Please let me pre-empt this by saying I’m a SEND teacher so have a lot of experience with school aged children with Autism but not with toddlers. My son is 2 years 4 months old.
I’m very concerned about my son and have been for some time. I’ve had a feeling that there’s ‘something’ for a little while but to be honest have been trying to bury my head in the sand until now because I can see the impact that Autism can have on a child on a daily basis and the idea of my son facing these challenges terrifies me.
The signs that are concerning me are as follows -
- tiptoe walking
- obsession/fixation with vehicles, lining them up, rolling them, watching the wheels, sleeping with them even
- major sensory sensitivity, absolutely hates certain textures, e.g if my hair touches his hand or face he will act completely repulsed saying yak and pulling away flapping his hands
- what I can only describe as meltdowns, we’ve just had an epic one for an hour because I said he couldn’t have a bread bun. This included screaming, spitting, kicking, hitting and throwing himself on the floor
- sleep disturbance, he’s always slept badly and is now waking earlier and earlier, currently 4:30am
- lack of interest in other children, much prefers to ignore and avoid them, spending time on his own interests
- finds change in routine, e.g bed time very distressing
- Clear speech delay
it’s also worth noting that I have a daughter who is two years older and has exhibited none of these behaviours.
I would like to seek an assessment for him but I’m unsure how to go about this as I’ve only seen it done through referral by school. Any advice greatly appreciated.