Autism Detection At 3 Years 5 Months

by derek
(mississauga, ON, Canada)

I have a daughter 3yrs 5 mths old. After her immune shots 5 in 1 (when she was 1yr 4 mnths ) she

had a fever (over 38C) and she lost / forgot 2 words. Now she behaves as follows:

1) with kids recently OK, before(when she was 2.5 yrs old - she was more shy), I singed her up
for music classes. When teacher asked kids to come and grab a toy - she would not do it . She
would prefer to stay with me (parents participated) and wait till all the kids grab a toy or
instrument and then after I asked her she would go (shy) and get it.
She was bored most of the time, did not really enjoy it but no disturbing behaviour.

2) now - she sometimes does not pay attention (when busy with other activities) unless I say "do
you want some choclate ?"

3) there is eye contact when we play, sing, joke.

4) especially when the weather changes she gets crunky - bahaves as very stubborn, unhappy.

5) no clear signs for repetitive movement except for pacifier like sucking (never used pacifier)

6) language skills - sometimes instead of once, she says twice or 3 times "I" .s.a "I, I go to
store with mom ..

7) when I call her (want to find her), usually she responds to her name, saying "Here I am..." -
sometimes i have to call her twice ...

8) i' ve noticed she place her toys in order - (she attends Montessori school for the last 2 yrs
- maybe it comes from there) . BTW. teachers did not provide any clear opinion (re. autistic
behavior) by saying: different kids develop at different paste but my daughter was scoring over
all a good mark. I think they simply have no in-depth knowledge about autistic behavior, therefore do not provide any opinions.

9 ) when she is in a good mood she smiles , when i start talking on a phone - she starts
interrupting and talking at the same time pretty loud (demanding attention). Sometimes she realizes that I talk to my wife on a phone and is asking if she can also say something to her mom.

10) over all she has pretty good memory - remembers fragments of ferrry tales, counts to 20 in 2
languages (almost, sometimes needs some help).

11) recently I`ve heard her asking some boy on a playground if he wanted to play, before she was
more shy, she would rather stay away from kids(with one or 2 exceptions - she had 2 friends at Montessori).

12) her physical condition is slightly below most kids` level - on a playground only recently she
starts being more confident (she used to be more shy or scared) - btw, she felt once and had a
small fracture to her wrist - that happened at the daycare (when she was 2yrs 3 months), we suspect she fell from one of the structures on a playground, however according to Montessori teachers she fell on a flat floor ...

I could go on forever listing my daughter`s behaviours but these are the ones I think may provide some evidence of wether it`s normal or if she needs closer attention of pediatrician.

I am worry she might indicates soem autistic behavour.

I will very appreciate your comments or opinion regarding this type of behaviour.

Thank you.

Regards,
Derek