Hello
My family has begun the process of having our five year old boy, J, assessed to find out if he will be diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I have been reading as much as I can find about this, he has many of the signs on the lists published on the Internet and think that it is possible that two more of his earlier behaviours were signs of ASD.
As a baby, J didn't ever explore objects with his mouth. I thought this very odd at the time and wondered if it was connected to the fact that there were massive problems trying to feed him, both at the ***, then later with solids. I asked his health visitor about the lack of mouthing objects, all that she said was she had heard of it one time. I didn't ask then if it was a sign of Autism because I had no idea at that time that he may have it. Looking on the Internet I have found a few mentions of this as a sign, but it isn't in the lists of signs used for diagnosis or in the lists of typical symptoms people mention on websites like this one.
What I have read suggests that it is part of problems with the mouth that are also associated with excessive drooling (which we also noticed when J was a baby / toddler), difficulty speaking and eating. I am asking this community if you have experienced this or heard of it because there is very little evidence to be found to support the idea that it is part of ASD, but enough for me to wonder.
The other behaviour isn't as unusual but again I have found a little evidence that it could have been a sign of ASD. Aside from being a little late with other physical milestones (supporting his own head, rolling over, sitting, pulling up to stand, walking), J never crawled but shuffled along on his bottom instead. I think that some children without ASD also do this, but I have read that it can be caused by difficulty co-ordinating all the movements of limbs needed to crawl, and this co-ordination problem could be because of ASD.
If anyone has heard of either of these problems being associated with Autism, I hope that you will answer this post. I hope that I am using the terms ASD and Autism correctly, I am very new to this so I may still misunderstand much of the terminology.
