Signs of autism 2.5 year old

[Sunshine1996]

I am going to ring my health visitor today, but just wanted people’s opinions before ringing. DS has very limited speech, around 15 words including animal noises. He prefers to nod, point instead of speaking however does babble. I posted about him previously as he did have glue ear and recently 2 weeks ago has had grommets inserted. We thought the lack of speech may be due to this but after speaking to my partners family members my head is spinning as to whether there is something else going on and the glue ear ‘masked’ what he actually has. These have been red flags for me:

• Very hyperactive, running, climbing and no fear
• sensory seeking - loves to be covered head to toe in mud, water and will search for it
• doesn’t seem interested playing with other children
• can have extreme meltdowns - biting, throwing himself to the floor

He loves to be cuddled though, has good eye contact and a good sense of humour. He also sleeps well when not having an ear infection and still has a nap once a day. My head is just all over the place after comments made about him and I just wanted some advice 😞

Does he go to nursery, if so, what do they say?

Sounds normal for 2.5. Hopefully the grommets do their job.

There is really good advice here: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis/before-diagnosis/signs-that-a-child-or-adult-may-be-autistic

To be honest these all seems fairly reasonable for his age and he's just had grommets fitted. Give your HV a call to be sure but it's difficult to tell, perhaps speech delay but the eye contact pointing and nodding are all good signs.
I think with the sensory seeking and meltdowns it's very difficult to differentiate that from typical toddler behaviour. But if you're concerned give them a call of course. Nobody can really tell you on here x

Give the grommets time to work.
My son had problems with his adenoids and tonsils and sounds so similar to your child and after he had his surgery we saw massive improvements. Perhaps you just need to give it time and ignore what other people are saying. Don’t let it taint the time you spend with your child, my regret is that I’ve spent too long worrying over things that probably aren’t even a long term issue.

What’s he like with food? Enjoys food or avoids food?

Worth talking to your GP as always best for early intervention especially for the meltdowns , although if there is eye contact and general happiness maybe look at SPD sensory processing disorder he may be sensory seeking . My 2 year old daughter sounds the opposite she is sensory avoidant in doesn’t like new foods , playing with others and prefers quiet places and things and mud and goo would terrify her but she also has great eye contact and happy with her safe people. So we see are waiting to see an occupational therapist, psychologist and speech therapist.

*I’m in Australia so things might be a bid different

He is off at the moment for the summer holidays, I asked last year about his behaviour which they seemed to think was all related to ears but I think I will ask again when he returns in September

He can be very picky and is very much into ‘beige’ food. Bread, plain rice, crackers, cereal ect. Dinners have been a struggle however he does like sausages, salmon and fish fingers. I have noticed when he eats an apple or orange he chews it and then will spit bits out which I did seemed quite sensory? Also have noticed him licking and mouthing objects.
Thank you so much for the advice, as he does seem like he is constantly seeking sensory input so going to mention to my health visitor later today.

He's so young it can be really hard to tell at this age, because it could just be normal behaviour for a 2 year old that needed grommets. 2 year olds often play alongside rather than with other children for example. Keep a note of things you notice and speak to nursery/HV but I wouldn't be too worried right now given what you've said.

I don't think you need to worry either. Extreme tantrums are very common in children with hearing problems, the inability to communicate is extremely frustrating to them. Sensory seeking behaviours, same, when you think about it one of his senses has been impaired for a long time so of course that will affect the balance of things.

I have three autistic children, all vastly different from one another. And I'm also autistic myself. So, when I see people post random 'symptoms' on here I always feel compelled to say that you can't diagnose without a very big picture of the child's strengths and weaknesses.

It's very difficult to say because all of these behaviours can be present in a child with ASD, but are also common toddler behaviours. It becomes more obvious as they age and NT children grow out of lots of these behaviours and for ND children they often become more of an issue.

The fact that he looks for other ways to communicate with you (pointing, nodding) is a good sign because it does indicate that it's an issue with his hearing rather than his fundamental ability/need to communicate.

Given his hearing issues I think you need to give that time to sort itself. Some of the things you've described are typical for a toddler and more typical for a toddler with hearing difficulties. They compensate the lack of hearing through being more physical.

Any update OP? X