Hi, I have some concerns regarding my 2.5 (31.5 months to be exact) year old son. He has always been rather rigid and stiff, hated being hugged or cuddled as an infant but will now tolerate it (still stiffens up and pulls away a lot), He has no interest in playing with others (he does play with his older brother, but for very short periods of time and tantrums ALWAYS ensue) imaginary plays BUT Ive noticed that he actually just copies what his older brother is doing/saying, speaks in a robotic voice (not always, but often enough to be concerned), is VERY easily agitated and will scream (like bloody murder scream) if he doesn't want someone to play with him or can't do something correctly (he will only try once. If he doesn't succeed the first time he throws a massive fit including screaming, hitting, throwing and self hitting), shows no empathy when other kids cry (He recently threw sand in a little girls eyes because she was trying to play with him and he stared at her and eventually continued playing as she screamed and cried in pain), doesn't know his colors yet (says everything is blue), doesn't count to 10 yet (1,2,7,9,10 is what he will say), repeats everything I say to him (ME: watch out for daddys shoes. SON: Oh daddy shoes. Ohhh daddys shoooeess.) He has an incredibly hard time explaining what he wants, Speech is still difficult to understand (most people can't tell what he is saying. me and my husband can most of the time but still struggle at times, which he gets really upset about), Loves to swing really high while rolling his head back and forth), never points to what he wants or is looking at, appears to be "in his own world", sometimes "doesn't hear" me when I talk to him, when asked what his name is he responds "I NO NO" (I DONT KNOW) and has "sleep seizures". He had an EEG done and it did show spikes in his brain activities. We were told by a neurologist that because the spikes were only in sets of 2 or 3 the sequences weren't long enough to be classified as seizures... So basically we were told that he has seizure activities that aren't seizures (makes no sense right?) Seizure like movement is apparent tho...confused on that one... Im sure there are a few more that I just can't think of right now. Would love to hear any feed back or suggestions. I don't know what to do next......
It is a really helpful site. My son has sensory integration disorder and did many of the things your son did. Sensory integration disorder or processing disorder is such that it can be a disorder ALL on its own or it can be secondary to autism. Some get confused and think sensory IS autism but it is actually its own set of symptoms. that a high number of autistic people have overlapping sensory disorder confuses them.
None the less, my son has sensory integration disorder and had many of the same issues as your son. He is now 10 and much of these issues have resolved completely. We did occupational therapy addressing his nervous system and gave him coping tools to use and behavior modifications. Between these three things, his issues have all but disappeared. Occasionally something may bother him but he handles it on his own now. And to be honest, much of what once bothered him no longer does because of the sensory activities that are now a natural part of his day.
A lot of what an occupational therapist teaches families is how physical activity plays a role in regulating the nervous system. Deep pressure and muscle work have done wonders for my son. This made swimming a natural sport for him to gravitate towards. he now swims on a competitive team which keeps him really well regulated.
Read through that site and I can give you more thoughts on the subject. He would need to be evaluated by an occupational therapist specializing in sensory integration disorder (which is easy to find) or a developmental pediatrician. At that time, they can also talk to you if they see signs of aspergers. But sensory involves many things as you will read in that site including motor planning which would account for difficulty in play and articulation issues in speech. My son had both of these, aspergers was ruled out and they resolved with work on his sensory system completely.
So, look at that site and let me know what you think. I'll then maybe have some ideas for you to try that worked with my son! good luck