My daughter is 19 months old & I’ve always considered her to be advanced or right on track with her development, but at her 18 month appointment her doctor had us take an m-chat questionnaire which has since got me thinking & wondering if maybe she is at risk for having ASD...

I’ll start by saying she is very affectionate, will come to me for cuddles randomly, makes eye contact, & is not behind verbally whatsoever. She loves other children, climbs all over everything, has no problem communicating her wants or needs, & listens/follows commands with no problem.

My concerns are:

- she flaps her arms when she’s upset/frustrated/doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t do it when she’s excited. It’s more like when she’s overwhelmed. For example, if she has climbed up somewhere & doesn’t know how to get down.

- she doesn’t point with her index finger often. If she wants something sometimes she will point to it, but more commonly she will guide me to it, ask with words, or gesture with her whole hand rather than her finger. She never points to show me something exciting (like a plane in the sky or a train going by).

- she almost never responds to her name & ignores people quite frequently. If I say her name & then follow up with a command like “Her Name, look at that cat!” she will follow the command & look at the cat, but if I just say her name she will almost always ignore me & not even acknowledge that I’m speaking to her.

What do you guys think? Does it sound like high functioning autism or just a slightly defiant toddler? If there is a chance it could be autism I want her to get early intervention sooner rather than later, but I also don’t want to make a big deal out of nothing.