Possible autism?

[Hollyxxxx]

My 33 month old loves to line his toy cars up and has a meltdown if one of them fall off or is the wrong way round. He asks me to count how many he has with him so we line them up on the side of the bath and it one falls in or if I put one the wrong way round he gets so upset. Surely this isn’t normal behaviour? He is pretty limited in what food he eats which I heard is another trait. He goes to his nana and granddad dueing the week so has no interaction with other children at all so not sure how he is around other kids

And he hates loud noises such as the blender or the food processor and runs out of the room

Some of those behaviors can be associated with autism, however, autism is much more than just that. If not done so already I recommend you take the MCHAT test online to see how he scores, it might bring reassurance and/or highlight those areas that toddlers with autism really struggle with.

If not done so already I recommend you take the MCHAT test online to see how he scores. Would it matter that the child is over 30 mins Aladdin? Genuinely don't know

Officially the MCHAT is designed for children between 18 and 36M old, however, practically it is normally administered at 18M and again at 24M, but still worth taking at 33M, i.e. it would be concerning if a child at 33M is falling it.

Thanks Aladdin

Hmmmm. Tricky one. It could just be personality but there's some things i there that might make me think. My 33MO does have little friends at nursery that she seeks out when she gets there and I'm told plays nicely with them. I'd say she really started being interested in other kids in this way at around age 2 to 2.5. Is the lining up toys and counting etc all that he does play-wise or does he know how to play imaginatively too? What about speech? Could you have a conversation with him? Does he understand subtle social cues? I dunno what exactly is expected at this age but mine definitely recognises basic emotions such as happy/sad/cross and she knows if I have a bit of a cheeky smile when I'm saying something that I'm joking too if you see what I mean. I think these things all have to be taken into context and it's impossible to know just from one paragraph if there's an issue. There could be something going on here or he could just need a bit of time to mature a bit.

Does he go to nursery? What do they think? This is important as a big chunk of his assessment if he is assessed for ASD will come from them. Lots can change in these first couple of years so I wouldn't panic yet but if something doesn't feel right then trust that feeling and keep an eye on things and bring it up with your HV/GP if you are worried. X

Thanks for all of your replies! He doesn’t go to nursery and doesn’t have any opportunity to socialise with other children so I’m not actually sure about that. His speech is excellent, he can recognise happy, sad, angry, crying etc. He can write some numbers and letters and recognise each letter. He also has the cheeky smile you’re talking about! He isn’t too great at imaginitivw play. I need some ideas on how to do this with him as he is my first child I sometimes find it hard to know what is best. If I say to him, where’s this car going, is it going to morrisons? He will sort of play along but he never really initiates imaginary play.

Did you do the mchat Holly?

The imaginative play can be really hard to keep up with but honestly just say any old crap that comes to your mind lol. Earlier mine was hugely entertained when I pretended one of her pens was a magic wand that made her little enough to ride in her sylvanian family's bus lol. Just let them lead the way too and just ask lots of leading questions and prompt but don't correct eg 'oh that's interesting. I thought we normally dressed babies before they went to the shops. Do you think she'll get a bit cold like that?' Mine's pretty good imaginatively. However she's nowhere near being able to draw numbers/letters?! She knows most of them but her drawing is mostly scribbles. If she's in the mood she can just about draw a neatish circle. So your ds sounds quite ahead with that. They're all so different at this age. I do 't recommend nursery usually as it's a myth thst kids learn social skills from other kids. They practive them but they have to learn them from caregivers. However I do wonder if starting at a nursery when lockdown allows might just give him chance to practice those skills. It'll also give you and nursery workers chance to really observe how he interacts with other kids etc and flag up any issues. You may find that he's totally different around other kids. My LO is pretty bad with eyecontact with me especially when she's being defiant but when I see her around other kids she makes amazing eye contact and connections with them. Whether there's an issue or not with your LO he sounds lovely and very switched on. I reckon he's going places x