Hi, my little girl has just turned 2 and will be due her 27 month review soon. I have noticed some behaviours in her that I think are slightly unusual and could point to some sensory issues or potentially asd, but also not sure if just typical toddler behaviour.
I thought the 27 month review would be a good time to raise my concerns with HV but after reading what the review entails I'm not sure the things I worry about will be identified because she has a wide vocabulary and can put short sentences together, can name lots of things, plays pretend, can follow instructions and has good motor skills, all of which I understand are the main areas checked at this review. However the things I worry about fall outside of these areas...
- rocks forward and back and shakes her legs when in her high chair / sitting on chairs. She has done this as long as I can remember
- although she has her own vocabulary, she also does a lot of repeating - often, if you ask her a question she will repeat it back almost word for word instead of answering. She also saves up phrases we've said in other scenarios and applies them in different scenarios instead of coming up with her own phrases. But perhaps just her way of just expanding her vocabulary?
- She gets very upset very quickly if you try to help her when she doesn't want help e.g. getting ready she will start crying if you try to guide her putting her shoes on. Or if you touch something she doesn't want you to she also starts crying (real tears and wailing)
- Pinching / biting - she has a reputation for biting other children and also pinches me and my husband on a daily basis. Her face shakes and she has a very intense look on her face when she pinches. Often the pinching seems completely unprovoked, (e.g we'll just be reading a book together) although I think it could be when you get too close in her personal space.
- she makes lots of random noises / occasionally screeching and makes up her own words which she finds hilarious
- Loves jumping! Insists on jumping down every step we encounter and bounces on bed daily. She also holds my hands and jumps on the spot.
- Voice is sometimes shouty and montone. When she is repeating sentences back she goes quite sing songy
- Knows her name but often difficult to get her attention and will have to repeat her name 10x before she'll look at me.
-Enjoys running away, especially in carparks / on roads
-Inappropriate play? Takes all the lids off all the pens when I get them out for colouring and often doesn't actually do any colouring... Just taking the lids off
- currently very shy around strangers and turns into my legs to avoid engaging with them. She has never suffered with separation anxiety though and is very adaptable to staying away from us, and we had no tears when she started nursery
Aside from the aggression and meltdowns she is a really sunny character and loves to laugh and smile. Her nursery workers always tell us she is very clever (she can sing her face nursery rhymes, count to 20, knows some letters) but recently I've started to notice the things above that are maybe a little unusual...but then again could just be toddler quirks and terrible twos. We have also just welcomed her baby brother so perhaps her behaviour is exaggerated because of the big changes she has experienced recently.
So after all that writing, what I would love avice on is whether you would consider the above to be concerns that you would raise at the review, and if so how to approach this, or am I making something out of nothing? I don't want to go looking for signs that something isnt right, but also want to be proactive in getting us on the right path if she does need support. I have done lots of reading about signs of sensory issues / asd recently but I know things can present quite differently in girls so it's quite confusing. If you have any experience or advice I would be so grateful. Thank you x