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Do I need to get my son assessed for autism?

Tobys mum

Hi all, I am new here and looking for advice. I work as a mental health clinical support worker so I have some knowledge of autism and aspergers, but really need some advice regarding my son who is nearly 3. He has started showing some signs of autism and has some medical conditions that are linked but I dont know where to start, Or if I'm just being paranoid Sealed.

He is diagnosed as having eczema, asthma, milk and egg allergy, laryngomalacia and chronic idiopathic urticaria with angeodema. He is also awaiting blood test results for coeliac.

He's started displaying behavioural symptoms, such as lining up building blocks (he never stacks them), then putting them back in his trolley in a certain way and will repeat this several times, he will not let you stop him until he is finished, he's sensitive to noise, he repeats sentences, he counts EVERYTHING (steps, grids, paving flags) and will have to go back if we don't count them, he has had transient tics, blinking, sniffing, eye turning, but these never last long. I've also noticed he will not make direct eye contact with people he doesn't know well, but I've always put this down to being shy.

Another thing is he's always happy and rarely complains, so times when he's been poorly we haven't known until he is really poorly, for example he had an inner ear infection but we didn't know until his eardrum perforated releasing a load of gunk, but even then when he had a raging temp and he should have been screaming in pain as the GP put it, he was happy and smiling.

Now could all of this just be normal phases for a 2 year old (my daughter who is 7 never did any of these), or is it looking like he may be on the spectrum? If so, am I best approaching the GP first or health visitors. I hate approaching them with concerns as I have been basically laughed out several times, and have had to push and push to get the referalls and tests he's needed as it is, which has left me second guessing myself even though my concerns have been proved right every time.

How did everyone else first approach it and what we're you're little ones first signs? 

Sorry it's so long winded and thank you in advance for any replies. Smile

Parents

  • My not so little-one anymores signs were very early.  They were always different.  This being said, we didn't realize they were signs at all until they were a few years later. We only started looking for help when their difference was causing problems for them.  Until then, the differences were not important.

    So instead of focusing in on the differences when you approach them (the things such as blinking, counting, ...) focus in on how these things cause problems.  For example things such as:

    * His noise sensitivity makes it impossible for him to go shopping/ to parks/ near busy roads/..... without distress making it difficult to do normal family activities.

    * When walking near roads he becomes dangerous because his obsession with counting pavement slabs makes him inattentive to cars.

    * although he appears to have the normal speech pattern for his age, it is really just him echoing what people have said without understanding.

    Obviously this may not be appropriate to your specific circumstances, but this is the sort of thing we did when getting our child assessed and our diagnosis experiance was  within 6 months between referal and diagnosis (which does seem very quick for our area) so worked for us.  

    It COULD be a normal 2 year old with idiosyncrasies they will grow out of, or it could be ASD, or it could be something else.  But the main reason to obtain help for your child is if their quality of life is suffering because of the differences (whether that be happiness or educational attainment or safety reasons).

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  • My not so little-one anymores signs were very early.  They were always different.  This being said, we didn't realize they were signs at all until they were a few years later. We only started looking for help when their difference was causing problems for them.  Until then, the differences were not important.

    So instead of focusing in on the differences when you approach them (the things such as blinking, counting, ...) focus in on how these things cause problems.  For example things such as:

    * His noise sensitivity makes it impossible for him to go shopping/ to parks/ near busy roads/..... without distress making it difficult to do normal family activities.

    * When walking near roads he becomes dangerous because his obsession with counting pavement slabs makes him inattentive to cars.

    * although he appears to have the normal speech pattern for his age, it is really just him echoing what people have said without understanding.

    Obviously this may not be appropriate to your specific circumstances, but this is the sort of thing we did when getting our child assessed and our diagnosis experiance was  within 6 months between referal and diagnosis (which does seem very quick for our area) so worked for us.  

    It COULD be a normal 2 year old with idiosyncrasies they will grow out of, or it could be ASD, or it could be something else.  But the main reason to obtain help for your child is if their quality of life is suffering because of the differences (whether that be happiness or educational attainment or safety reasons).

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