Well, you can give it a bit, she's 2.5, but she says some words, right? Perhaps it simply is a speech delay... maybe it's more. If they are giving her speech therapy it's a good start, at the very least. But keep a close eye on her, and when she enters daycare or pre-school speak with the teachers and make them aware of your concern.

I hate to say this, but sometimes teachers are more expert on children than pediatric doctors are. They see kids all year long and are the best at noticing when a child is different than the average child. It was the pre-school teacher that started telling me that my son was still parallel playing when he should be actively engaging, and it was his kindergarten teacher that furthered the idea behind it being more than simply ADHD. My son is many ways is JUST like me. And I thought I was simply "crazy" all my life. So I didn't realize that many traits related to the autism diagnosis existed. I purely thought he had ADHD because his level of hyerpactivity was off the charts and I was always so very mellow. :) But otherwise his behavior, I assumed was normal, because it was normal for me.

But get it in writing, and watch as she progresses. If it is simply a speech delay, then count your blessings! :)

But also, see lynnrebecca's post. She has the right of it... unfortunately because doctors ignored me so long it was a real pain getting my son diagnosed because most centers don't take children over three, so I had to find a specialist and it took a bit of digging to find one that took children over 3 and took my insurance. Look into behavioral specialists.

Keep fighting for her, no matter what!

I also did ask..what is wrong then?? They all say speech delay...I said this is more than a delay...and they just say wait until she enters school and they can test her more in depth...

Yes that's where we are right now getting all the therapy..I guess a better diagnose will come once she enters school..but for now we will just keep going with the therapy.

Well, it is true that just because a child stims does not mean they are on the spectrum. Same with speech delay, does not always mean autism. There are many reasons for both of these - especially stimming, everyone stims.

My son tries to engage, as well, but he does it differently. He still parallel plays at 7 years old. Normally children being to engage in back and forth play by 4-5 years old. And because he looked at one of his pediatricians for a whole half a second when she called his name she told me he was "normal" and suggested he was socially inept and to hold him back in kindergarten a year or two... I got a new doctor for him, ASAP - I mean the very next week he was seeing a new pediatrician.

The thing is, every child with ASD is different, and also there are other illnesses that mimic autism.

Not everything listed as an autistic trait is going to be checked off for every child with autism, too. Some children, especially girls, tend to make eye-contact, for example.

Many girls go undiagnosed for their entire life with ASD because they tend to have an "easier" time figuring out how to fit in (it's actually a lot of work, but girls tend to be great parrots).

A perfect example would be me and a classmate of mine in high school. The two of us got along beautifully and we were so similar in so many ways... he was diagnosed with Asperger's while I was diagnosed as having; paranoid social cognition, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, bipolar disorder, ADD, and OCD - at one point the doctors even tried to suggest I had paranoid schizophrenia. (ALL of which have since been redacted with the exception of OCD) So we sat in the same classroom, behaving the same way, getting along with each other, understanding each other... but I was heavily medicated all the time and he was going through socialization therapies. I fell through the cracks because I taught myself to make eye-contact and I worked hard to "blend in" with other girls my age. But whenever I tried to say I felt different... well doctors gave me a brand new diagnosis! Just never the right one.

The point I am making here is that sometimes doctors can be wrong. I am not discrediting your daughter's doctors and I don't know your daughter, I don't see her, interact with her so I cannot even make an assumption myself... but you're her mother. And if she doesn't have ASD, then start asking them "WHAT is wrong then?" Because with my son, I thought it was ADHD... but the doctors kept saying "nothing is wrong"... I should have pressed harder, but it wasn't until kindergarten and pre-school that I finally had people backing me up saying, "He's not typical". So if you feel something isn't right, early intervention is needed.... don't stop asking until you get real answers. If it's not autism? Then what? The biggest concern I see from your posts is that her speech is delayed. Stims are nothing - but a speech delay should be looked at further, IMO.

I'm no expert but when my son was diagnosed by a state psychologist, she mentioned that it was tough diagnosing him because he didn't have classic stereotypical autistic behavior but the one thing that determined him "Autistic" is the socialization. I've heard they really look into the social piece to make a determination and if your daughter is very social, I can see the controversy.