possible ASD? or something else?

[scotsgirl]

hi everyone, its been along time since I posted. hope your all well... here goes...

my son is 31 months. i have been concerned about his speech and when the health visitor made a routine assessment at 28 months she wanted to refer him to speech and language. he also wasnt interested in engaging with what she wanted him to do. in the meantime i registered him early for nursery to see if it would "bring him along". after only a couple of weeks i asked how he was doing and they said they were concerned he had some delayed development. they found he wasnt interacting with the other children, had solitary play, difficulty following instruction, would only have good eye contact on a one to one basis and found his speech to be poor (only one to two word sentences and difficult to distinguish). i also find him to have a high voice and says all words as if hes asking a question. on the flip side, he interacts well with his siblings though he doesnt care if they cry but he will laugh at things. i cant take him shopping without help and he has major meltdowns especially if you try to get him to do something he doesnt want to do. he also has a lot of excess saliva. he can appear deaf at times but we had audiology test and although he got fed up towards the end the general consensus was that his hearing appeared normal. he also hums at the tv with intervals inbetween (short hums) does it more when a song comes on. hes a very loving boy and loves lots of kisses and cuddles. he has been referred to paediatrician and educational psychology as well as speech therapy. its a case of watch and observe right now as he is young. i just feel really confused. family members think it is behavioural which is frustrating. i just want to know whats wrong (if anything?) with my little boy or am i just paranoid!! please help. all advice welcome

 

[AP]

It could be something as simple as him growing up , or it could well be ASD, as those do sound like traits. No-one here can say for sure, but, it's great you are in the "system" and you have a paediatrician on board.

I would suggest though (I dont't know where you are in Scotland, but I am too) to push a bit for for a referral for an assessment. Waiting times can be long so it's best he's in there.

 

[Eternal]

I agree with AtomicPink ... all child services seem painfully slow, so be prepared to fight. If he is, also be prepared for people to make comments regardless, I often get people say things about autism being made up to defend bad parenting. Most people are great but the one or two who feel the need to belittle will regardless of diagnosis or not.

Good luck Hun x

 

[sequeena]

Big hugs for you. It is hard when you believe your child has some issues but you don't know what. I have to echo AP and Eternal it could be nothing but it could be something.

He sounds a lot like my son. Thomas has Global Developmental Delay. His pediatrician believes he doesn't have autism but he does have autistic traits. Hopefully now you are in the system you will get the support you need but it is a long arduous process. Speech alone will probably take months to come through you really will have to fight.

Good luck there are a lot of people here who can help or lend a sympathetic ear. There is a link to the developmentally delayed support group in my signature if you would like to come and talk to us

 

[scotsgirl]

thank you ladies, I have been told there is a huge waiting list in Scotland for the diagnostic test. so frustrating to have to wait all the time. I did think of global development delay although his walking and crawling development been fine, mainly his speech and communication. that thread link sounds really helpful. I will sit down with a coffee and trail the thread tonight if I get some peace and quiet which is rare in my house lol. would be lovely to speak to u ladies in similar situations

 

[sequeena]

thank you ladies, I have been told there is a huge waiting list in Scotland for the diagnostic test. so frustrating to have to wait all the time. I did think of global development delay although his walking and crawling development been fine, mainly his speech and communication. that thread link sounds really helpful. I will sit down with a coffee and trail the thread tonight if I get some peace and quiet which is rare in my house lol. would be lovely to speak to u ladies in similar situations

Global delay is 'diagnosed' (it's an umbrella term not an official diagnosis) when a child is delayed in 2 or more areas. My son crawled and can walk too (though he does have difficulty for medical reasons). It's worth exploring, you may get the tests for it quicker and then hopefully you can go for the autism testing sooner.

 

[annanouska]

my little guy is younger he will be 2 in July and he is very much as you describe your son. We are around the same point in our journey but we have had an initial assessment I think notbtoonsurevwhat the appointment was!

None of my family even dh to some extent are being very supportive he just "has nothing to say" ( despite the fact he used to talk and now doesn't, " is very energetic " " just ignores what I say" " is going to be an engineer" ( as he is a bit obsessed with how thighs work ) the list goes on.

I can't offer much advice other than really to say I'm in the same boat if u ever want to chat

Re the playing, my ds has no real interest in children but will interact with us and also his one special friend. He's always happy in nursery but just bumbles around on his own doing his own thing x

 

[scotsgirl]

had a frustrating day as for the second time the speech therapist was unable to make the appointment however nursery think it would benefit my son to change his nursery days from 3 days to 5 days and I would possibly receive funding as it is likely he will need additional support. I am very aware of the staff being careful of there wording when discussing my son as not to give me false diagnosis which I totally understand. can be so frustrating as I just want to scream "just tell me what your thinking?" I will certainly mention GDD when I next speak with the paediatrician and take it from there. hopefully speech therapy will rearrange an appointment ASAP.
annanouska did you pick up on some things yourself or was it a combination of your worries and nursery? x

 

[willow25]

Hi, Im in a similar situation to you, and also in Scotland. My little girl has shown lots of signs pointing possibly towards ASD and she was referred to the child development department about 8 months ago, and I finally got a letter this week for an appointment at the end of June.

So I just wanted to say Hi, and maybe we can keep in touch and compare notes ie appointment s etc

Jill x

Ps my LO has just turned 3

 

[scotsgirl]

hi ladies finally had speech therapy come to my boys nursery to assess him in a nursery environment. she says ds has a speech and communication delay although no known reason for this as yet. now I have seen slight improvement in his speech as in he occasionaly joining 3 words together. speech therapist says she can hold off an assessment for autism to "wait and see" although she stresses not to rule it out as there are so many spectrums. idont think we should wait as I know early diagnosis if it is autism can be beneficial. more waiting now. the good thing is his nursery sessions are going to be funded

 

[AP]

Early diagnosis isnt whats important hun, its early intervention, and with you having the speech therapist on board you're already getting some of that don't panic! Whether your child has autism or not, your child should be getting support regardless (the whole getting it right for every child thing here in Scotland is important )

 

[marie-louise]

Hi there, just want to say I know what you are going through! My son was under 2 when he started the assessment process and he finally got his asd diagnosis in May just after his 4th birthday. Your boy sounds like mine, we too wanted answers but when there is a speech delay, this too can cause autistic traits which will improve as language improves. Asd was implied but no one would say it directly, now we have the diagnosis they have all said that they has believed asd to be his main issue. Don't worry to much about the label as yet, just as long as you are getting the support you need!

 

[JASMAK]

I would go for early diagnosis. There is so many more therapies than just speech. My daughter has speech, occupational therapy, social skills group, and tutoring (she is 9). She newly has anxiety and sees a psychiatrist. We also get many things funded...special seats, iPad, equipment, books, other useful toys and equipment. We get all the mentioned therapies and tutoring paid for. Also, the support socially is there. We are going on a huge trip for just families with autism. Why wait? Your son sounds similar to my daughter who has autism, apraxia and now anxiety. Have you googled MCHAT for toddlers?

 

[aliss]

Early diagnosis is life changing, it really can be! We actually never got speech therapy because intensive ASD behavioural therapy was how he started rapidly approaching. Sometimes speech problems are rooted in ASD behavior rather than an actual speech issue. We're also going for OT and other things, it really opens doors.

 

[Reid]

hi ladies I to live in Scotland and im waiting on word from salt. my sons just turned 3 and has a few short sentences some words and can do some counting. after his 30 month check I asked my hv to come and see us about his speech. she did say at the time (back in January) that the waiting list was really long she did send us to get his hearing checked which they were happy with but couldn't get the wee reader in his ear so we'll have to go back at a later date just to be sure. It was actually the ones at audiology who passed us on to the panda centre (they deal with development delays) so last Wednesday I had the specialist hv out from the panda centre when I asked her what she thought she said she thinks its developmental (not to sure what that really means) she also said salt are at the moment working on referrals from October so my sons referral won't even be looked at for another 3 months. she said I will get an appointment to go up to the panda centre where they will give me the tools so to speak to help him. his wee pal who's very similar with lack of speech hr gets a play worker to the house so I asked my hv about this if I could get 1 for my son so fast forward to today we had the play worker out she done some book bug with him and some other toys it was really good and turns out the play worker was Infact a salt. I told the specialist hv we were getting this book bug at home and she said this is fantastic for kids with speech problems. The play worker is coming out to us weekly for the next 3 weeks. definitely worth asking about if any of you are in Scotland. my sons due to start nursery in august so these are all things I think will help bring him on xx

 

[Amy_T]

Wow, your original post could've been made by me a year ago! My daughter will be 4 in august and although we are waiting for a referral for more involvement (a CAF form has been sent if anyone is familiar). Having said that most of the concern is from her pre-school as she is due to start full time school in september they are very worried... BUT she has come on SOOO much in the last year. Speech and language have said she is delayed but she is progressing and they are not overly worried which is good.

It's such a scary process, we've had one thing after another since she was born really so this is hard to deal with. Good luck with it all. x

 

[scotsgirl]

a while since i posted but my son has been seen with SALT in his nursery enviroment. they have written a report saying he has a speech and social communication delay. we have to go to a workshop for parents of autistic children though it was been reiterated that that doesnt meanmy son is autistic as hes still very young. he has been showing great improvement with his speech at nursery and is joining in a bit more. they are concerned at nursery because he is always falling over and both nursery and SALT have said he has no spatial awareness. i asked the nursery straight out what they are thinking as everyone is very cagey about mentioning what they think isthe problem and i was told although he is improving he is still showing flags for autism or maybe dispraxia. it is highly unlikely he will be moving into the 3-5 room in october too. my hubbys family are being very unsupportive as they dont think there is a problem. i think they think its all in my head. they are very much in denial and my hubby also doesnt like to discuss it at length. they keep telling people that theres nothing wrong with him which makes me look very stupid. so frustrated

 

[scotsgirl]

also to add he has put on the assessment waiting list finally!!

 

[Reid]

Glad it seems to be moving forward for you I've been waiting 7 months for salt and there still working on referrals from Oct my son was referred in January I'm getting annoyed with it now. He starts nursery next month so I'm hoping that will help him being around kids his age that can talk. X

 

[scotsgirl]

nursery has definitely helped my sons speech come along. along with talking right in his face and slowing down sentences. he has had a hearing test so no problems with his ears.