hi all, im new to all this.. Dont really know how to explain?
I have a 4 yr old son, theres always been strange little things what niggle at me but ive always brushed them aside, until recently my mother suggested i look into Autism..
Basically im going to write a list of why i think he may have autism, i know nothing about it and would appreciate feedback on what people would suggest i should do, or even if you think im being silly i would like some advise..
His language and speech is poor, we currently have speech therapy sessions but he still suffers hugely
At times it seems like he is deaf, we even had him reffered to a hearing specialist as somethimes its so bad, they say his hearing is fine, but on the other hand he freaks out if theres a loud noise, if we go out and its busy and noise level is a bit loud he will panic and cover his ears and say its too loud? which is totally opposite to the reason we had him reffered to hearing specialist.
He never follows directions, we can repeat ourselves 10-20 times before we phisically have to stop him jumping around and listen to what were asking him to do
He will never look at us in the eyes, when we try to talk to him or get him to listen we sit down and try to talk, i ask him to look at mummy and he point blank refuses, dont know if its just being stubborn or what?
He is very obsessive about his toys, they have to be where he puts them, if i tidy them away he will go mad and empty them back out and tell me he needs to leave them where they are, he constantly has a blanket( i have managed to get it off of him while hes at nursery) and will not go anywhere without it
Hes always found it hard to play around other children, i know this before sending him nursery but his teacher has confirmed this on several occasions, i got his end of term school report and i felt really upset that she had written that he found it very hard to establish relashionships with the kids and prefered to play alone and his speech hidered him, i dont want him to feel isolated.
his teacher says he is very well behaved at school and very rarely talks, due to the fact he will play alone, but at home he is a different child, the tiniest thing can start a tantrum where hes very violent, either towards me, his little sister or basically anything in his way, it can start by something silly like asking him to get dressed or put his shoes on, he constantly jumps around and says he has to just wriggle for a while 1st? if were in a rush the situation goes from bad to worse in a matter of seconds if i try to hurry him.. the tantrums are getting unbearable as its most days..
If anyone is talking he constantly shouts over them so he his heard, when he asks for something, i have to stop what im doing immediatly otherwise he just stands there and repeats what hes saying constantly until he gets it, its like he doesnt understand how to wait? Hes very uncooperative and never does as hes told, everything has to be done his way as hes a very independant little boy, hes very intelligent but finds it hard because of his speech and relationship problems, he constantly sings, he has always been musical..
there is lots more things but i seem like im drowning on like
in infancy he had very bad colic and was impossible to feed, he never slept and head banged all the time and was constantly restless, he still doesnt sleep throughout the night now, he will never sit down for a meal, hes constantly got to wriggle or jump or spin around, he never sits and finishes a task..
Alll this may just be my child being normal i dont know but i am concerened after reading a little about autism, my little boy is very happy and very independant and in my eyes very intelligent apart from he cant explain himself due to the speech problems..
Am i being silly or do i have reason to be concerned?