Quirky behaviors or something else to worry about?

[Sneezykids]

Hi, I'm hoping someone can ease my mind here.  I'm only posting this because I have older kids who have sn as well.  My baby is 22 months and has some odd behavior.  She's quite attached some certain objects.  Wet dishcloths and baby wipes are one of them.  She climbs up to grab the (I'm sure dirty!) wet kitchen rag and just carries it around.  Ditto baby wipes.  I find them all over the house if I'm not careful and keep them out of her reach.  Another thing is lip balm.  She's so bent on having it and eats it!!  She literally throws huge tantrums if she can't have it.  And it's winter here so we do use it and when she sees it, she begs for it. 

To a lesser degree, she's somewhat overly interested in the parts of things.  For instance, we got her a nice wooden doll stroller for Christmas.  Instead of pushing her dolly in it, she took all the screws and nuts off it.   

She's also still tip toe walking and I brought this to the attention of her ped/dr at her last check up, but she wasn't doing it there, however the ped did say she should be walking heel to toe by now for most of the time. 

Now, my ds had a lot of these same autistic traits when he was a baby toddler, and he was language delayed.  She is not.  He is ADHD and just quirky but still has some ASD behaviors.

Also, her words are good, she's putting 2 word phrases together now and her eye contact is good.  We have had her gluten free for a while but recently started giving her some gluten again.  She's 100% dairy free and if she does get some hidden dairy she is OFF the WALL.  All the behaviors plus loud screeching, biting, hitting, spinning in circles, not looking at us or listening at all.  I swear dairy affects her like a drug. 

Any thoughts?  Should I just wait to see if she outgrows this stuff or get a second opinion??

[Linda on the move]

My 2 cents...

There are obviously some flags in your post, but I see A LOT of positive stuff too.

Originally Posted by Sneezykids 

To a lesser degree, she's somewhat overly interested in the parts of things.  For instance, we got her a nice wooden doll stroller for Christmas.  Instead of pushing her dolly in it, she took all the screws and nuts off it.   

She must have AMAZING fine motor skills for a kid her age. That's really great. I'd focus on the fine motor part of that little experience. My DH always took his toys apart as a child, and he is a very successful engineer now.

On Christmas, he used to wonder how long he had to wait before he could just Take Everything Apart without his mothering yelling at him.

She's also still tip toe walking and I brought this to the attention of her ped/dr at her last check up, but she wasn't doing it there, however the ped did say she should be walking heel to toe by now for most of the time. 

Now, my ds had a lot of these same autistic traits when he was a baby toddler, and he was language delayed.  She is not.  He is ADHD and just quirky but still has some ASD behaviors.

The lack of speech delay is HUGE. However, Asperger's kids (by definition) don't have speech delays. Does the speech she has seem to be normal -- not just repeating. but getting the context right, etc? It's got to be difficult to tell with such a young child, but the normal her speech is, the less there is to worry about, even for Asperger's.

Also, her words are good, she's putting 2 word phrases together now and her eye contact is good.

Eye contact is HUGE.

So.... I don't know. There are some flags in your post, but none of them are red flags waving wildly IMHO. If your insurance will pay for an eval, then it might be interesting and help set your mind at ease. If not, I wouldn't recommend paying for one at this time.

Have you read the book "quirky kids: when to worry and when NOT to worry" by Klass? I really like it. I think that if anything is going on with her, it's very mild.

http://www.amazon.com/Quirky-Kids-Understanding-Helping-Doesnt/dp/0345451422

I think the line between just being quirky and having a diagnosis is sometimes a very thin grey line that is really about how a child measures up to our society's expectations for a person their age. I think she might be very close to the line. She might end up being one of the kids who at some stages of her life looks like she is on one side of the line, and at other stages looks like she is on the other side of the line. (which might drive you crazy)

[Sneezykids]

<I think the line between just being quirky and having a diagnosis is sometimes a very thin grey line that is really about how a child measures up to our society's expectations for a person their age. I think she might be very close to the line.>

very well said Linda!!  She IS close to the line, but you're right, at this point I'm not going to worry.  She also has a pretty good sense of humor already at 22 months and I know that's not common in ASD kids.  I remember my son's psychologist told me (with him in reference) that kids can have autistic traits and not have autism.  I also believe some of my lo's issues stem from food.  Food induced autism!  ESPECIALLY with dairy!!  It's like a different kid.  And she's only had it via breastmilk, by my own slip up.  I am recording some videos when she's acting odd though, for the record. Thanks for the reply