Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi All,
I'm so pleased that I have found this forum.
My name is Natalie and I have a 2.5 year old little boy who has been diagnosed with Autism today.
I am 23 years old, married and have a second little boy who is almost 10 months.
I always noticed there was something a little different with my boy from being very tiny, he never cried, didn't look at us, he would smile though constantly. As the months went by he met all of his milestones like a 'regular' child. He chose to play alone, were fascinated by lights, glowing lights, flashing lights, candle light, street lights, car headlights.. The list goes on. He were a brilliant sleeper and got extremely upset if I bobbed his routine up, resulting in not being able to sleep easily and having broken sleep, he also ate alot, too! .. Up until Christmas 2014.
Our journey really began at Christmas time when he had a sudden meltdown and began to headbang the floor, during his head banging he covered his ears as if he had an ear infection/pain. This was just the beginning of what we thought was "a normal tantrum". With no success of getting a doctors appt just after Christmas, I ended up taking him to A&E worried about this ear infection sign - all clear. We studied these episodes of head banging, ear holding - then flapping of the arms, spinning in circles, refusing to eat wet foods, stopped playing with other children (enjoys his own company), commenting on how the ceiling lights "danced" at him (with very funny demonstrations - He is soo witty) I contacted my health visitor as his rages really started to affect me, I felt like he went to bed fine and woke up a different child, I felt like my boy had gone - He were there physically, but not mentally. Something was wrong.
.. Then today we received the news, our boy has autism and all of a sudden we felt very alone, lost, "why us? why him?".
I'm yet to research more into Autism, but for now I would love to speak to other parents, even other people with ASD.
Thank you for reading, Nx
Hi Leyton's mum
You have a diagnosis which means you know what you are dealing with and can start to look at support. There is a process to go through which is quite natural when your child is first diagnosed which includes the fear and uncertainty that you are feeling. We gave ourselves time to adjust to the idea for a while (your little boy is the same lovely little being he always was...nothing has changed there) and then I started to get proactive...reading, meeting people, talking to people online and researching what support we could get. Now each day is a new day and desite any challenges your little boy has he will continue to make you smile, amaze you and make your heart swell with pride just as any neuro typical child would.
I am no expert by any means...just another parent (grandparent and legal guardian actually) who has been through a similiar process to you and I can only tell you what I have experienced in the hope that something might be of use to you.