Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone
So my son started off 'normal'. Little problem walking to start with but nothing to worry about. Started saying words at a good age. Making car noises when pushing cars along. Saying up when he wanted to be picked up or wanted to go to bed (yes honestly)
Then he stopped. No words at all. He'd occasionally babble away but that was it. Got referred to speach and language therapy. In honesty where I live it's a bit rubbish. Educational psychologist got involved, then paediatrician. When we do s&l therapy it's in blocks of 4-6 weeks, then can be 4 months before he's seen again. It doesn't seem to do anything, whether it's proper s&l or pecs. By the time he's gained interest, the sessions stop and it's back to square one.
Now the kicker is, if I'm honest, I'm not 100% convinced he's 'autistic' - I know everyone is on the scale to some degree, and there are indeed signs that he is as well. The reasons they've diagnosed are
He's not great at eye contact - unless in proper one on one play with me (at his discretion of course)
He like to line cars up. It's pretty much the only thing he does this with. They don't have to be I a certain order or anything.
He seems to enot certain routines. This is normally because I'm one of those dad's that makes it as fun and daft as possible. I look like a tool to anyone else, but he's enjoying it so it doesn't matter.
He'll pretty much play by himself, his social interaction isn't great. He's great around those always with him, but my dad for instance sees him every 2 months, doesn't get a look in.
He's very fussy with his food. Used to be a lot better, but now is quite literally surviving on cereal (normally wheetos ) with milk or dry, bread, bagels, crisps and fruit. He used to love things like cheese rice when we had it, pasta and cheese and bolognaise.
The doctors hear this and say regression, a big sign of autism. Now don't get me wrong there are things like I mentioned above that he's regressed in, but doesn't every kid do that (especially with food)
He's a smart kid, he's known his alphabet for about 3-6 months, and can count up through to the 29-30 mark. He LOVES playing with numbers, letters, flash cards - it's probably the biggest interactive thing we have with him. He points at the letter / number for us to say it, sometimes we say the wron one,and he'll keep pointing at it until we say the correct one.
I don't really know what to do. If he s indeed autistic then he'll get the help he needs,through he statement of education. But I'm also concerned that if it just speech delay and he gets the label, then it may send him down the wrong track and make it harder to get back on track in the future.
Now I should also point out that my good lady wife has thought he's autisic since someone suggested it a while back.
I just really don't know what to do next!?!?!
Any advice, suggestions are me than welcome.
If I've come across as ignorant in any of the above,its certainly not my intention. I'm just a bit lost at the moment. He's one of the happiest kids I've seen, and certainly to immediate family he's such a loving kid
Thanks birdie.
Yeah it's a definite minefield on what we do.
On the one hand we go down the autism route, which *could * hold him back from mainstream. Or we could go mainstream and hI'm not get the help through autism channels.
He does have a few things which could fall under sensory, the main one being water. He LOVES water, whether bath, shower, or outside with the hosepipe. But then he HATED sand with a passion (freak out at the beach) but now loves it and enjoys playing with it.
There is a part of me that thinks it doesn't matter. He's a happy kid, and literally brightens up my day. But that's not going to help him in later life.
Hi Taffy6430, I can't offer too much advice, my son is only 5, anyway I always suspected he was on the spectrum but I also wasn't convinced not until he started Reception and it became very obvious that he behaved differently. So maybe its just a waiting game and see how it plays out, my son does give you eye contact is friendly and playful but also does not conform to social conventions and this I did'nt realise the extent of until school. For example in assembly the Head Teacher does the whole school stare thing for the children to be quiet, he's oblivious to this and will carry on chatting, he'll get up and wander off to see the school secretary if he gets bored without even thinking about it. And you're right lots of children are fussy eaters, mine used to eat all sorts of stuff but the older he gets the more specific he is about what he wants, its all down to the sensory side of things, he used to live on chedder but now he craves very strong blue cheeses it all about sensory feedback. I also know two other mums with children with ASD at school who are model pupils will sit still, behave etc but will have a massive meltdowns at home taking doors off hinges etc so it can swing the other way. Sorry don't know how helpful this all is but its just how it is for us.