xp- Im really scared :(

baby2121

First a quick thing. I am a teacher and used to teach autistic kids. I know ALL the signs. I have 12 month old twins. We just had their check up and the dr was concerned that they do not respond to their names. I KNOW this is a red flag for autism. They have great eye contact and are super social and aware of their surroundings. PLEASE dont write and tell me this happened with your child and they are autistic or that I should have them evaluated. Im already crying every night and that will make it worse. Basically im only looking for success stories. Was anyones dr concerned that their 12 month old didnt respond to their name, and then did they eventually started doing it? Was anyone's dr concerned with this and then their child ended up being fine, with no autism??? THANK YOU LADIES!!!!

Lilystar82

First of all (((hugs))). I am also a special education teacher of kids with autism. It is REALLY hard to not look at every little thing that happens.It is impossible to look at your kids objectively. Absolutley impossible. If it is bothering you this much, I think you need to have them evaluated. My reasoning is so that you can get an objective point of view. You need an objective point of view right now. Big hugs, I know it is so difficult, but you need to step back from it, and have someone else look And that is ALWAYS ok.

jenn_darrin1515

I don't think my girls were responding to their names at 1 year...I feel like they were maybe doing that by their 15 month appt....my sister works with autistic kids and I feel like they won't do a real eval until they are 2 years?  tho I am not positive...If that is the only reason you are concerned I would try not to worry for a few more months...all kids develop at their own pace and if they are working on one thing like motor skills, chances are they aren't putting a lot of effort into their language at the moment...I would give it time...

hunt2005

Aww, hugs to you. I think that's the hardest thing being an educator or in a medical profession is that it's easy to see every symptom and wonder if it's something more than it is!! I know you said not to say that they should be evaluated, but like someone said above, it is nice to get that objective opinion from someone who doesn't see them on a daily basis and have that motherly connection to them

Were your kids born early? If so, they should technically adjust their age until around 2 years for the development milestones, so take that into account.

My son was a singleton, born at 39 1/2 weeks, and I don't remember him responding to his name much at all at 1. Honestly, we didn't really call him by name much until around the 9 month appointment when that was one of the things they asked us We used nicknames and such so often that he would respond to those, but not his actual name. Will they respond to a nickname of any kind?

ITA with the above - each kid is different. ESPECIALLY at this age. Some kids are better at the movement, others better at verbal. My son could do puzzles way more advanced than his age but don't ask him to say a full sentence .

festivus

Do they respond to noises in general? Perhaps consider having their hearing tested just to rule that out as a possibility. I also work in special ed (school psychologist) and have known 2 children who appeared to have some characteristics of autism but actually had significant hearing losses.

srh08.05.06

This may not help you much, since my girls are younger.  But at 9 months, one of them wasn't really responding to her name.  I was really concerned and brought it up at their 9 month appointment.  Their pedi wasn't at all worried and said if I'm still really worried about it, we can talk about it at their year appointment.  But he didn't give the impression that if she still weren't doing it then, that he would be overly concerned and calling for any evalution.  The group is very good about knowing that every child develops differently and they don't push for evaluations very early unless there is major concern.  As previous posts mentioned, every child develops at different times, and I hope that's all it is for your kids and that there is no cause for concern!

togagirl

This may sound silly but what do you call them?  I realized when my youngest wasn't responding to his actual name it was because DH and I are always calling him some silly nickname and his brothers were still calling him "baby".  Once I really made an effort to call him is name and make his brothers do it as well he finally started to get it.  Best of luck. 

sunnybrook.

My pedi never asked me if they respond to their names. Since they're not displaying any other signs of autism, I would just practice their names with them. I read long ago that it is not unusual for twins not to know their name since they are referred to as the babies, the twins, the girls, etc. I actively work on this with my girls and say each name repeatedy throughout the day while making eye contact with that DD. I also play games (e.g. peek-a-boo) and use their name. I would try this before doing anything else. I'm sure your LOs are fine if they're making eye contact and are social.

mommyof4boys

I used to teach children on the spectrum as well.  I was very worrired that one of the boys would be on the spectrum and over analyzed everything.  The one kid I didn't completely overanalyze with is the one who has autism.  My youngest, I knew there was something going on and did question the doctor on many occations.  It was moreso with his motor skills.  At 10 months old he started flapping, when he could stand up he's play for hours with the baby gate dividing our kitchen and living room.  He didn't always respond to his name but we called him tons of nicknames; the kid was called Chunk, Chunky Monkey, Lovey, Lovebug, Cuddlebug, Kingon more than he was called his name.  My husband asked me around 10 months old if he was or could be autistic and I told him no.

Do your girls have any language?  Are they making babble sounds?  Please know that eye contact and social aren't always things that kids are lacking when on the spectrum.  My son doesn't make good eye contact but he does WANT to be social.  He doesn't know how to be social but he does want to.  It is a spectrum for a reason.  If you've met one kid with autsim you've met one kid with autism.  No two kids will present alike.  For this reason, one of my twins (which we are suspecting has Asperger's) looks completely different than his brother who has PDD_NOS (as well as a 555kb microduplication of the 16p11.2 chromosome).

If the only thing your girls are doing is not responding to their name, just like a pp said, try playing games with them and use it.  My twins didn't know their name for the longest time they thought their names were Mattjon and Jonmatt.If you are still concerned then talk to your doctor at their 15 month appoitment or just call EI and set up an eval.  I'll be honest, there are far worse things than being a parent of a child with autism.  I am still angry at times but embrace my role and thing that someone knew what they were doing giving my child to me since I taught autistic children before having him.