Autism

[MumsyAm]

Positive autism stories?

I’m really struggling right now. I have a nearly 3 year old son who is autistic but yet to be diagnosed. He came on leaps and bounds with development in terms of his speech, understanding and he’s clever I feel. However he has zero patience, is very controlling and inflexible. He can have violent meltdowns.

I now have a five month old who is very clearly autistic. He barely makes eye contact, hardly ever smiles. He arches his back with feeding and generally and just moans and groans a lot. He’s always wanting picking up or cries. Lately he’s been screaming a lot.

I feel so depressed. I’ve tried to be neuroaffirmitive and positive but with how hard my eldest is and now the worries for my youngest boy too I just feel so overwhelmed with grief. I feel paralysed by fear now about my youngest.

Has anyone got any positive stories to tell?
I need some hope to hold on to.

How do you know your 3 year old is autistic if not diagnosed and also, 5 months old is too early to tell surely?

So much….stimming, not answering to name until he was 2, poor eye contact, the list goes on. The meltdowns are extreme and he has a PDA profile. He’s on the waiting list to be seen. My five month old looks down when anyone comes near. I just know and the list is very long of what I’ve noticed. The point of my post is more to seek positive stories and words of hope. I’m just finding it all so hard at the moment.

So sorry you're having such a hard time. Hopefully this bumps your thread and people who know about autism can give you some advice

Have you found the special needs sections on Mumsnet? I don't think they appear in the active threads, but if you repost in SN Chat or SN Children, you might get more replies from people with experience. I think there are a couple of ongoing support threads as well.