ASD symptoms

[Itsmee12329]

Hello, I’m just wanting some advice.

my son has an ASD assessment coming up. I’m not 100% sure if he does or doesn’t have it, I’m not sure what symptoms are typical for his age and which aren’t.

He is 5 years old, he’s very sensitive to noise, smell, lights & commotion, awkward in social situations & He physically vomits at school when exposed to too much noise etc, we believe this happens as he isn’t brave enough to throw a tantrum at like he would at home. If noise bothers him at home he will cover his ears and shout ‘I don’t like this’. Although his teacher said he is regularly distressed by noisy children and frequently moved away from them to a quieter place.

Now smell, this can be humiliating as he will hold his noise, it’s especially embarrassing if we are in someone’s home and he’s holding his noise asking ‘what’s that smell’ he has cried over smell and gag and bokes and becomes really upset and wants away from the smell. He makes comments on peoples breath especially if they’re leaning close to him he will keep turning his head and moving or says ‘I don’t like the smell coming from your face’..

with lights, he says it hurts his eyes it’s to bright. He becomes visibly upset with this.

he’s a bit of a loner, he usually just sticks to playing alone, he won’t approach other children. He doesn’t like heights, swings or things like that at a play park.

His teacher feels he has an ‘unusual voice’ although we’re very used to how he sounds so haven’t necessarily picked up on this.

he has poor eye contact, he doesn’t like affection, he gets upset by certain clothing, labels & ‘itchy things’. He can say inappropriate things at times too.

his teacher said he definitely struggles with change at school and needs to be made aware a few days im advance and reminded daily about it. He’s the same at home.

hes been having scans to check why this vomiting is happening so frequently, but the consultant believes it could be a stress response.

im not sure if this is ASD or if it is more along the lines of anxiety and maybe a confidence issue..

im his mum, and i have ASD myself, i have similar things to my son but having it doesn’t make me an expert, sometimes im convinced its ASD and other times im convinced its an age related thing or anxiety. Currently i don’t no what to think, i don’t no why I’m worrying about it. i just want my child to be happy and thriving, and i hope we can get answers to the vomiting and find a way to reduce or help him with whatever is upsetting him.

he said when his school is ‘hyper’ it hurts his tummy and makes his head feel like it might burst. He can’t fully describe how things make him feel, but the noise, smells, commotion and change are definitely not agreeing with him & he has negative reactions to them. His response to affection is to reject it or stand looking awkward, he doesn’t hug back. I’m really confused and wish the assessment would come quickly. It’s in 2 months & we’re hopeful to figure out the cause of all this.

but if anyone has any similar experiences or advice I would love to hear it.

Honestly it sounds a lot like asd. I’m autistic and very sensitive to light, noise, taste and so is my son. My son has quite a monotone voice and I sound nasally (I hate it)

What are school doing to support your son, ? Does he have a Sen plan or ehcp? Is he getting sensory breaks? Does he use ear defenders? Are there key points such as break/lunch/assembly that are an issue? What interventions are they trying to support him?

I found the diagnosis process extremely thorough. If he is autistic they will see it. And yes ds has no filter I’ve had to get thick skinned . Just say to people he’s very sensitive to smells good and bad ones.

Hi, it definitely sounds a lot like ASD to me. My daughter is almost 5 and has her ASD assessment thismorning after a 2 year is she/isn't she/is she/isn't she! But she has a lot of symptoms that you are describing your son to have and they are around the same age.

It is such a long wait waiting for their appointment so i understand your feelings and anxieties, worrying if the psychiatrist will see what you see etc.

@autisticbookworm i have autism too, it probably sounds ridiculous because I feel like I don’t no exactly what the symptoms are because I have always been this way myself and how I am doesn’t seem unusual to me. I know anyone that knows me would probably notice I have ASD but to me, I’ve always just been how I am and that’s ‘my normal’.

with my son, I never looked out for it and never paid much attention to things he didn’t like, as I could completely relate & it didn’t stand out to me as anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes he says exactly what I’m thinking and I think ‘thank goodness he said that’.. for me it would be smells or noise & bright or flashing lights, and at times I’m grateful he will make a fuss over the it as it bothers me too or if something smells bad I think ‘thank goodness I’m not the only one finding this smell unbearable’.. my husband probably noticed his differences more than myself, as he isn’t autistic.

we had went through every possibility for what could be causing him to throw up, from allergies, to nervousness, to coeliac disease.. the list went on. Then we asked his teacher if she had noticed any triggers for the vomiting, & she said she would begin to pay closer attention. A while later his teacher told us he struggles with noise a lot at school, he doesn’t like change and needs to be made aware a few days in advance about anything new happening at school, he can’t tolerate sitting beside noisy children or being in the same room as them, he doesn’t have great eye contact, he struggles to make his needs known and can’t explain things, he doesn’t engage much in imaginative play and has very poor fine motor skills, and that every single time he has vomited there has been a lot going on at school, or an incident in class with another child misbehaving and being loud.

from this, we began paying attention, for me I can relate to him and this became obvious to me that we are a lot alike personality ways which could quite possibly indicate autism. We notice his eye contact isn’t great, he has absolutely no balance and falls all the time, he can’t ride a bike even with stabilisers, he can’t peddle a 4 wheeled go kart, he doesn’t have much interest in other children and usually sticks to playing with himself, especially with unfamiliar children he would never ever approach and try to make friends. He doesn’t like or enjoy affection, he never hugs anyone and if someone hugs him he genuinely looks very very uncomfortable and stiff and stands with his arms by his side. And now I feel like an idiot that I never seen this as unusual, never once did I think the vomiting would be linked possibly to ASD, and today I had a call from the consultant he is seeing to say his scans are clear, bloods are perfect, no celiac disease, no blockages or narrowings in his tummy, no allergies, no reflux.. he has a completely healthy tummy, and the consultant said ‘my suggestion is sensory related as we have ruled absolutely everything else out plus your little boy made the doctor aware who was scanning him that he feels very sick and his tummy hurts when it’s very nosie and ‘hyper’ or when things are smelly’ we where completely unaware that he had told the doctor this, it turned out the doctor had asked what do you think upsets your tummy and he told him ‘when it’s very noise and smelly and hyper and I don’t like bright lights very much’ I just feel this has gave us the answers to the vomiting. Now just the wait for the assessment.

@autisticbookworm oh and also the school don’t share a lot with us about what they are or aren’t doing with him. Only recently we found out he has had to be removed from the company of the other children a lot due to noise. I felt this maybe should have been something we were made aware of from the get go, but it’s a great school and they are very understanding and nurturing him while he is there. He’s a very soft natured and timid child, and his teacher adores him and wraps him up in cotton wool. But I do feel as though it would be nice to no in future or any incidents at school or if he has been upset at school.

sometimes he will come home and go to his room to be alone for a while and then an hour or so later I’ll go up to check how he is and he would tell me ‘it was very busy at school’ or he is telling us himself ‘the teacher moved me today because the boy I was sitting beside was being loud’ but he keeps everything sort and sweet and you don’t get much details from him xx

@bananaramaaaa awww I completely understand, it is so so easy to think one moment ‘it’s ASD’ and the next moment ‘it’s anxiety’ or ‘he’s timid’ ‘he’s a cowardly child’… I’ve said these things most of his life, but the past few months I’m going back and fourth and feel like am I over analysing, am I imagining things to be worse than they are, maybe he’s vomiting because he’s just nervous, maybe he’s just shy.. it’s honestly very draining, I find myself doing online ASD quizzes, googling symptoms in a 5 year old etc then comparing those symptoms to anxiety in children.. I just wish we new, we accommodate him as best we can, and I no his school does too, but I feel with answers to the cause, he could maybe get some more help & it would give myself and my husband a lot more understanding. But at the moment we’re in limbo and don’t no if treating him like he has ASD is a good idea before an assessment is carried out, or just continue doing what we’re doing although he does struggle. There is so much I would change if he did have ASD, I wouldn’t subject him to noisy activities, I would not encourage him to hug people when he doesn’t like it, I would accommodate how his needs completely and would want a chat with his school to talk about things to ease his little issues at school. Xx

I read this week that the inheritance likelihood is something like 90%. Definitely what's going on here I'd say.

Schools really don't divulge everything that's happening on their watch. You can't trust they're telling you everything.

The good news is that with a diagnosis you can push more for evidence they're supporting the SE needs.

@Wishyouwerehere50 i actually read that too and thought woahhh why has no one ever told me this lol!

yeah i no his teacher isn’t fully ’educated’ with autism, but the principle is SENCO. One thing that bothered me a little bit was when they had filled out the questionnaire for ASD there was a few things his principal had said one being - ‘this could be applicable to a lot of children at this stage of learning’.. and another thing she marked as frequently observed was - does the child require extensive input and direction to complete a task and she marked it as frequently observed but then she wrote ‘this is not outside of the mainstream class’.. i no my child is not severely autistic and believe he will always be in a mainstream school, I have a nephew with ASD who is absolutely thriving in a mainstream school, he has a large friend group, goes to lots of after schools clubs and would talk in front of anyone about anything, engages with everyone etc. but he does have autism and has his quirks and His learning or guidance is not outside of a mainstream class, in fact his teachers had said he was in the top tier in his class and was very popular. I don’t fully get the meaning of her comment, my child is doing ok in school, he has his little struggles with noise, smells and commotion etc.. but I felt there was a few things the principal missed, and then things she did Mark as observed or frequently observed she then gave some random comment below it. And this was questionnaire was filled out by the principal who doesn’t teach my child and would spend absolutely no time with him. Yet his actual teacher, I feel, was one of the main people to point out George’s struggles in school to us, and I feel she could have filled out this questionnaire in more detail and more information as she spends time with him daily. Seemed silly his principal filled it out

@Wishyouwerehere50 I had a chat with my husband a few days ago about it all, I just worry because my son is quiet and a little introverted that he may go unnoticed and suffer in silence as that’s what he seems to have been doing this whole time, as he isn’t able to explain at times what’s bothering him. I was always told ‘if there’s ever any concerns about your child never worry because when he starts school it will be picked up on very fast’.. I’m not sure what position he would be sitting in right now had I never have brought this to his teachers attention, I no it’s my job as his mum to look out for these things, but I’m not with him at school and I feel maybe it’s something his school should have noticed -I no my child isn’t the loudest person in the room and that’s why I think it’s not be apparent by his teacher. But he is sent home so regularly from school with vomiting and it’s only the past 3 months or so we’ve been told it’s due to noise, a loud child or change. Aww it’s just a worry, he’s a good child and very naive for his age. I worry about him and I just want his school to protect him as much as we would xx