my daughter is 18 months old. the lady in daycare always tells me to watch out cause she might be autistic. Her pediatrician didnt say anything about it.it bothers me that the daycare lady thinks she is showing signs because she screams a lot during transition like from playtime to eating time or eating time to nap time. Shes a very picky eater. she throws and plays with her food. she sometimes hits the back of her head gently in the wall of our room and laughs when she does this cause i get mad at her but she doesnt do that anywhere else. she says a lot of words compared to other kids her age. she can communicate and understand what i say. she loves to play, read, color and watch tv. For me, she seems very normal. Is it normal for kids her age to have tantrums during transition? is this autism symptoms that she has? need some enlightment on this thanks

It's normal for 18-month-old children to exhibit symptoms of the "terrible twos." those start as early as 14 months. Just be patient. My daughter started in at seven months with "colic" (meaning "undiagnosable craziness) and didn't stop crying and having tantrums until she was two years old. it drove us batty, but she grew up to be just fine. She's 36 now.

from what you say i don!t think she has autism children who have that cannot focus on things and also move their hands around in the air looking sideways tantrums will get worse if she has autism is she growing normally? watch out for head developing with a flat spot in back , i hope ur child is ok

Normal by your description.
Autism can be recognized by language and communication troubles; by what you describe seems completely normal.

Sounds normal to me. it depends on how the transitions are handled by the caregiver. does your daughter get a warning that there will be a transition or is it just an abrupt change? You know, the "10 minutes until lunch," 5 minutes until lunch, pick up your toys," "one minute to go." etc.

Just ignore the head bumping thing. Sounds like she is doing it just to get a reaction from you. have a huge reaction when she does something good like putting a toy away.

Just another thought, if she is doing things to make you laugh, then don't worry about autism too much.

Many of these kids have symptoms that either develop more or go away. Yes, transition issues are definitely a symptom. If you feel she is more intelligent that normal, that is also a symptom, often called hyperlexia. If she does develop into being very intelligent in the near future, realize that this can be misleading, and some regress quite severely at age 5 after being social and advanced at age 4. I am talking very advanced, teaching themself to read and do math and such. Early treatment can reverse, halt, etc. the symptoms. If you wait till after 5, biomedical treatments are helping thousands reverse their autism. thus, listen to your care-giver and keep your thoughts on about it. the school district gives free evaluations if you decide to have one.

TA,
All people with autism have some core symptoms in the areas of ‘social interactions and relationships’, ‘limited interests in activities or play’ – here there may be stereotyped behaviors. These may include body rocking and hand flapping, in this case it may be banging her head on the wall gently or screaming at the transitional stage between play and eating etc. ‘Verbal and nonverbal communication.’ You would be advised to consult your doctor for advice in this matter as a specialist appointment might need to be arranged if autism is suspected.

ALL ANSWERS SHOULD BE THOROUGHLY RESEARCHED, IN ANY FORUM AND ESPECIALLY IN THIS ONE. – MANY ANSWERS ARE FLAWED.

The information provided here should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

I add a link with details of this subject

neurologychannel.com/
autism/symptoms.shtml

Hope this helps
matador 89

Some forms of autism, like asperger's syndrome, are marked by NO communication delays. the tantrums, head banging, and picky eating may all be typical of some autistics or those on the autistic spectrum.

At 18 months, it's really very soon to tell. Work on helping your daughter cope with change and expose her to different foods, if those remain problem areas, but otherwise, wait your concerns out for a while. If she does have a form of autism, her symptoms will become far more apparent two years (or even one year) down the road.

No matter what happens, she will still be the exact same daughter that you love so please, don't stress about it in the mean time.