1. No pretend play.
Luke was still very young when we started to notice things were different but we did notice that he did not want to play exactly right with his toys. Instead of pushing a toy car across the floor he would either toss it or throw it. If you presented a baby doll to either feed or take care of he would just toss the baby doll to the side or pick it up and throw it. He mostly interacted with toys that played music or had buttons on it to push. He would also push the buttons on the play phone or music toy over and over. Even with books Luke would look at the same pages over and over and on the lift the flap books he would lift the flaps up over and over on most pages. Luke also loves watching Curious George shows but we noticed he would always choose the same episodes again and again.
2. Does not respond to name.
Luke did respond to his name most of the time until he regressed at the age of 15 – 18 months old. During that time we noticed that he would not even look at us or pay any attention when we called his name. At first I thought it was just because he was walking very well and into everything and was “too busy” to pay attention. Unfortunately, not responding to their name is a major “red flag” that something is not quite right and a sign of autism.
3. Loss of speech.
Luke did have a few words before losing them around 15-18 months old. For Luke it was a gradual loss of words. For us it was not like one day he was talking and the next he had completely stopped, it happened over a course of a few months. He was saying simple words like “dada,” “mama,” “uh oh,” “nana,” “woof,” baby sounds and we think he tried to say “bro bro,” for brother. We started noticing that he was saying only a few words a day to then hardly one or two a day and then finally “dada” was the only word he was saying. This happened between 15-18 months old and by 18 -20 months he was saying nothing.
4. No pointing to items of interest.
Luke did not point at items or objects of interest. He would not point at something to get our attention. Pointing is a form of communication that is a building block for speech. Luke did not do that much even before regression of speech.
Another thing with his development was while he was playing with toys he did not interact with us while playing. For example he did not bring me items or toys to show interest in what he was doing or playing with. While playing with a toy phone he would put it to his own ear but when I tried to join he would not put it to my ear. He had no joint attention. Joint attention is when a child shows you things in great interest, by pointing at objects or looking at an object and then looks back at you to see your response. Joint attention is a pre-cursor needed for developing spoken language.
5. Repetitive Movements
We noticed that our son wanted to jump in place over and over. He was very active and hyper and would even take a toy no matter the size and bang the toy on his knee. He would even do that to the point that his knee become red or bruised before we could stop him. His repetitive movements like banging his knee over and over was very strange and scary to us. He jumped so much that we bought him an indoor trampoline which helped with his sensory needs. Not only did he have repetitive body movements, but also he had repetitive vocal sounds. He might say the same sound over and over and even cover his ear while doing it. By cover his ear with his hand the sound would be different. He would do this several times a day and still does this now. The banging the toy on his knee soon stopped after we got him the trampoline and Occupational Therapy helped him with his sensory seeking needs. Also my son claps his hands very hard and repetitive. The only thing he does not do much was “flapping of hands.”
Every child is different and develops at his or her own pace. These are just a few major red flags for our child. Always get a doctor’s opinion if you think your child has any developmental delay.