It's taken me months to pluck up the courage to write this, I think I'm a bit scared of what I'll find out.. if anyone could help me I'd so appreciate it as we're stuck in pediatric waiting list hell at the moment..
DS1 is 2.8 and has only approx 150 words amongst an awful lot of jargon, he is only stringing the odd tiny sentence together. He still can't copy our speech for more than one word at a time. He had about 20 words at 18 months and then development stagnated for ages. It's only in the last few months with lots of effort with books and vocabulary dvd's that it's started moving again. His understanding of 2 step instructions is ok, but I don't feel he has much abstract understanding, if I say we're going to the park and then Granny's house, I'm not sure he's taking it in.
DS1 hit all his milestones as a baby, and his motor skills are fine, but pointing and clapping were slightly later than other babies his age. He still gestures less than other children although he will point, clap and wave, and occasionally copy us dancing or similar. He is a really happy, placid child but his social interaction concerns me - he is sometimes oblivious to other children around him, he'll join in a chasing or physical game but will happily play alone most of the time. I know this is fairly normal for his age but it does concern me that he can totally ignore children who make attempts to play with him.
Eye contact is generally ok although he can be a bit reluctant sometimes. We have had doubts over his hearing and been down the glue ear route but the latest test said he's fine. He does tend to poke his ears though, as if they're blocked. His jargon gets worse when this happens.
In many ways I am convinced he has an ASD except that there are no obsessions, rituals or odd behaviours at all, the odd lining up of toys or spinning wheels but we're talking a couple of times a week not constantly. I am hyper sensitive to this because of its significance but it doesn't seem to happen more often with my DS1 than other toddlers we know. There is no need to put DS1 in any routine, as long as he's fed, has toys and gets sleep he's happy wherever he goes. In some ways he's almost too easy, (I know that sounds insane) he just seems so self contained - he doesn't seem to nag for things or assert himself the way other toddlers do. There are very few tantrums.
We had a pediatric appt back in Jan - DS1 tested age appt for everything other thant speech and language, to my amazement as I didn't think he'd co operate with the tests. I can't get rid of the worry that it's more than a speech delay though. To complicate things, DH was almost non verbal until 5, with many ASD like behaviours, which then totally cleared up once he went to school. Ironically, now he's a senior manager and a real people person. Totally bizarre and the only explanation we've been given is he may have had auditory processing disorder. Does anyone know anything about this, I'm struggling to find info?
Sorry to ramble on, I'd love to hear what anyone thinks, and thanks so much for bothering to read all of this!!