Hi everyone 👋🏼 first time poster so please go easy on me with abbreviations and replies as I've no idea what I'm doing!! 😂
My son is 7, since he was tiny, he's suffered from severe 'meltdowns' where he is inconsolable, seemingly over the smallest of things, which I understand, being the same when I was a kid, feels much more to them than it is. He won't use the toilet without a toddler seat, he clings to being 'babied' and has to take a beloved teddy to school just to get him there in a morning along with loop earplugs and his little lucky coin.
It's affecting us as a family and struggling to get him out of the house, when we do, he flips over anything and everything, the clothes he wears, the food he eats, it's affecting my relationship with my eldest as she gets the brunt of things when they argue, I have to tiptoe around his behaviour in an attempt to not escalate the situation, I've sat her down and explained things but I know it's affecting her. I got to the end of my tether and reached out last year to public health 0-19years in our area, the public health nurse has attended both our home and school and sat me down last week to say she believes he is autistic, the school however are in complete denial because he's soooo quiet in school. He won't even look adults in the eye or communicate with them but is seemingly fine with his peers ( again, I was the exact same as a kid, wouldn't talk to friends parents etc ) she has left it in my hands to decide whether to go for an official diagnosis but says she will absolutely have our corner and fight all she can, she's taken extensive notes as to why she came to the conclusion and the more I research the more I realise the diagnosis fits the bill. I'm just so scared of dragging us all through it to be told he isn't, whilst I don't wish a diagnosis on him, I want answers and support for him so I know tis the right thing to do (my mum fought to get answers for me but was just told to cut E numbers back in the 90's 😂)
Does anyone have any advice moving forward with an assessment for diagnosis? I don't want him to think there's something 'wrong' as I know he's a quiet worrier just like his mama.