Possible Autism or other conditions!! Help!!

[Fizzgogg]

Hi all, i am pretty new to this!!

So from the start my boy who is now 5yrs has always been a handful. Piercing screams as baby up all night as you would expect. Then went to nursery were we started noticing his behaviour was abit unique, hiding under tables, violent towards staff unable to go on trips.. etc. Fast forward to reception class his meltdowns are more often and longer unable to withstand a full day in class he now goes to a unit 2days per week were there are just 6 children to help with social and emotional communication. He is just the same at home violent towards myself when hes in crisis hand flapping spinning in circles will not sleep will not even settle until 10:30 if not later. Been to Drs numerous times and school have now referred him for a paediatric assessment! Im so worried about him hes needs much more care and attention than a typical 5 year old

Your concerns are valid, and it is good that you have been refereed to a pediatric assessment. Some of the behaviors you mention can and have been linked to autism before however it can also be a number of other things. How has his development been progressing to date? some critical milestones along the way would have been things like emergence of gesturing from 12M on including pointing to request and share by 18M, motivated to babble/speak, emergence of some words by 24M - the usual milestones.

So the only thing regarding milestones that i can possibly think is speech took him until about 3years old to start to converse and understand what he actually was saying, although no he has started to ho backwards and reverted back to talking like a baby, pointing and making immature noises. A new thing which has just started is soiling himself and will not even tell you he has pooped in his underwear, or he will smear it on walls.

I think the way to think about it is at the moment you are fighting a battle with no weapons and you don’t even really know who you are fughting. By getting a diagnosis you will know what you are dealing with and get some coping strategies etc and hopefully some support.

I’m sorry you are having a tough time, I hope you can get some more help. Maybe your health visitor can help in the meantime x

Thanks for the replies

I agree with previous poster, if he is loosing words that he previously learned he might be experiencing a regression. He needs to be seen by a development pediatrician.

Autism can be a scary thing when it first gets mentioned but as a proud mummy of two very autisitc yet very amazing boys I can assure you it's not as scary as it seems ! The national autistic society had lots of useful information and tips on how to support a young child with autism. (From what you describe it sounds very Similar to my children) early intervention is key and your little boys is only young so there's plenty that can be put into place. Yes the care is more but it's steps at a time. I recommend a really good book written by a young boy who has no verbal autism. It's called 'the reason I jump' he did another one which is called 'fall down seven times stand up 8' it gives an understanding of their perception of things and I laughed and cried reading it! Wishing you all the very best! X

Thanks you for your replies. I am very proud of him considering the struggles hes had. My concern is that there is something underlying and hes not receiving the right level of help. If I could back i would not change him for the world I would do it all again.. Its a long a very frustrating process and I am firm believer in gut feeling and mum knows best and I can see that he needs more care and attention etc than most 5 year olds.