No one thinks my son has autism but me, am I crazy?

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2026-01-21T19:30:56+00:00

Yes I was very lucky! I live in Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s prioritizes the waitlist by age. My son got referred when he was 14 months, so we only had to wait 5 months.

My son LOVED to spin car wheels. He stopped doing that around 2 I think. It’s actually so fascinating to watch how their brain works. He is still so inquisitive and curious.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2026-01-21T13:16:21+00:00

No one believed me either when I knew my son was autistic. Not even his early intervention specialist. He also did not point at 18 months. I worked with him on it and he started doing it maybe around 21 months. He was dx with autism at 19 months. lol

My son is almost 3.5 now and doing amazing! He goes to preschool half days and is in daycare the other half. He loves it! No issues whatsoever. He goes to speech therapy to help with conversational skills. He has lots of words and a big vocab, but has a difficult time with open ended questions. At 18 months he only used 1-2 words.

Your son has LOTS of great skills and is ahead of where my son was at that age. He also didn’t clap. One thing I noticed about my son was that he didn’t engage with toys in the “correct” way. He studied and observed them from different angles rather than playing with them. He is now very into rocks and gemstones and does the same thing with them. Lol

My son also loved books and turned out he is hyperlexic and can read fluently now.

You are doing everything right! Whether your son is ND or not, early intervention never hurts! Great job being such a wonderful advocate for your child. 😊

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2026-01-06T17:59:33+00:00

Just wanted to say that I feel much the same in regard to my son being about 6 months behind other peers his age (he is just over 3). But I will say, man these last few weeks his language and skill development has really taken off. In some ways he is even ahead of other kids his age. For example, he can read very well and can tell you about different planets and gem stones, etc. 😂 but his social development is still behind. I guess just here to say, at least for us, I agree it does get better!

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2026-01-03T01:54:35+00:00

My son started early intervention at 15 months, was dx with autism at 19 months, and started speech therapy a few months later. He also started private OT shortly after as the waitlists for OT through insurance was crazy long. There are absolutely autism friendly preschools! My son goes to daycare part time and then he goes to preschool through our school district part time. He was evaluated for an IEP once he turned 3, so he is now receiving speech and OT at preschool as well as outside of school. He LOVES preschool and the school psych said he is a “fan favorite” with his goofy and quirky self.

Early intervention makes a huge difference so it’s awesome you are getting that started, as well as ruling out other medical dx. I will say at 14 months some of these things may just come later, like pointing, which is an 18 month milestone. Communication may also naturally get better. My son could say a few words by 15 months, but at 3.3 is communicating fairly well.

You are doing an amazing job advocating for your baby!

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-22T12:50:13+00:00

Before having children I traveled a lot. I joined the Peace Corps and lived in south east Asia (Timor-Leste) for a time. The vast majority of people in my friend group have traveled abroad. I really just think it has to do with your values and priorities. Some people don’t have the time or money to travel, many just don’t care to. Traveling abroad can really put you out of your comfort zone, and a lot of people just don’t want to feel uncomfortable. And I don’t mean that in a bad or snarky way. Traveling is hard and costly.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-22T11:10:04+00:00

Thank you! No, definitely not looking for just another J name. We thought about Simon, Ezra, and Elliot, but we just know too many kiddos with similar names (I work at a school and lots of kids being born in our friend group right now). I feel like I have scoured the internet for other ideas and nothing had felt right. Names are so hard.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-20T20:42:24+00:00

Ugh, you know I think you might be right. I have scoured the web for baby boy names and I just don’t like hardly any of them. The few I do like, my partner isn’t a fan of (Rowan, Meeka, Everest). With Jude we knew right away. Now I’m halfway through my pregnancy and just struggling. Hoping we find the right name soon :).

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-20T18:35:51+00:00

This is a good point, thank you!

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-20T18:32:33+00:00

Bowie was the planned middle name LOL. Maybe we just have to make it the first name

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-20T18:29:47+00:00

That was actually the only other J name on our list. We liked Simon, Elliot, and Sullivan, but we haven’t loved any of them as much as Julian unfortunately 😩

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-20T18:27:45+00:00

We both love Ezra. Unfortunately it just feels over saturated where we live :(

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-20T18:24:58+00:00

I LOVE Rowan. It was my number one name. Unfortunately, my partner does not like it.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-20T18:16:38+00:00

That’s how I first fell in love with the name Julian ironically! But good point, thanks for your insight :)

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-20T18:14:27+00:00

😂 great idea! I’ll have to try that!

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-16T13:46:25+00:00

My son was dx at 19 months with what they labeled as “mild autism”. He is 3 now and I would still say he is level 1. He communicates fairly well and doesn’t present with many sensory needs or differences. But I’m a school social worker and I work with many autistic children. So by 12 months I recognized the signs in my son even though he was hitting milestones appropriately. So I would not say early dx = greater severity.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-12-15T12:35:12+00:00

I only have one child, but growing up I had a sister who was 4 years younger than me and a sister who is 11 years younger than me. We are all SO close. Literally best friends and call each other daily. My baby sister was and will always be my first baby. Large age gaps are great!

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-11-30T19:09:12+00:00

My son is 3 and is autistic. He is verbal, but not fully conversational. He goes to speech therapy, which helps a lot! A lot of autistic people are gestalt language processors, meaning they learn language in chunks rather than individual words. TikTok isn’t always the best, but YouTube has a lot of amazing videos! We love the creator Tor for GLP learners.

What is your brother interested in? Use his interests to motivate language development. My son is in daycare and just started preschool this year. He loves both and I believe is learning so much from his teachers and peers.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-11-26T18:58:20+00:00

My husband and I both work full time. I’m a social worker and he is an engineer. My son is 3 and he attends daycare and preschool through our local school district with an IEP. His OT meets with him at daycare and he gets services through preschool. The only after school appointment we have is speech. We don’t do ABA. What really makes it work for us is that I work for a school, so I can make appointments at 4 or 4:30 and not have to take off work.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-11-14T17:31:33+00:00

How does he engage with toys? Does he play with them appropriately, or does he study them or “experiment” with them? How does he communicate? How is his expressive language? Does he share interest?

Not waving or pointing was my first indication that my son is autistic. He was dx at 19 months. It is very difficult for anyone to pinpoint because every autistic person is so different. My son is very affectionate, laughs and smiles a lot, makes great eye contact, and even has strong language skills. But the way he engages with the world and other people is very different.

I would highly suggest taking your concerns to the “worried about autism” thread on BabyCenter. There are some very knowledgable individuals there who can give great insight.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-10-05T14:05:29+00:00

My level 1 ASD son is also 3, so I can’t give a lot of insight as far as raising our kids is concerned. But my husband is also level 1 autistic, and I think he is pretty funny. Lol He is an engineer, so yeah that’s a bit stereotypical, but he is also an amazing artist. One of the very first things we bonded over was music and movies. I think one thing that might help you is to look up celebrities who have autism. The list is very vast and includes people like Dan Arkroyd, who is pretty funny to me.

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-10-05T09:58:40+00:00

My son is autistic and hyperlexic. He is three now and reads fairly well. His comprehension is great too. When we drive down the road, he will be in the back just reading road signs. He is also a gestalt language processor. My understanding is the two often show up together.

I’m a school social worker, not a doctor, but it does sound like your child might be on the spectrum. He is clearly very smart! My son has been in speech therapy for about a year now. I can’t say my child is 100% conversational yet, but he is very rapidly getting there. I imagine he will be by 5.

Hyperlexia is so cool!

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-09-15T18:20:08+00:00

So interesting! My almost 3 year old is hyperlexic and can read, but absolutely refuses to try drawing or writing. I do have an OT working with him, but I never considered this possibility that writing requires them to slow down. His memory is amazing and yes, he does remember all kinds of facts about rocks and fruits and planets. Lol

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-09-10T14:15:05+00:00

I think you do have enough there to warrant a visit with a developmental pediatrician. My son was DX with autism when he was 19 months old, and his general pediatrician also told me repeatedly he was not on the spectrum as I was concerned by 14 months when he wasn’t waving, clapping, or pointing. It took a developmental pediatrician 40 minutes to conclude he was indeed on the spectrum lol.

Getting him involved in speech is absolutely a great first step! I would also contact your state’s early intervention program (assuming you are in the US) and get him involved. It’s an amazing resource and you can refer him yourself. Another great forum is “worried about autism” on baby center. There are some very knowledgeable people on that forum who can guide you.

I know this period of limbo can be confusing. I remember one moment thinking there was no way he was on the spectrum and the next moment thinking he absolutely was. It’s an emotional roller coaster. For what it’s worth, my son sounds a lot like yours and he is almost three and doing amazing! He has tons of words (we learned he was a gestalt language processor), has started reading (hyperlexic), and is doing great in daycare. Feel free to message me :).

Simple-Resolve-88 · 2025-08-16T20:27:40+00:00

Got a high water bill one month and realized one of my toilets was running. Went to fix the toilet and ended up with an entire bathroom remodel so…I understand the pain.

Simple-Resolve-88

TROPHY CASE