Hello,
I've hesitated writing on here about this for ages due to fear of judgement but also because I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid, but here it goes.
My DS will be 3 in October and I have some concerns that I'm hoping are just delays and that he'll grow out of. The main flags are:
- He has limited conversational speech. He can say a lot of words, recognises people, animals, objects, characters by name and actually can count to 20, read the alphabet and knows several shapes but his conversational skills are limited. He can ask for things in a basic pattern, such as 'I want breakfast please' or if you ask him what he wants to eat he can answer but he can't yet respond yes or no to general questions. Sometimes he just repeats what you've said without answering. He often recites songs or sayings from his favourite shows
- He's a very picky eater. When weaning and up to about age 2 he would eat and try a variety of foods including fruits. Now he more or less eats the same food every day. He's seeming to even go off some of the foods in the limited diet he eats. I spoke with a Pediatrician who said I shouldn't be too worried as he has cereal with milk, plenty of water and protein but I'm naturally still concerned
- He has very challenging behaviour at times. He can have extreme tantrums if he doesn't get his own way or when he's frustrated. These can be soul destroying at times. The nursery have said he never tantrums there and follows instructions. He does sometimes disengage from activities in the class but apparently he's not the only one. His key worker isn't concerned at all about his behaviour. But at home is super tough. We've just bought a new baby home and it's becoming so challenging. He has tantrums every day. My suspicion is that he lack of communication makes it worse
- He isn't very expressive, but I wouldn't have noticed this if I didn't have a very expressive great nephew a few weeks older than DS. He laughs and smiles a lot and can pull silly faces but generally has mostly the same expression.
- He sometimes handlaps if he's upset or excited but not often enough for others aside from me to notice.
- He is very high energy, particularly when outdoors and prefers to play alone. However he does acknowledge other children and try to hug and kiss them and does play together sometimes, particularly with younger babies.
Does he sound like an average toddler? He saw a Pediatrician a few months back and they concluded that he has some signs which COULD mean ASD but are also toddler related behaviours so too young to diagnose.
Anyone else been through similar or same? Any tips? I feel so very down (8 days pp from an emergency c section after a difficult pregnancy so baby blues not helping!)