Hi
My son is 3 and is currently awaiting an autism assessment. We're really getting nothing in terms of support or advice and are kind of just left at the moment. I was told it would be like this, then all of a sudden we'd end up with multiple people seeing him. I just want to discuss my experience and see what other peoples experiences were. I know it's a wide spectrum but I'm trying to prepare myself and figure out ways I can best help him in the meantime.
I had my suspicions since before he was one. He was a beige eater and used to flap his hands. He doesn't flap his hands anymore and recently he's started eating fruit and broadening his food intake although this is probably to do with starting nursery. These are the signs of autism in which he was referred for:
-Severe constipation (withholder)
-Non verbal or pre verbal I'm not quite sure which but he repeats a lot of words back and can only string together some 3 word sentences. He gets very frustrated when he isn't understood.
-tip toe walking
-likes to line objects and watch them spin
-doesn't follow structure very well and will play on his own
-has some sensory processing difficulties with water I.e hates a bath but will happily play with water on his own terms
- likes his space so cuddles will be on his terms
-no interest in potty training
- continues to drink from bottles and doesn't like cups, he will just flap his hand in a cup and play with the water
He does respond to his name and always has. He points, he smiles and as much as he plays on his own I have watched him care for other children at nursery and give his toys to them if he notices a child is left out. He's very hyper and never sits still. He displays a lot of ADHD traits.
One thing I've found recently is he has an obsession with fans. He always asks for the fan on and will shout fan please and will stand and watch it and shout spin while repeatedly wanting to switch the buttons on and off. However at night if he has a fan in his room or can hear a fan he will scream the house down shouting to turn it off. I'm not sure why it is different at night? But it makes the summer nights really really hard. It's the same in the car when we pull up on the drive he screams for the car to be turned off. Today he has been playing with mine and my mums phone and listening to the screeching echo that phones make when they're next to each other on FaceTime and enjoying the sound?...
I've been told when we do get a diagnosis if he is found to be autistic we aren't told where on the spectrum he is I.e high functioning etc. I didn't really know much about autism so I'm trying to do my research now.
Does anyone else's child display any similar symptoms and have autism too? How did you find the wait for the assessment?
Any advice would be massively appreciated.
Poster in another category as I'm not sure which was most relevant