How severe is his autism

[SixStringGun]

Ok, I know none of you can tell me that but I'm really hoping to hear from others who have been through similar. My beautiful son is 5 and a half and has autism. He is verbal, but not conversational. He has enough speech to tell me what he wants/needs, where he would like to go, that he's hurt etc. He mostly speaks in single words but is starting to join words together now. His speech has improved a lot in the last 6 months especially. He has a ton or echolalia too, which he does also use to communicate. He isn't sociable with other children but loves his sister and is happy playing alone with his toys and acting our scenes with them. He does have a great imagination. Sleeps and eat well. But very hard work. Lots of tantrums due to frustration and will pull my hair. Only just starting to toilet train. Has to be constantly watched when out and at places like soft play as he will just walk up and snatch chips from people! Is a little hurricane and breaks lots of things in the house (not intentionally, we have locks on most things now)! He will be attending an ASD base in a mainstream school. Has anyone had a child like mine? How are they now? I love him so much that I can't even put it in to words. It is tough. Thanks for reading.

Anyone? X

You can't tell unfortunately. My DD had less speech at his age and has moderate LD's. She went to a SN school. She found her passion in cooking and has worked her way up to do catering in the NHS. Her love of rules and following procedures etc makes her a good worker, those (with AD/SN/ASD) from her catering courses are working. One of her friends is a long distance lorry driver. The set curriculum isn't the be all and end all. There is flexibility. It's important to keep confidence up. My DD got hers through pets and horse riding. She half jokes that her autism makes her not give a shit about other people's opinions. But some do have anxiety. She's lucky that she found two good friends. My eldest couldn't read when starting high school. She found her passion in MH after helping care for a relative who had dementia and is now a manager because her company is fabulous for mentoring and helping people who care about the service users.

Hey OP - I could have written a lot of what you've posted a few years ago. The saying "if you've met one autistic person, then you've just met one autistic person" is so true. And probably doesn't feel very hopeful or useful right now...but it's important to know I think.

Have you looked up PDA? The PDA society has a lot of useful, practical advice about how to learn about your child and talk to them. I found it really helped.

My son's older thank yours (7) and his speech continues to improve, after years of talking positively with him his self regulation and emotional intelligence is gaining all the time. Meltdowns used to be a multiple daily part of my life...now it's more like once every 6 weeks.

Your son is still so young, and it's a tricky age for NT kids...let alone ND ones!

For me - soft play is pure hell and we just didn't bother going anymore. So many opportunities for things to go wrong, the sensory overwhelm was too much and so many tricky social situations for them to deal with. We found outdoors, and specialist playgroups / SEN sessions at the soft play or other local facilities much better. That way you're surrounded by other parents and kids who "get it" There should be a local Facebook group for your area with ideas and people to share the journey with.

Sending you much love, from someone who gets it x