ASD Question and Happy Story

StacyJYay

Hi all.  I'm new to this board and a first time mother of a 12 week old boy.  My baby's paternal grandfather has Asperger's and, while I know that ASDs aren't wholly genetic, some research points to a genetic link.  Because of that, I'm watching my son's development extra carefully so that if there are signs of ASD, we can intervene as soon as possible.  My question for mothers of children with ASDs is whether, as a young infant (3 or 4 months), your child seemed "different" (such as lack of social smiles, lack of eye contact, no interest in toys, etc.)?   

On a related note, I want to share with you that my son's paternal grandfather has lead and currently leads a phenomenal life despite having Asperger's.  His life is filled with love from his wife of 35 years, his two children, several grandchildren, and friends.  He's held the same (engineering) job for 30 years and is happy and fulfilled.  

Thanks so much in advance for any replies to my question above.      

houndbaby

My ds is ASD and my dd appears to be NT. It wasn't until I had my dd that I could look back and see all of the things that my ds didn't do and how he was different as a baby. As a 3 or 4 month old my ds was always social, he smiled, made eye contact, etc. But he didn't startle to noises like he should have, he was obsessed with lights (I know all babies like lights, but not like he liked lights!) and he didn't play social games, like peek a boo, the way he should have (he never tried to cover his own face to hide). As he got older there were more things he didn't do but you only asked about 3-4 mo. olds

FWIW we had ds in EI pretty much his whole life and even they didn't notice anything too out of the norm until he was about 12-15 months old and was falling behind in communication.