I need to stop doing this to myself...
I was reading about speech delays in chidren, and once again came across the symptoms of autism. Like I said before, I'm a "pretend hypochondriac", and therefore if I or someone else has ONE symtom of a disease, or disorder I right away think I have it, but I never go to the doctor.
I've thought Isabella may have some form of autism since this last spring/summer. Ever since she had her "seizures" and liked to bang her head on everything. She doesn't have her "seizures" anymore, and so I think it was just a thing she liked doing. As for the head banging thing, well, I guess that's not uncommon for kids to do.
So here are the symptoms of autism that Isabella has, but I am also able to explain it away:
1. Appears content to play alone. Yup. When she gets the chance to go into her bedroom and shut the door without anyone in there, she'll just start playing with her toys usually. I'm pretty sure that if I left her alone in there for 1/2 an hour she'd be fine and wouldn't even notice she was alone. She's also always been good at entertaining herself in her crib. That's one reason we've never had any problems with having to get up with her at night. She wakes up a few times throughout the night and she'll just sit there and talk to herself and play with her dolls or fingers, or whatever she can get ahold of. Then after awhile she falls back to sleep. On the other hand, is that really a problem? I remember before my sister was born I entertained myself and could play by myself. I don't know if I did that at 15 months, or if that's even uncommon for little kids to do. Maybe she's just used to being the only baby around, so it's normal for her to entertain herself when she needs/wants to.
2. Resists Cuddling. Yup. Often times when you try to hug, or kiss her she pulls away. There are times when I try to lay my head on her or lean up against her and she pushes me away, or moves her body so I'll stop touching her. She doesn't give you kisses when you ask, or when you are giving her kisses she doesn't mimmick it, or try to say "kiss" or make any kissing noises like she might for other things. She seems to understand what hugs are because every so often she'll actually give you a hug when you ask. Most of the time though if you ask she'll just shake her head and walk away. On the other hand, I don't really like to cuddle either. I don't like being touched all the time, and I like my space. Also, she loves to sit in people's laps, and sometimes she will lay on you, or touch you as long as you let her take the initiative.
3. Uses gestures or pointing instead of words. Yup. When she wants something all she does is point. If she points at something and there is more than one object to choose from we sometimes pick up the wrong thing and she'll just shake her head "no". She has never said a word that names anything except for "dada". When she was drinking from a bottle she never called it anything, and actually she never even figured out how to feed herself a bottle, and never seemed interested in trying to hold it. She just liked to hold our fingers usually. Now that she drinks from a sippy cup she doesn't call that anything either even when we say "cup", or "milk". On the other hand, she doesn't say many words to begin with. Delay of speech is another sign of autism, but it could just be that she's slow in learning how to talk.
4. Inappropriate laughing or giggling. Yup. But what exactly qualifies as inappropriate? There are times when she laughs for reasons that we can't figure out and we tend to call it her sarcastic laugh. It's almost like she's laughing at a stupid joke someone said just to humor them. On the other hand, maybe she just likes to laugh for no reason. Or maybe she's just practicing a sound that she can make.
5. Compulsive Behaviors. Yup. There is one specific time that I can remember that she INSISTED on doing the same thing over, and over, and over again. It was a few weeks ago and she wanted me to bang on her drum with her. We sat there for at least 30 minutes banging away on this drum. It was annoying and I was bored with it after about 5 minutes, so I tried a couple times to set down the drumstick and distract her with another toy. When I did this she would get very upset and would pick up the drumstick and force it into my hand. If I stopped hitting the drum she would take my hand and start banging it on the drum until I did it myself. I think that's the only time she's ever acted like that, and needed to do something over and over again. On the other hand, it was just one time. Maybe she just really wanted to play with her drum, and got mad when I quit because she wanted me to play with her. Who knows...
6. Toe Walking. Yup. She walks on her toes several times a day. She usually just does it for a few seconds or until she's distracted though. On the other hand, from what I've read it's pretty normal for kids under 3 to walk on their toes quite a bit. I also rememeber one of my classmates brothers doing that all the time (even into middle school), and they found out he had some sort of physical problem, but I can't remember what it is. Good thing I can't remember it right now, or I'd be surfing the internet trying to figure out if Isabella has that too. :)
7. Self-Injurious Behavior. Yup. Like I said before she USED to bang her head on things all the time. A common thing she does now is pinching her skin on her tummy and inner thighs. She'll just be sitting there or walking around and nex thing you know she's got a chunk of skin in each hand and is pinching away. It's actually kind of funny watching her try to walk while she's bent over and pinching her inner thighs. On the other hand, I don't know that she's pinching herself hard enough to hurt. Maybe it just feels neat to her, or she's just exploring her body or something. She doesn't leave marks or bruises on herself, and she doesn't look like she's in pain, but maybe she doesn't feel any pain.
So those are the reasons I think Isabella has autism. I dont' know if I really, really believe she does though. I think I'm just worrying about nothing, and since I'm able to explain all the symptoms away then it's probably nothing. I figure if she's still doing these things at her 18 month appointment in March then I will bring it up. I think for now I'll just stop reading about all this crap, and let Isabells do her thing. It's just weird how mom's have this thing where they know something is wrong with their kid. The thing is that I don't necessarily trust my judgment since I tend to believe I have everything wrong with me under the sun whenever I get a stuffy nose. I've been concerned about other things before with Isabella and it turned out to be right although I didn't always know exactly WHAT was wrong. I'm thinking that maybe I'm right that Isabella has some sort of problem, but autism may be an overreaction. We'll see in a few months if it's anything to worry about and hopefully by then she'll be speaking in full sentences and reading from encyclopedia's. :)
I've thought Isabella may have some form of autism since this last spring/summer. Ever since she had her "seizures" and liked to bang her head on everything. She doesn't have her "seizures" anymore, and so I think it was just a thing she liked doing. As for the head banging thing, well, I guess that's not uncommon for kids to do.
So here are the symptoms of autism that Isabella has, but I am also able to explain it away:
1. Appears content to play alone. Yup. When she gets the chance to go into her bedroom and shut the door without anyone in there, she'll just start playing with her toys usually. I'm pretty sure that if I left her alone in there for 1/2 an hour she'd be fine and wouldn't even notice she was alone. She's also always been good at entertaining herself in her crib. That's one reason we've never had any problems with having to get up with her at night. She wakes up a few times throughout the night and she'll just sit there and talk to herself and play with her dolls or fingers, or whatever she can get ahold of. Then after awhile she falls back to sleep. On the other hand, is that really a problem? I remember before my sister was born I entertained myself and could play by myself. I don't know if I did that at 15 months, or if that's even uncommon for little kids to do. Maybe she's just used to being the only baby around, so it's normal for her to entertain herself when she needs/wants to.
2. Resists Cuddling. Yup. Often times when you try to hug, or kiss her she pulls away. There are times when I try to lay my head on her or lean up against her and she pushes me away, or moves her body so I'll stop touching her. She doesn't give you kisses when you ask, or when you are giving her kisses she doesn't mimmick it, or try to say "kiss" or make any kissing noises like she might for other things. She seems to understand what hugs are because every so often she'll actually give you a hug when you ask. Most of the time though if you ask she'll just shake her head and walk away. On the other hand, I don't really like to cuddle either. I don't like being touched all the time, and I like my space. Also, she loves to sit in people's laps, and sometimes she will lay on you, or touch you as long as you let her take the initiative.
3. Uses gestures or pointing instead of words. Yup. When she wants something all she does is point. If she points at something and there is more than one object to choose from we sometimes pick up the wrong thing and she'll just shake her head "no". She has never said a word that names anything except for "dada". When she was drinking from a bottle she never called it anything, and actually she never even figured out how to feed herself a bottle, and never seemed interested in trying to hold it. She just liked to hold our fingers usually. Now that she drinks from a sippy cup she doesn't call that anything either even when we say "cup", or "milk". On the other hand, she doesn't say many words to begin with. Delay of speech is another sign of autism, but it could just be that she's slow in learning how to talk.
4. Inappropriate laughing or giggling. Yup. But what exactly qualifies as inappropriate? There are times when she laughs for reasons that we can't figure out and we tend to call it her sarcastic laugh. It's almost like she's laughing at a stupid joke someone said just to humor them. On the other hand, maybe she just likes to laugh for no reason. Or maybe she's just practicing a sound that she can make.
5. Compulsive Behaviors. Yup. There is one specific time that I can remember that she INSISTED on doing the same thing over, and over, and over again. It was a few weeks ago and she wanted me to bang on her drum with her. We sat there for at least 30 minutes banging away on this drum. It was annoying and I was bored with it after about 5 minutes, so I tried a couple times to set down the drumstick and distract her with another toy. When I did this she would get very upset and would pick up the drumstick and force it into my hand. If I stopped hitting the drum she would take my hand and start banging it on the drum until I did it myself. I think that's the only time she's ever acted like that, and needed to do something over and over again. On the other hand, it was just one time. Maybe she just really wanted to play with her drum, and got mad when I quit because she wanted me to play with her. Who knows...
6. Toe Walking. Yup. She walks on her toes several times a day. She usually just does it for a few seconds or until she's distracted though. On the other hand, from what I've read it's pretty normal for kids under 3 to walk on their toes quite a bit. I also rememeber one of my classmates brothers doing that all the time (even into middle school), and they found out he had some sort of physical problem, but I can't remember what it is. Good thing I can't remember it right now, or I'd be surfing the internet trying to figure out if Isabella has that too. :)
7. Self-Injurious Behavior. Yup. Like I said before she USED to bang her head on things all the time. A common thing she does now is pinching her skin on her tummy and inner thighs. She'll just be sitting there or walking around and nex thing you know she's got a chunk of skin in each hand and is pinching away. It's actually kind of funny watching her try to walk while she's bent over and pinching her inner thighs. On the other hand, I don't know that she's pinching herself hard enough to hurt. Maybe it just feels neat to her, or she's just exploring her body or something. She doesn't leave marks or bruises on herself, and she doesn't look like she's in pain, but maybe she doesn't feel any pain.
So those are the reasons I think Isabella has autism. I dont' know if I really, really believe she does though. I think I'm just worrying about nothing, and since I'm able to explain all the symptoms away then it's probably nothing. I figure if she's still doing these things at her 18 month appointment in March then I will bring it up. I think for now I'll just stop reading about all this crap, and let Isabells do her thing. It's just weird how mom's have this thing where they know something is wrong with their kid. The thing is that I don't necessarily trust my judgment since I tend to believe I have everything wrong with me under the sun whenever I get a stuffy nose. I've been concerned about other things before with Isabella and it turned out to be right although I didn't always know exactly WHAT was wrong. I'm thinking that maybe I'm right that Isabella has some sort of problem, but autism may be an overreaction. We'll see in a few months if it's anything to worry about and hopefully by then she'll be speaking in full sentences and reading from encyclopedia's. :)
posted by Karissa (mommy) | 3:24 PM
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