Hi all
Hope this can reassure you a little??
My DS was born premature, although not as premature are your DS (34 weeks). He was always delayed with everything, never crawled, late sitting, walking etc.
When he was 1-3 years old he would line things up in colour order, copy adverts on the TV, stare at peoples shoes and basically just sit there not being at all demanding.
Autism was mentioned but never followed up - I think I just put everything down to him being prem.
Anyway, when he started the school nursery at 3 they noticed there was a problem with speech and developmental delay and referred him to ST. I mean, at 3, he really couldn't say anything that anyone could understand (except me!).
I struggled and struggled with him as he seemed so much younger than his friends (in every way), but was also so much easier to handle as he never wanted for anything and would sleep til late in the morning if I let him!
....2 years on, he went into Year 1 at school. Wow, did he fly. I mean he literally went from not really grasping anything to reading, writing, adding up and spelling in one half-term!
His speech became really clear and he zoomed to the top of his class, he was the first one to finish his word cards and move onto a book a boy was I amazed and thrilled!
He is now 8 and doing really well. He still lacks a little concentration sometimes and does like his own company a lot. But saying that he has loads of friends to play with if he wants to, he's not a loner, he just likes doing things alone sometimes. Oh, and he still acts out the adverts!
Autism was never mentioned again but I do sometimes still think about it and how scary all those years were and how I wish I'd have known it would turn out like this.
Sorry this is so long - just hoped it would help a little!
x