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Undiagnosed (in touch with several agencies) possible non verbal autistic 2 year old boy

Laura261615

Hi

Just joined hoping for some advice/guidance. 

My 2 year old son as I said is not Officially diagnosed all the different agencies we have been speaking to believe it is a high possibility that this is the case. My son was 6 weeks early and we were in hospital for a week. And all though, thankfully, he left healthy there was a point where they thought he may need an operation, and he was under the lamp and things like that. As time went on he wasn't necessarily meeting his milestones in the way Some people think he should, but he wasn't far off and once he got going that was him, there was no stopping him. He did start to be verbble round about your average age and said the usual mum, Dad, no, babbling etc. Then things changed maybe about a year or so ago and he seemed to be regressing. He was still communicating either physically or verbally in his way but not the way he had. He also started pulling me constantly n taking mini meltdowns although they are not as bad now. He has always spend most of his time with me but also had a good bond with his dad. Now tho he won't go with anyone except me. I am taking him to different toddlers groups to help with that and I have also been doing classes where he is in the creche (room next to me) n this seems to be helping a little. I know it will rake time and I think the things I am doing will hopefully help. Although any other suggestions would be great fully received.  My main concern right now is his eating. Ge went from eating most things and a reasonable healthy appetite to more or less only eating toast and butter n sandwiches with dairylea unless ots junk food like crisps n chocolate. I constantly offer different options but he's just not interested. I have spoke to my health visitor and GP and they are not overally concerned at the moment.  Has anyone got any tips or advice please? Feel like I have tried everything but u never know. 

I should maybe mention that I have recently become a single mother and have no family. Small group of great friends but they can only do so much as they have there own families.  Obviously this will have had an impact on him but these things were happening long before this has just made some of them worse I think n doing it on my own is so draining.  I am surprising myself tho at how much I am managing . Just hoping by joining this community I can get some help n advice from people in similar situations. 

Thanks for taking the time to read and thanks in advance to any replies. 

  • Hi, first of all you're doing great. Sometimes we all need to hear that. The eating, just keep offering, maybe just things on the side of what he will eat and really try not to worry, it's really common. Seems a huge concern at the time but you'll look back and wonder why you were worried. He's only young and you will have other worries along the way, doesn't necessarily get easier but does change. The meltdowns, dragging you towards things and the the clinginess are all familiar to me. You might find he won't get pointing, if you point your finger at something, won't understand to follow invisible line but likely just look at the end of your finger. Best thing at this age is really go for it with regards to communication. Use anything he likes to do this because it will give purpose. Books, flashcards, anything really to start a kind of verbal tennis. I used to do flashcards and take it in turns, saying what they are, then later when learning to count saying numbers in turn. So important to encourage this as encourages to and fro with communication. It can get really repetitive but the rewards can be valuable. If his speech improves you will probably find he won't use wh' questions so encourage this whenever possible too. Hope that's a help to you and be good to yourself. Things may be different for you but you can still really enjoy them at this age. Time goes so quickly.

  • Hello Laura261615, 

    Thank you for your post and I am sorry you are feeling alone in this. Hopefully members of the community will be able to offer to advice to you. It is important that you look after your own mental health during this time. 

    We have Advice and Guidance section on our NAS website and to start with can I signpost you to the behaviour section which hopefully will provide you with some useful information. Please find the link here:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/behaviour

    We also have a directory where you can type in your postcode and see what support is available in your area.

    https://www.autism.org.uk/autism-services-directory

    I hope something there helps a little more. 

    With best wishes,

    Anna Mod