When did you first have your suspicions?

[NoFucksImAQueen]

and what made you think so? Also when were your dc diagnosed.
Ds2 is 3 (July) and he's always been a handful but as he gets older he is just unmanageable. His speech is delayed so we're under SALT. I always put a lot of his behaviour down to that but I think in the back of my head I do wonder if it's more. He has the most horrendous screaming tantrums that will last for a good half hour (we're on our second one of those already today and it's 9am)
He's never gentle with anything, most toys, books etc are trashed.
He's destructive and draws on the walls/floors whatever. He doesn't listen
He's just really unruly and I'm at my wits end.
But I'm assuming he's too young to be diagnosed with anything?

Anyone?

Hello

If you don't feel things aren't quite right then I would trust your instinct and see if you could be referred to a development paediatrician.

I had inklings with DS as young as 18 months (he is autistic, but was officially diagnosed until he was 5).

Has the SALT raised any concerns (they might not as the original SALT we saw with DS age 3 didn't which looking back I am now ). But it might be worth talking to them about you worries as they might be able to refer your onwards.

They might also be able to recommend some strategies to minimise any frustrations your DS might have if he's finding communicating difficult (I'd hope they would do this anyway).

If not your GP can refer you too. Take a list of your concerns (there's good checklist to help guide with development stuff you could use that Polter sometimes links to, I'll see if I can find it)

3 might be too young to diagnose, but at least if you are under a paediatrician they can then take a watch and see approach as your DS gets older.

Finally these boards are a wealth of info - bear with us tho as we're all mostly parents of children with SN which means we're not as quick at responding as other areas of the site - but someone will generally reply.

Thank you marshmallow.
No SALT haven't mentioned anything but th sessions we go to now are only 20mins or so once a month so I don't suppose that's long enough.
The lady we had before that, that came to the house, was useless. We did ask her at the time but she said no she doesn't think he is. This was having only met him for 10minutes. She also spent so long staring at the dogs who were shut out (she didn't like dogs) that it was obvious she never wanted to be there and I think Ds either picked up on that or just didn't like her as he never cooperated with any activists she brought out and just walked off

That does sound pretty rubbish.
Well, the waiting lists for referral are pretty long (anything upward from 12 months sometimes).
You can always change your mind if things gets easier.

In the meantime you could help your DS here and now by identifying the things that are triggering his frustrations and then try and help him with that (you didn't go into detail below) - you might find there is a pattern once you start looking more closely.

Whatever happens, you'll find that you will mostly be seeking out the best strategies yourself anyway - there are a few good parenting courses tho that you could get referred onto if you do go down the paediatrician route (but I've always found these boards the most help for me).

Oh one more thing that usually gets mentioned is getting his hearing checked (usually this is done when referring to SALT), but if it wasn't definitely worth asking for.

Sounds like my oldest ds at age 2 onwards. He would shred reading books, bang his head off the floor until he was bruised, general menace of destruction, running off and screaming. We wondered constantly what we had done wrong. Turns out he has adhd and was finally formally diagnosed at 6 (but pead said from 4 that's what she thought)

We suspected our son was autistic at the age of 3 because of delayed development in all areas and bizarre behaviour.
He wasn't diagnosed until he was nearly 8. And that was only after a S&L Therapist who had been working with him for some time raised concerns. Then other professionals started listening.

Prior to that, even though he had SALT for several years and a Statement of Special Educational Needs at school, with the exception of 2 TAs who had worked with children with autism in special schools, nobody really took our concerns about autism seriously.