Suspect ASD in my 2.4 yr old

[bananasinpyjamas]

Have read this board for some time and finally have posted my message.
My DS is 2.4yrs. He has (I reckon) some developmental delay. Here goes for the description.
He was born at 31 weeks (tube fed for 4 and scbu for 6). he's always been pretty passive and was difficult to latch on. We have been told he has low tone and physio has been involved she now says this has improved and he's pretty much caught up as far as his motor control is.
Food has always been difficult. He'll eat whatever so long as it doesn't have too many lumps - prefers a pretty soft, mashed diet. Will eat raisons, banana, cow and gate biscuits and of course chocolate buttons but pretty much nothing else with fingers. He won't even try, just pushes it away.
He has just started saying the odd word and will look at me with certain things waiting for me to say the word. I get the feeling he knows what things are called but its my job to say it, not his. He will copy sounds but not words or actions. He's never pointed but will reach for things if they're easily available, if I don't catch on quickly he'd rather do something else than get my attention.
He loves wheels, buses, lorries (his new word!)and watching people's feet! I do get the feeling he's slightly detached with play and he doesn't interact like other children of his age.
He is affectionate especially with me, and is so well loved. It is quite a thing that he's here at all.
I could go on and on and on.... but at risk of you falling asleep will stop right here!
We have SALT, physio and some OT involvement and CDU assessment in December (just in time for christmas) but its hard and I just wanted to see what some of you mums say who've watched there own children develop and hear your thoughts.

Hi Bananas......
What you've said so far doesn't scream ASD to me but maybe there's more? How is his eye contact, does he share things with you that he finds interesting or point at something on the TV for example, how is his play, does he copy? It may be some other sort of language or developmental delay rather than autism but I can't tell from what you've said. Maybe he has difficulty retrieving words so lets you do it..... Tell us more.

I think its trisky to tell. As a preemie he may have other delays anyway, that aren;t ASD and just mean he will take longer. great that you have all the appointments in place though.

I think that lot of what you say could be related to his low oral muscle tone - certainly if he only likes soft foods he may have problems chewing. The same difficulties may make it hard for him to form words. My Ds2 (4) has articulation problems (among other things) and still tends to avoid chewy food like meat.

Feel to post some more, we won't get bored .

Thanks for your replies. Is helpful to have opinions of others.
His play can be quite unproductive, rolling crayons, cars, anythind that'll roll. He's never pointed at things on the shelf or when we're out but with certain books that I read with him he will point to the word on the page and look at me to say it even if I'm on the other side of the room. He's certainly got favorite words and pages in the books! If I ask him if he wants something and show I have to be quick to react otherwise he'll get on with something else. When he sees something he's interested in he'll look at me and wait for me to say the word - bus, helicopter, cat etc.. He's always been good at jigsaw's and will look at me and reach for the pieces if I am holding them. He can't however give me the cat or car piece if I ask for it. He laughs alot and will hand flap when he's excited - not particularily worried about this.
He's never been a great copier. Will do noises but waits for hand over hand stuff to do gestures for songs even though he knows what they are and almost leads if I relax however if I let go of his hands he'll stop.
Have wondered about his comprehension but is so difficult to tell at this stage.
Interested in what you say saker about your child having articulation problems, was low muscle tone a factor for your ds?
How on earth do you know if your being realistic or just terribly paranoid!!
Thanks all for replying

I can sympathise with those feelings of paranoia. I have 2 boys on the autistic spectrum - aged 5yrs and 2.8yrs.

Is your ds able to follow simple instructions like "Find your shoes" or (ds2's SALT's favourite) "Give teddy a drink"? If he's hungry or thirsty will he try to let you know in other ways or do you just have to guess?

Yes my Ds2 has low muscle tone and a lot of dyspraxic symptons. He cannot do actions to songs probably because he can't organise his movements and doesn't point a lot. That makes it hard for him to copy and he would be unable to lead actions even with my hands over his. His speech is very unclear. However I have to say that it is also under some debate among the professionals whether he is autistic. I think not but he does have language problems, communication difficulties and generally disordered development so I can't put it all down to the low muscle tone. Sorry that probably doesn't help you a lot, but I do think it might be a factor in your ds's speech development.

bananasinpyjamas my brother was very difficult to breastfeed... ended up on bottle.
he was also incredibly fussy about food which turned out to be more about texture than anything else... he wouldn't eat anything with lumps in (yoghurt etc) and hated tomato too!

anyway he is dyspraxic, and your description of your son sounds a lot like my brother was when he was little... so it may not be asd!

He will sometimes follow simple instruction such as find your shoes/ take your socks off but this is always in context to what's going on at the time. He wouldn't give teddy a drink though. He doesn't do much imaginative play. We bought him a garage but he doesn't really play with it, prefers to push cars along on the ground whilst lying beside and I'm sure he's watching the wheels. It may be that this will come. He will follow instruction of where to go, upstairs, downstairs, to the car, up to bed and all that so I know he is listening. Just sometimes rather selectively (don't they all).
I had got myself to the point of thinking must be ASD but after reading your responses am thinking a bit bigger now. So Cheers