Worried son may have autism or am I overly anxious???

[Tm93]

I have recently became so anxious about my sons health and I'm worried he may have autism and would like some advice on whether I should be as worried as I am or if this is just my own hyper focusing and anxiety??

(for context he was in hospital with Kawasaki disease in august and my anxiety over his health and development has skyrocketed since)

so my son just turned 2 a month ago but over past while I've noticed he's lining up his toys on the table and makes sure they are all one direction etc. other than this they aren't grouped by colour or anything. He just lines them up. He spends a lot of time doing this during the day if we are in doors. He will also throw his toys around a lot or enjoys racing his cars of the table until they hit the floor. Is this something I should be concerned about??? I have watched him recently and he's doing it more and more since we have came out of hospital but we are at home more so maybe I'm just noticing it now.

He ussually goes to crèche 2 days per week but has been off since his illness and we had no issues with him attending he likes it there, he also had no issues transitioning to his new room this year, he speaks about 100 words and uses a few 2 worded sentences, he has great eye contact, will show you toys at times, if we do pretend play he will copy sometimes, and i noticed at the park yesterday when other children came in he went to look at them and even went over and jumped on the trampoline with one little boy and showed him his Spiderman.

so my question is should I be concerned with his odd play behaviour??? I am so stressed over it, I have been losing sleep and can't focus on anything but what he does/how he acts. I really would appreciate some advice.

Sounds totally and utterly normal to me

but your level anxiety does sound very concerning and I think that is what you should be addressing

Sounds like normal play to me. Is there a boy out there who doesn't race his cars off the table? Lining up is a normal phase. I have known of an instance where it was done so intensely and precisely and for an extended period of time, and that was an indicator of autism in that individual, but it is a normal developmental stage too. Nothing you have written suggests autism to me.

My son did the lining up of cars. He would spend hours doing it and like you I was concerned it was a sign of autism or similar. But read it's a normal developmental stage, call the positioning schema. He's 8 now and still loves cars, although is less regimented about the lines! He's not autistic.

Agree it might be worth a chat with the doctor about your anxiety to see if they can help with that?

Yeah I am making an appointment with gp for this as I am finding it difficult. I'm pregnant too so hormones won't be helping.

All children go through similar stages in their play. Have a little Google of ‘schema’ as the poster above mentioned. You’ll probably find it really interesting to notice different schema in his play and find different ways to encourage his interests.

Do you work? Have close friends? A supportive loving partner?

2 of my dc did this one has asd and one doesn't. I was told it is seen as a good sign of development.

Lining toys and the way he plays sounds very normal :)

Thanks for this I'll have a look. Hopefully I can do something for him

@Capdontrecycle i do work I have been off since his illness and returning tomorrow
I have a great partner, he is trying to calm me down and encourage me he is ok. But again he was watching his play. This is our first so weren't sure what to expect.

He sounds fine to me. I’ve had 2 sons who behave similarly. One is autistic. One isn’t.

Even if he is autistic being anxious about it won’t change anything he is who he is still your lovely wee boy.

I was in denial about my youngest for years and pretending that he couldn’t be autistic and would grow out of it didn’t change that he was and wouldn’t. It wasn’t worth the worry for something you can’t control

He sounds lovely try and enjoy him for now and not to let anxiety hold you back from enjoying these days you don’t get back x

@Ballgateblazer @TooOldForThisNonsense
thats helpful. How did they differentiate. What we're there other signs of asd?? Or was this the only one too??

Your son is fine, let him be himself and enjoy him.

You aren't fine - your anxiety sounds really difficult to live with. I would encourage you to reach out to your GP for support.

Dear TM93, Are you in a KD support group? KD and PIMS-TS (very similar and Covid triggered) are very scary conditions and result in anxiety and even PTSD for many families who go through it. Because it is so hard to diagnose, parent instinct kicks in and then it is hard to let go of that when they have recovered. Also minor symptoms do reoccur ie rash when mildly unwell. being able to talk to other KD parents is so helpful. PANS/PANDAS can be triggered after KD/PIMS-TS and this can be confused with ASD. However it would be showing itself mostly in behavioural/tics/disturbed sleep etc so I don't think this is the case with your son. PANS/PANDAS can also be treated x Here is link to a group run by the lovely Sue and Nikki, who helped me greatly when my son had KD and also the PIMS-TS family support group. Kawasaki Support Group UK | Facebook Covid-19 PIMS-TS /MIS-C Information, Discussion and Support Group | Facebook

My daughter is 3 and has autism, I wouldn't class your sons behaviour as autism. My 8yo son used to line things up and isn't autistic.

signs my daughter showed at that age were

• tip toe walking
• hand flapping
• Averting eyes
• spinning
• only eating beige food
• non-verbal untill 3 and now very limited vocab
• no interest in peers
• no interest in parents or siblinhs
• holding objects up to her face

This

My mum reports that when my db was 2 or 3 he would line up his cars from the front of the house to the back and woe betide if anyone accidentally nudged one with their foot. He would be distraught.

He's in his 50s now and completely. utterly NT.

You think he's autistic because he has 1 characteristic?