To be honest I've had my suspicions about ADHD since he was really young (he's 5 now) and I'm also starting to suspect autism.
It's probably worth noting I have been diagnosed with autism and ADHD myself, and I think his dad has ADHD but he hasn't been diagnosed. But I digress.
So anyway here's a list of reasons why I think my son could be autistic/ADHD. He attends school but he's in the 'rainbow room' 3-4 days a week which is with kids similar to him, just for some more context. School have suggested that he shows signs of ADHD but because he's still so young they'd prefer to wait a year until they send off for the referral. This was at his last meeting which was 3 months ago. Nobody has ever mentioned autism to me though.
He has a significant speech delay. He didn't start talking until he was 3, he can still be really difficult to understand now. He was having input from SALT where I'd take him out of school for his appointments but I've had to insist that he has the one through school, even though it's supposedly not as good, but he really struggled with the change of setting and routine and he'd be so dysregulated for the rest of the day when he went back to school after his appointment. Which leads me to my next point.
He likes his routines and gets very upset if there is even a slight change in his routine.
He used to walk in his tip toes a lot as a toddler but not excessively.
With toys or cars he loves lining them up in rows, and with some food like sweets he'll line them in a row or sort them into piles according to colour.
He can't dress himself and refuses to go to the toilet alone (he claims he is scared of the dark, even in broad daylight). I should say, he can put his clothes on but they will either be inside out or back to front and he can't fasten buttons. Shoes always on the wrong foot and if you try and help him or explain they're in the wrong feet he'll get so upset
He's very fussy when it comes to food and will hyperfixate on foods. When he was around 2 an obsession began with bananas. That's now his safe food but his current fixation, which has been ongoing for the last 3 months are pepperamis. He also has to have the same breakfast (of weetabix with honey) immediately when he wakes up.
He goes to bed at 7/7.30 and wakes up never later than 6am and is incessant with his demanding from the second he opens his eyes.
He has selective listening. If he is so engrossed in something it is literally like he cannot hear you. You could repeat his name over and over and absolutely nothing. Totally in his own world.
In full meltdown mode, he loses all his inhibitions. Like he literally cannot hear what you're saying to try and soothe him.
He sometimes lashes out and has done with his teachers at school too
He growls when he's angry
He takes things so literally, but I don't know if that's normal for kids his age (for example a relative was playing with him and he said to him 'right I'm going to put you in the bin' and my son got so upset at this
He is so very easily distracted
Constantly interrupts
He LOVES cold water. He's forever filling his toy boats up with cold water in the bath and pouring it either on his head or down his back. It's bizarre but he loves it.
We read the same book at bed time every night, until he eventually chooses a new book (will last around 5/6 months at a time - I have a whole array of books I can recite by heart now lol)
I could go on, these are just off the top of my head. If you've made it this far thank you!!! I just wanted to know if any of you resonate or have perhaps children who are similar and what your experiences are with the diagnostic process?