Consumer Health Forums

my nephew is 29 months old and he still doesnt speak.he can cay da and bye but thats it we try to help him but it doesnt work.he gets mad really easy but he is really smart.he knows the mop from the broom but im worried about him.he also bites his nails alot and plays with his hands.are these sings of autism?

My sister's son is 3 years old. he seemed to be developing normally but lately seems less attentive and less aware. Seems prone to anger bouts very easily and concentrates on very abstract things. His speech development doesn't seem to be progressing and frankly his relationship building seems even to be arrested. He is very distrubed by any strangers who come in, in a way in which he never was before.

Could this be a sign of autism? he had a triple vaccine a few months ago.

Hi Potsy,

It could be the early signs of Autism, but it could also be part of a toddlers normal development and awareness of things around him. When my daughter was around this age and becoming more aware of adults around her she was very fearful of strangers, and restricted interaction with them, especially men and louder people, this was sometimes extended to family members she had met previously.
Have you discussed this with your health visiter?
Of course being wary of strangers in this ay and age is not always a bad thing.

I remember also my niece who was slower to develop than we expected and it was quite noticeable. The reason was that she had hearing problems and hence wasn't learning and picking things up very quickly so perhaps a hearing test is in order?

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Have the children seen their health visitor recently?

It could be very simple things like glue ear or the need for speech therapy which is affecting their development.

I would suggest arranging an appointment, getting their concerns raised and aking for the children to be referred to a paedeatrician.

There really is no conclusive evidence that the MMR vaccine causes autism, despite the scare stories in the press. however, a mother knows their child best and I think it's certainly worth getting them checked over, if only to reassure the mothers.

More than that, the study which came out last week (I posted a link to the story the other day) has shown quite conclusively that there is no link between MMR and autism.

Does he have older siblings? Some younger siblings can get very lazy with their speech if they have someone to "translate". But at 29 months, he should have been referred to a speech therapist by now who would be able to see if there is anything to flag.

Children usually go through a stage where they become wary of strangers, in fact, it is when they don't differentiate between strangers and non-strangers that would be a marker for autistic behaviour.

Is there any history in your family that you are looking for signs of autism with those 2 different children?

Sorry, but the study has not been accepted by everyone and as such, the evidence is as yet not conclusive.

HOWEVER, there is more evidence to suggest there is no link as there is evidence to suggest there is.

ps Both of my children have been given the MMR as there is more to fear from these diseases as there is to possible side-effects (which, do, unfortunately, occur in some children).

My two older kids (15 and 13) had one MMR injection. My younger ones (11 and 8) had the same then were supposed to have a booster a year or two later. I refused this booster, and signed the relevant forms to say I had objected. I do know someone whose daughter developed autism after the MMR jab and was not prepared to take the risk - OK it could be coincidental that the symptoms of autism reveal themselves at about that age - but I was not prepared to take the risk. Having done an in-depth study into the Thalidomide fiasco many years ago, I am sceptical about reassurances from the Government.

And yet, you'd be prepared to listen to a deeply flawed report which has been totally discredited?

Tiglet, the ONLY "link" was from that study by Andrew Wakefield, which sparked off the whole hysteria, and was then disproved for years and years and yet people still believed that pile of hogwash.

The new study which has been carried out at Guy's and St Thomas' has nothing to do with reassurances "from the government", it is just one more piece of evidence, of which there are already plenty.

Goldlady, the child wouldn't have developed autism after the MMR jab, you get born autistic, you don't catch it or develop it. It may be that the symptoms became apparent at that time, either because the child was unwell, or because her development had reached the stage where her differences would become more obvious, and any parent, confronted with something like that, will desperately seek someone or something to blame. Any extensive reading into autism would show anyone that the whole concept of a vaccine somehow "giving" autism to a child is totally absurd. Professor Baron-Cohen, one of the leading experts on autism, also dismisses the idea, by the way.

Measles, on the other hand, kill, of that, there is no doubt. :-(