Maybe autistic child?

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I’m writing this post as I have no idea what to do it where to turn and I’m absolutely lost right now

my 9 yr old daughter is really struggling. She was premature and very tiny.

shes always had trouble sleeping since she was born really and she didn’t walk till she was 2. She never crawled, she couldn’t eat textured food till she was nearly 4 but I just thought these things were because she was so premature

she didn’t do well in school and would struggle mentally and emotionally. The school didn’t help so during covid I took her out and that helped massively.

recently she’s having a really hard time emotionally. It started off because she was in hospital but since then she’s struggling mentally

it was suggested to us that she’s autistic, she repeats phrases up to 1000 times a day. She has mega meltdowns to the point where she’s run across roads and things. She also nearly garrotted herself with the seatbelt after trying to get out when someone was sick (she’s got a sickness phobia).

im at such a loss and I don’t know what to do

does this sound like it could be? Our local children a mental health authority has a 4 yr waiting list so we’d have to go private. But I’m just wondering if it’s worth it??

thank you all for reading.

Hi. I understand your pain! If I could advise you anything it would be to go private for a diagnosis. We are in the process and my daughter is 15. I wish we had gone private years ago rather than waiting for CAMHS

Thank you so much. Yes it’s an option for sure we’ve got private health insurance and they will see her. We’ve also got a private child psychologist but I’m not sure how much I rate her if I’m honest

what kind of Symptoms did your daughter have?

I would definitely get the ball rolling!

My daughter struggled with textures too and was very hard to wean. She would have epic meltdowns and struggled with things like her socks not feeling right! She hated school so much that I changed school 3 times for her and eventually she completely refused so I withdrew her from school last year. The problem was that she masked so well she slipped under the radar at school and although they allowed her to not do PE, not have to wear headphones etc we didn’t get enough help to keep her in school. That’s why I recommend getting a diagnosis as soon as you can! It could save you years of extra misery!