Hi everyone,
I thought I would reach out on this part of Mumsnet for support/advice about me and my two year old son.
Hes 2 and 2 months and has been marked as delayed in speech and social development. He is however, making small progress each week with speech. He understands a lot of what I say and has started going to get his shoes or coat when I ask or will pass me the right thing if I ask specifically for something. If a hold up an apple and say what’s this? Sometimes he’ll say “Apple” or “Apple mamma” other times he’ll just ignore me.
He’s just started interacting with the other children at nursery, he was playing peek a boo with a girl the other day which is a huge achievement for him as a few months ago he would rarely do side by side and mostly liked doing his own thing. He can’t name or point any body parts apart from nose occasionally. He doesn’t really point unless he really has to - he’s just not a fan. He will if he really wants something or possibly if something is different (e.g he pointed to some Halloween decs I put up) but mostly, he’ll take me to or bring me to what he wants. The reason I put all these details is because I’m pretty sure he’s on the spectrum. He’ll completely blank people he doesn’t know until he warms up. He’ll mostly sit to one side watching other children rather than join in. He’s stopped playing with toys and prefers messy or sensory play, books, puzzles but this is mainly at nursery. At home all he wants to do is watch TV and I’m finding it more difficult to get him to sit down and do stuff with me -which worries me because they need to play in order to learn and progress!
overall, he’s a very happy boy and pretty easy going. He sleeps better some nights than others and he eats pretty much everything you put in front of him.
what I’m struggling with, is the unknown. HV hasn’t referred him for assessment yet as she didn’t have enough evidence but in the last few weeks he’s started stimming a lot when he’s excited, bored or can’t find the words to express (he flaps his arms and hands and holds things up to his face closely) - so I think now that’s happening he’ll more than likely be referred after his 2 year check in a few weeks. I feel ND is definitely there I just don’t know how severe which I find really difficult dealing with, I can’t just put it to the back of my mind and I’m always worrying about the future. It makes me so upset as I get into a spiral thinking he’s not going to have a fullfilled life, is he always going to need support? Will he have a learning disability too? Will he be happy? And it means I just analyse him all the time. It’s exhausting.
can anyone relate and give me some encouraging words or advice? Did you have a similar parenting journey? Did all turn out better than you expected? I’m getting to the point where I’m having panic attacks and migraines I’m sending myself
round the bend so much!