My eldest child had a speech delay. He was seen by speech and language therapy and he readily made me aware that my son had some autistic traits and speech delay and autism tend to come hand-in-hand.
Anyway my son went through speech therapy his speech caught up and he was fine. Although I do acknowledge he does have some characteristic traits of autism he's not struggled in school so far and that has been dismissed by speech therapy when he is discharged.
Fast forward a couple years and my youngest son who is now two years and four months old also has a speech delay He can say certain words but he doesn't talk.
I would say he probably has a vocabulary of around 50 words which includes the alphabet and numbers. He has just started pointing at things and taking me places when you want something. I do see certain ways in trying to communicate with me but he is definitely behind where we should be.
Other things that my son does is obsess over certain toys, obsess over certain aspects of toys for example wheels, he also struggles slightly with other children for example he doesn't really understand sharing and does hit. I don't really blame him for the latter, he's been a lockdown baby and not had much interaction with other children. He has started nursery in the last few weeks and I'm starting a few new clubs with him.
Anyway I'm feeling really upset because nursery a flat that he has a speech today and again I've been reminded that that is often linked to autism Andy to cycle of the characteristics of my eldest.
I just feel like I've spent so many years worrying about them having autism. Does anyone have an experience about this?