Signs of Autism in my 2 year old daughter???

[sybley]

My daughter is now 27 months old.  She is only speaking a few words here and there and mostly repeats whatever we repeat to her.  She grinds her teeth occasionally, walks a bit odd ( like an old lady almost), when she gets mad she flaps her right hand, and she lines her toys up.  When we give her a bath she takes all her tub toys and lines them up on the edge of the tub or when she is playing w/ her pretend food & dishes she has to have the plates w/ each having food on them w/ a fork to go w/ each.  When she gets angry or frustrated she will flap her right hand.  I do not know if this is because she is just frustrated and mad or if it could be a sign on autism.  She also likes to carrying stuff around all the time, usually a blanket and a stuff animal or a stuff animal and a book and a sippy cup.  She seems to always have her hands full of something.  I am so scared after looking up these various things and realizing that she has a lot of symptoms associated w/ autism.  She does however hold eye contact, like to be hugged and cuddled, she does not throw temper tantrums really at all, just the regular getting mad if she can't have something.  We are not a sceduled family and nothing is a ritual around here and that does not seem to matter to her.  She is a great eater and will eat pretty much anything you give her.  She does not twirl around or sit alone for long period of times.  She can watch a tv show and focus on it.  Am I just worrying about these symptoms and not thinking about all the other symptoms she does not have?  I am worried and would love any input anyone may have.

[stella213]

Sorry I forgot to mention that all my kids flapped their little hands when they were mad! It's also normal for them to pull their own hair out or bite themselves when they get mad. She's just learning to express herself! Hope this helps!

[stella213]

Hi there

Your daughter sounds perfectly normal. I have 3 children of my own and take care of my nieces and nefews. My kids did all of the things you're describing. The strangest I can relate to probably doesn't sound strange to other people but I remember it quite well- the lining things up. My son took that to an extreme. At that age,he went through a stage where that's all he did.I thought it was cute for awhile but sometimes it did scare me because he'd line up 30cars perfectly straight across the floor,then he'd look at them for awhile and start to rearrange them from big to small etc. and I'd never seen another kid do that. He's a perfectly normal 7yr old now.

Your daughter likes to carry things around and play pretend. Thats great and is perfectly normal. My kids were always doing that. My niece even has a little bag that seemed wierd to me when I looked in it and found everything from an old nipple from a bottle to a lace doilie she stole from her grandmas house LOL! Anyway kids do strange things sometimes but it's all part of growing up.

Your little girl sounds really smart. I think you should get a book about what's normal for kids her age but even then,those are just guidelines.My 1st child didn't crawl normal and I read that it can be a sign of cerebral palsey.It terrified me.She's 13 now and in advanced clases at school.

So try not to worry ok! I hope this helps-you can message me directly anytime? I don't know how I got over here I hang out in another forum so may not see any other questions you may ask.

Stella