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Awaiting assessment for 2 year old son

NAS65264

Hello everyone, 

I’m new here and wanted some advice! We’ve been concerned about our son for roughly a year now and started noticing signs since he was 1 year old. I won’t babble on to much but for example he doesn’t point, wave, copy facial expressions, interact with children or adults, won’t notice people come or leave the house, won’t respond to his name, avoids eye contact except with me he seems to give me more eye contact than anyone else. He can say about 8-10 words which don’t happen often it’s more babble or tuneful jargon. He has had a hearing test and that came back good. After voicing our concerns we have the backing of health visitors and doctors who have pushed for an assessment for him even though he is still quite young. We are on the waiting list now and told it could be up to 10months before we get an appointment! 

Just wanted to know if anyone else has been through the same around this age and what you done in the mean time to help with the social and communication side of things ? He gets distressed at toddler classes and a lot of special needs classes need a formal diagnosis so I’m in limbo of what is best for him. 

Parents

  • Hi,

    I was in the same situation, and my son just diagnosed with autism a month ago. He's 2 years and 5 months and showed all the signs that you mentioned but he's doesn't use any words yet. I suggest going to play groups and dropping sessions that focus on developing speech because there is usually a language therapist on hand who can encourage some tips and by going there we were able to get referred to start speech and language therapy before we got the diagnosis. 

    I know how frustrating it can be being on the waitlist for so long. But if you can get referred to the speech and language therapy, they run a lot of programmes and offer a lot of support which you can access.  

    I have just pulled my child out of a mainstream nursery as he wasn't eating whilst at nursery and I don't think they could provide the attention that he required and I was referred to another nursery that can provide a one-2-one focus which is what I need.

    And some words of encouragement, keep communicating with your son, get down to his level and use the pause technique to try to create engagement. It is a slow process but they are taking it all in and slowly they show little cues that they understand.

    I hope this helps, as I am still discovering what comes next after diagnosis.

Reply

  • Hi,

    I was in the same situation, and my son just diagnosed with autism a month ago. He's 2 years and 5 months and showed all the signs that you mentioned but he's doesn't use any words yet. I suggest going to play groups and dropping sessions that focus on developing speech because there is usually a language therapist on hand who can encourage some tips and by going there we were able to get referred to start speech and language therapy before we got the diagnosis. 

    I know how frustrating it can be being on the waitlist for so long. But if you can get referred to the speech and language therapy, they run a lot of programmes and offer a lot of support which you can access.  

    I have just pulled my child out of a mainstream nursery as he wasn't eating whilst at nursery and I don't think they could provide the attention that he required and I was referred to another nursery that can provide a one-2-one focus which is what I need.

    And some words of encouragement, keep communicating with your son, get down to his level and use the pause technique to try to create engagement. It is a slow process but they are taking it all in and slowly they show little cues that they understand.

    I hope this helps, as I am still discovering what comes next after diagnosis.

Children
  • in reply to NAS65319

    Thank you for your reply ! It’s so nice to know what your not alone when you go through this. Can I ask (if it’s not too personal) how the assessment went on the day ? Just what to expect and how they diagnose autism. 

    You sound like your doing a great job already and thank you for the words of encouragement!