Autism waiting and wondering

[LJ115]

My dd is 2.3 and we believe that she has asd. She will probably not see a paediatrician for at least a year and a half. I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of the information they were given with the diagnosis - like do they give you a level of autism that will help you to plan for the future or are you really left to wait to see how your child develops as they are getting older?
I do believe that my dd does have asd, so the diagnosis will be just a formality, I just wonder if they can tell you anything about the severity of
it at such a young age. The unknown is really difficult for me to deal with at the moment. I hope this question doesn’t sound too naive.

@LJ115

Our son wasn't diagnosed with autism until he was nearly 8 although we were fairly sure he was autistic from the age of 3. When he was finally diagnosed, we weren't given any indication of any kind of level or any advice really.

I found out most of what I know from trawling the internet, reading books and going to autism specific events. There is a lot of useful info and advice on the National Autistic Society 's website:
www.autism.org.uk/

Autism is not really a linear scale which goes from a little autistic to very autistic; it's a bit more complex than that. And all children (and adults) with autism are different.
This explains it quite well:

the-art-of-autism.com/understanding-the-spectrum-a-comic-strip-explanation/

The crucial thing is to ensure your DD gets all the support she needs right from the beginning. Has she been referred to SLT?

Thanks very much @Ellie56, those links look great.
Especially the comic strip explanation, I must show that to my husband too.
My DD has an SLT referral and a private speech therapist in the mean time. Nursery are also involved with the early years advisors and have set her SMART objectives.
So I do feel like she has a reasonable amount of assistance for her age at the moment.
I think it’s me who is struggling with the whole thing really, I often think about whether she would be at mainstream school or not and whether she could have a learning disability as well - I haven’t seen any signs of that but I understand that it’s not always clear. I guess it’s all too early to know.

It is worrying when they are so young and you don't know what the future holds for them.

Our autistic son is grown up now and while he will never be totally independent, he has achieved far more than we ever thought possible. Having said that we have had to fight to get him the right support and education, which has been hugely stressful and time consuming, but infinitely worth it.

I also worried about his older brother, who had a severe and complex language disorder and could hardly string a sentence together when he was 4. I didn't see how he could ever go to a mainstream school, but he did. The key was all the (right) support that was put in place from the earliest years.

That little boy grew up to graduate from Manchester University.

Thank you @Ellie56 and glad to hear that your sons have both exceeded your expectations.
I have already experienced some struggles with getting support from nursery, so I can only imagine what it’s like when it comes to school.
Definitely shows it’s always worth it

Hi @LJ115, we are in the ‘waiting and wondering’ stage too. We’ve paid for a private speech therapy assessment and they are going to do a referral to a NHS paediatrician, as they feel there may be ASD but further assessment is needed. My son’s in Reception so they will also speak to his teacher.

I’m looking forward to getting an answer one way or another but it looks like that will take some time.