Hello! I have some concerns about my DS (22months) showing ASD singns but since I am suffering of strong postpartum anxiety i would like to hear what you think about it.
My main concern is about his functional language and interaction with peers.
I did a list of things he does and doesn't do.
-he understands language good. He can follow directions (novel ones and 2 step related directions as well). But will not always be in the mood of doing it.
- he speaks a lot. Many many single words and some 2/3 word sentences. But he speaks almost too much. Constantly speaking while playing and also reapting stuff he has heard from us. Like when he plays with a giraffe he will always say the giraffe, long body, eats leafs while pretending that the giraffe is eating from a tree. Something we have told him when we were at the zoo. He understands what he says anyway.
- he does a lot of pretended play, like making toys sleep, eat etc.
- He can answer where /what and who questions well. He can also answer questions like what is the baby doing?
-He can answer choice questions (x or y) also without visual imput but has difficulty with yes/no questions. If it is no he ignores me if it is yes he just repeats the last word. (Head nodding/shaking happens very rarely and he must be very motivated to do it).
- he has some echolia and reverses pronouns (I don't know how much it is normal at 22 months).
- He does make good eye contact and responds to his name (since 7 months) when at home but if he is outside or in a new environment he will just wander around wanting to play with everything completely ignoring you.
- when outside he will wanders a lot but knows that when we are on roads he needs to hold my hand. At home he looks often for me telling me mummy come, mummy play.
-he points to share and request from early on (request is gone down since he asks verbally). He looks at me on the eyes while ponting for sharing.
- he used to bring me a lot of stuff to share, now it has reduced but he still does it whit new people.
-when we are with other kids he can be either too affectionate (hugging them to much at the point of scaring them) or he can also ignore them. Especially he ignores them more if we are at their place and he can play with all their new toys. He might speand a lot of time in the corner just playing with the new toys ignoring people. When we have kids guest at our home he is more interactive. However, he seems excited to see other kids and knows the name of all his peers at the nursery. When we have adults guests he wants to be always at the center of the attentions.
-he is almost too good with puzzles and towers. He also knows all colors and many shapes.
- he has no problems with changing of routines, eating or sleeping (execpet for day naps).
- however, he has some fixations like needing to play always with the same pair of toys (eg giraffe and zebra) and this is according to the order we bought them.
-he started to have tantrums since some weeks but mainly when overtired. But these can be very strong with him crying a lot and asking for me.
- he does have some stimming beahvoiurs like hand posturing and visual stimms.
- sometimes he will turn upside down his car to paly with wheels telling me mummy look wheels are turning.
-he asks some questions like. Who/what is it (often only gestually by holding the object to me and pointing to it but sometimes also verbally).
- he zones out/daydrams a lot. I thought he was not listening to me while this but since he speaks I discovered he is actually listening also in this moments.
Sorry the post became very very long but I wanted to say everything. I love my little one and wouldn't change him for nothing but I see that he is a bit different from other peers especially he is very independent and can ignore me a lot in some moments.