy (just turned 14 months today). His pediatrician has been concerned about him since he was 6 months old, and he was evaluated by a speech pathologist at his 6 month well baby visit. She said she thinks he is okay, but that was 8 months ago. He has never liked close-up eye contact, will not look at the person holding him, but will look at you most of the time if someone else is holding him. He makes pretty good eye contact if I am in the floor playing with him. He makes decent eye contact in his high chair and on his changing table when he wants to. He has always been extremely interested in his environment and less interested in people at times. He does interact with his family members and people he knows well, but tends to ignore strangers. If they try to talk to him, many times he will point at something and ask "whas zat" to distract the fact that he doesn't want to look at them. Sometimes though he will look at people and smile and wave. The pediatrician thinks it is just his personality and temperment. I am more concerned, however. Ever since she mentioned the word Autism, I have been a nervous wreck, constantly observing and watching him for any clues.
His receptive language skills are pretty good. He follows simple commands such as "bring mommy the baby", "throw it in the trash", and he will point to some body parts when asked. He has pointed to things since 9 months old saying "whas zat", however, most times does not look back at us to see if we are looking at him. Ped thinks he assumes we are looking at him. He sometimes points to things of interest in books at bedtime and will point to things when named in his books. Now, he does sometimes point to things or reach for them and look back at us, asking for the object. He also has just started pointing to things asking "dat" and will look back at us for a response most times. He has gotten better with this. He will most of the time look where you are pointing to if it is not too far away. He does not say mama or dada yet (has made the sounds though and knows who we are because if you ask where is mommy or daddy he will look at us), but has several other words such as ba for ball, bay for baby, hat, cat, hello on his cell phone, whas zat and dat for that, used to both say and wave bye-bye (now only waves), bang, and light. He has never imitated language much, but will imitate other sounds and especially actions well. A lot of times when you talk to him, he turns his head. Again, he has gotten a little better with this more recently. Now, sometimes, he gets right in my face if I am not paying attention to him and will jabber at me to get my attention. He jabbers constantly. He also will bring us things to share, always smiles in response to others smiles, responds to name most of the time (if he is engaged in an activity or in a noisy atmosphere it is harder to get his attention some times, but I think all kids are this way), feeds us bites of his food since 10 months, enjoys peek-a-boo, blows shuberts on my belly, and will imitates gestures such as all gone, where, etc. He has begun feeding himself with utensils now also (still messy, but does pretty good). His fine and gross motor skills are very good. He is very bonded to me, his dad, his grandmaw's and papaw's.
I do not think he has any sensory issues, although he does not like having his nails cut, and he is a picky eater ( I do not think it is because of texture though because he eats many different foods) and will not eat large amounts of food at one time. He has recently began to have mild tantrums when you take something away from him that he wants or if he can't have what he wants. If I tell him no, he gets mad and will shake his hands at me telling me no, or shake them furiously for a second or two. He has also started to flap his arms briefly sometimes when excited. He does play with toys appropriately, although he is obsessed with hats. He will play with a hat for 15 min sometimes saying HAT, putting the hat on and taking it off again. He will bring the hat to me or his dad and put the hat on us, take it off, put it on him, take it off, etc. Sometimes it is hard to redirect him if he is not finished playing with it. He does not get upset though if I take the hat away from him. He does not do this every day, but most days he plays with hats on and off.
My son hates to be alone. He has always followed me around everywhere in the house since he was able to crawl. He plays by himself briefly, but will always come to check in with me, or bring me something he has found. He will not nap at home unless I nap with him. I think he enjoys being around people, but acts shy a lot. He never shows anxiety when in large crowds or at restaurants.
He enjoys watching children. He will smile at them many times, but will not interact with them. He is okay with babies at first, then he acts a little afraid of them. The babies he has been exposed to all have siblings, so they are a little aggressive with him. Sometimes he will grab at them and sometimes not. The only times he is exposed to other kids are at church and out in public. He is my first child. He does not like baby dolls either. He acts afraid of them. He is also afraid of the vacuum cleaner. I do not think this is because of noise, because he is not afraid of the hair dryer or any other loud noise.
He always laughs at funny things and if we make funny faces at him. He loves being chased and will often just run to us for us to catch him.
He is very jealous of me and one of his mamaw's. If my husband kisses me, he will run over to us as and whine as if to say, that is my mommy. He did this the other day when I was holding another baby also. He did not like the fact that I was holding the child.
He gives me kisses constantly. He will give his dad hugs when dad asks him to, but hardly gives him kisses. He is in a woman or female stage right now. He definitely prefers women right now.
As I type this email, he is trying to compete for my attention, climbing in my lap and getting in my face, hugging me, wanting me to pay attention to him.
Sorry again for so much info, but I wanted you to list everything I can think of. I'm looking forward to everyone's feedback.