Could he be autistic

[serenitylass]

When I first met my 4 (nearly 5) yr old stepson he was 2...he seemed to be a normal child, speech was on track, he fed himself with no problem, was a happy child and interacted well with our other children.  Now he is 4 and a completely different child.  He doesn't speak and when he does it is gibberish, he wont walk flat footed only on tip toe, doesn't eat properly, he will chew his food for an unbeleivable amount of time but doesn't actually swallow it.  When he comes to stay (which is every 2nd weekend) he doesn't interact with anyone and will sit watching tv for the whole time.  When we speak to him it is like he has no understanding of what we have asked or how to respond.  Things started to change around the time I had my last son and we assumed the quietness was because of the new baby but after 15 months he has gone backwards and is no longer the child he used to be.  We have spoken to his mother about the problem everytime we take him home but she refuses to see that there is something "not right"...I have reached the stage where I am going to take him to the Dr anyway, even if she doesn't agree because as I said something just isn't "right".  In our family we have 9 children combined (his, mine and ours) plus another on the way.  My other stepson who is 10 lives with us and has aspergers so I was wondering if maybe this kind of thing runs in families.

[serenitylass]

thanks for the replies...we bought up (once again) with his mother about taking him to a Dr but she is against it...he is booked in to start school next year and in her opinion if there is anything wrong with him they will pick it up.  That's just not good enough as far as we are concerned so next time he is here we have an appointment with the Dr...it really is something I believe we need to find out about sooner rather than later.

[KarenDiane]

There seem to be different types of autism. My daughter has Aspergers and she was different from birth. I've read about children who seem fine, but begin to lose skills around 1.5 - 2 years. The vaccine theory has been dismissed as faulty. There is a belief that environmental factors can play a part.

[vaccineinjury]

From my experience around age 4 is when Autism starts to show.  Autism is not only genetic.  There are many other factors at play.  One of which , contrary to popular belief, it vaccine indused autism. It does show up around this age.  I would have him seen by a dev. ped

[KarenDiane]

Autism can run in families. They latest research suggests that it is genetic and I think you are right to take him to a Dr. The sooner he gets help, the better. Perhaps his mother is in denial. That is a very common reaction. Good Luck.