Could my son have a form of Austim?

Hello all, I'm new here and just looking for some advise really as I suspect my son could have a form of Autism.

My little boy is 3, he is so lovely and the best way I can describe him is quirky.

Firstly he has a speech delay, his vocabulary is good but he can't pronounce words well at all, it causes a lot of stress and frustration and I do my best to understand him but at times it can be so difficult, he has his 3rd speech therapy appointment in July and I have told them my concerns as well and was told he will have an in depth assessment and I'm waiting on a doctors appointment to discuss everything with them as well.

He started nursery recently, he doesn't play with any other children his own age and tbh he has never been very interested in other children, he will say hello and that's as far as it goes, he likes his own bubble but he will happily hover around babies and much older children/adults.

He loves cars, obsessed with them actually and the moon! He does the classical lining his toys up, blocks, stickle bricks anything really but my daughter did that also so I know that can be perfectly normal.

He covers his ears quite often complaint of noise, shouting too loud too loud!, he will become quite hysterical at times and sometimes for no reason at all.

He also thinks everything is a game, he has no sense of danger! He will laugh when fighting with his sister and doesn't understand when he has hurt her and no matter how many times I tell him no or divert his attention away from something he shouldn't do he just carries on trying to do it.

His nursery teachers are wonderful and monitoring him, they have said that the children are unsure of him mainly due to the miscommunication but also as they aren't sure of his temperament as now the excitement of nursery is wearing off his break downs are becoming more frequent.

Also he has no idea of personal space, he will get so close to people but will not like others in his space and often screams at other children if they do try to join in in his games.

He also has a spitting habit which no matter how hard I try I can't seem to get him out of.

He shouts and cries at people in the street when they walk past us, for some reason he really does not like anyone invading our walking space and he also has to be the first one down the stairs, at times I have to grab him of he will try and shove his sister out of the way and then all hell breaks lose and I have to calm him down.

When he is angry he or upset he won't look at people in the eye and rolls his eyes back and side to side, or moves his head sideways and just blinks and refuses to make eye contact.

He is terrified of bugs, a hover fly wouldnt leave him alone when he was playing in the garden at my parents house, I was right by the back door but talking to my sister and all of a sudden he started to sream and it was terrifying! I couldnt comprhend anything and ran over to him only to see how scared he was of this tiny fly, I quickly picked him up and calmed him down, I've been showing him he has nothing to fear and he is slowly getting better, he doesnt scream as often now but he is still very frightened of bugs which I know can be a perfectly normal fear but it more his reaction to them that concens me.

I'm not sure if I'm looking into it all too much, some people have told me yes it sounds plausible and others have said it could be his age but in my gut I know something isn't right and want to do the best I can for him especialy it if does turn out that he is on the spectrum.

Thank you in advance and again sorry for the long post!

Parents

Former Member over 9 years ago

A score of 33 is far enough from normal to show a "strong likelihood" according to that site. Autism affects people differently and people are brought up in different environments so people can manage or struggle depending on lots of things that the score can't tell you about. I managed for 56 years before I needed a diagnosis (I score about 40 on the test), I have 3 university degrees, am married with two grown up children, and have worked almost continuously but in the end the accumulation of life and finding myself in a bad work environment resulted in me needing some help. It sounds as though you have managed so far and you may well have managed without diagnosis all of your life depending on what life throws at you. Dare I ask whether you are still with your partner? Relationships often break down if the person is not aware of their traits - we can be difficult to understand and harder to live with than non-autistic people. If you have a diagnosis then it can become easier as there are books and websites like this to help understand what the condition means.
Your son has probably inherited the autism genes but each person ends up different to their parent and may be more or less affected depending on the throw of the genetic dice. He sounds more affected but that does not necessarily require a diagnosis - it depends whether he needs a diagnosis or at least whether he would benefit from diagnosis. His sister may have ingherited the genes too but may not need a diagnosis but is likely to benefit from knowing that she is on the spectrum. I would suggest that you take your description above and present that to the doctor and say that you have taken the test (it is actually highly respected as it comes from Cambridge university and is often taken seriously by GPs).
Diagnosis brings insight and lots of information and it definitely makes the future much brighter.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel

Reply

Former Member over 9 years ago

A score of 33 is far enough from normal to show a "strong likelihood" according to that site. Autism affects people differently and people are brought up in different environments so people can manage or struggle depending on lots of things that the score can't tell you about. I managed for 56 years before I needed a diagnosis (I score about 40 on the test), I have 3 university degrees, am married with two grown up children, and have worked almost continuously but in the end the accumulation of life and finding myself in a bad work environment resulted in me needing some help. It sounds as though you have managed so far and you may well have managed without diagnosis all of your life depending on what life throws at you. Dare I ask whether you are still with your partner? Relationships often break down if the person is not aware of their traits - we can be difficult to understand and harder to live with than non-autistic people. If you have a diagnosis then it can become easier as there are books and websites like this to help understand what the condition means.
Your son has probably inherited the autism genes but each person ends up different to their parent and may be more or less affected depending on the throw of the genetic dice. He sounds more affected but that does not necessarily require a diagnosis - it depends whether he needs a diagnosis or at least whether he would benefit from diagnosis. His sister may have ingherited the genes too but may not need a diagnosis but is likely to benefit from knowing that she is on the spectrum. I would suggest that you take your description above and present that to the doctor and say that you have taken the test (it is actually highly respected as it comes from Cambridge university and is often taken seriously by GPs).
Diagnosis brings insight and lots of information and it definitely makes the future much brighter.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel

Children

No Data