2 and half year old - advice needed

[Jayne09]

Hi, sorry for long post, I have a little boy who is 2 and a half, I'm concerned about certain things and don't know if it's anything to worry about or just typical toddler behaviour. He always runs everywhere instead of walking, he always falls over, runs/walks on tip toes or with his toes curled, especially when his bare foot. His speech is delayed (been referred to speech therapy) dribbles constantly, he either can't or won't use a fork or spoon and uses his hands to eat, his always lining his toys up in a straight line and if something gets in the way so it's not straight he has a meltdown. His become a nightmare at bath time screaming the whole time, started being fussy with food, he puts his hands over his ears and says noise if someone is cutting grass, motorbike etc, he has a tantrum if I use hairdryer, whisk, lawnmower etc. I took him to a sandpit playground a few weeks ago and I took his shoes and socks of and he had a tantrum until I put his socks back on. My oldest child is severely disabled so I don't know if I'm noticing things that are nothing to worry about or not, any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks xx

[MrsWinnibago]

His dribbling is maybe suggesting that there's a degree of motor difficulty with his speech...so his muscles might not be as strong as they need to be to help him speak and eat properly. That's a good thing in a way as speech delays can also be caused by difficulty with understanding....but this might not be the case with your DS and the weakness can be corrected with speech therapy.

The lining things up is not uncommon in children his age though combined with his sensory problems (the noise issue and the feelings he doesn't like such as sand) could point to ASD....an autism spectrum disorder...the only way to find out for sure is to see your GP explain all this and ask for a referral to a developmental pediatrician. It IS worrying but the quicker you look into it the faster you can access help for him.x

[Jayne09]

Thank you for replying, part of me was thinking autism. I will contact his health visitor she is due to come and see him after the summer for his clumsiness, running etc, hopefully I can get her to come earlier. x

[MrsWinnibago]

I'm sure she will if you call the office and ask. He could have sensory processing issues without Autism though...one of my DDs lined things up a lot at this age and older and she's fine but I do suspect some sensory issues...she also HATED handryers and hoovers but had no language issues. It's very stressful I know.x You're doing the right thing in checking it out now. Better to get in that queue for speech therapy sooner rather than later.

[mawbroon]

Dribbling and speech problems as well as fussy eating would suggest to me that you have him checked for tongue tie. Although not exclusive to tied kids, these are some of the symptoms.

The sensory issues and the lining up of things were also behaviours that ds1 had at that age. He is NT as far as I know.

Does he have other problems that are often associated with ties? How did milk feeding go? How does he sleep? Any snoring/mouth breathing? Any gut issues? Does he use his fingers to move food around his mouth? These are a few of the common symptoms.

Ties are easy to rule in or out if you have an assessment done by somebody who has specialised in this area. It is rare that this person will be your HV or GP.

[Jayne09]

Milk feeding was fine. He sleeps fine but fidgets alot in his sleep though, his breathing and guts are fine. He always has something in his mouth either his dummy, fingers, toy, clothes etc x