Speech dealy, autism spectrum or normal?

[Nicole1234]

Hello! I am driving myself crazy here and would so appreciate any advice, thoughts or suggestions. My son will be 3 next month. He has around 800 words, answers to his name (unless he is deliberately ignoring me) points to things with index finger when referencing something,looks you in the eye, talks directly to me, if I point to something he will look what it is,he follows directions great, says up to 7 words sentences ("don't worry Mama,I'll find it", I want more blueberries please", "where is ____" "let's read this book" etc..), socializes great-he often becomes the "official greeter" of wherever we are saying "hi" to whomever walks in,plays with his toys in a correct way, knows his colors, shapes, letters, and numbers. When asking what something is in a book he knows what it is and if it is an animal will give the appropriate sound.
The problem is that his speech may not be as clear as it should be. Also, when he jumps up and down his arms go up and his hands flap; don't know what else they are supposed to do with their hands, but everything you read about flapping it concerns me. Also, sometimes during dinner he will flap a little bit  He also likes to spin around sometimes. He doesn't do it in a spaced out kind of way and not repetitive, I think he just likes to do it and after a few spins says "whoa, whoa, whoa' and then moves on to whatever he wants to do next. He also will walk on tip toes sometimes when he is barefoot.
He had back to back ear infections from first of August last year till the end of November. Clear in December. He had freakishly large tonsils and adenoids and those came out in January. He has had two ear infections since then. Knock on wood his ears have been clear since May and I think the tube is starting to straighten out and hopefully the ear infection problem is worked out. I am wondering if since for so many months, especially crucial speech/;anguage months it was like he had cotton in his ear. Could he be behind speech wise because of that and presuming that the ear issue is taken care of will he catch up over the next 6 months to a year? I also wonder since his tonsils were so big for so long if that could have any effect on they way he speaks now or uses his tongue when speaking.
I am on information overload and I don't even know what is normal and what is not normal anymore. Our ped. thought he speech should probably be a little more clear and we are going to a speech therapist for a screening later this week. I am consumed with thoughts of autism and I am so scared what the speech therapist is going to say. I am so glad that information about autism is out there, but I feel so overwhelmed and it seems like every kid is going to do something on the "red flag" list from time to time.
Anything will be helpful and I thank you in advance.

[Nicole1234]

Just had to say that I can't believe that I spelled delay incorectly in the title of my post.
Also, I thought I should add that my son has good imaginative play, also doesn't seem obsessed with anything, and changing routine or schedule doesn't bother him in the least. He loves Thomas the Train, but doesn't throw any fits if we don't play it or watch one of the Thomas videos. He does like it a lot though and he has a big thomas carrier that you can put trains in and take with you. He will take that and then take his dump trucks and line them up behind what he calls "big thomas" and they choo choo across the floor. He has only done this since getting his trains. He also enjoys giving and getting hugs and kisses and when other people touch him he doesn't mind.

[Sally44]

Theres a couple of sensory things you mention, but although sensory issues are usually present with autism there are lots of people (children and adults) with sensory stuff and they are not on the spectrum.
He is at that age when he should be becoming more social, and I don't notice anything else in your post that concerns me.
The ear infections may have caused a bit of a delay.  And it is recognised that blind and deaf children do have some similar behaviours to autistic children.  But it is beginning to be recognised that those behaviours in autism are due to sensory difficulties that mean the autistic child is effectively 'deaf' or 'blind' from a sensory perceptual point of view.
To give you a better idea of what the professionals would be looking for to get a diagnosis of autism have a look at the Health Page, which you can access by clicking on the Health Page icon on the top right hand corner of the autism forum page.  I have posted the diagnostic criteria under DSM IV for autism and I have asked parents to post examples of their children's behaviour that meets the criteria.  This will give you some good examples.
I know it's not probably going to help to say don't worry.  But the truth is that he just won't get a diagnosis of autism unless he is showing a range of charteristics across all the areas needed to fulfill the criteria.  There are a number of other parents who have posted themselves about 'autistic traits' they have, but again these are traits and if you don't have enough of them you don't get a diagnosis.  I too have some sensory differences (auditory problems, appearing deaf, phasing out, touch sensitive, have to remove clothes tags, cannot wear certain fabrics, cannot bear certain smells etc).  But I don't have any social interaction or communication problems and I don't have any restrictive or rigid behaviours or routines and my imagination is just fine!  But my differences do help me understand my son alot better.
Hope the Health Page helps.

[Nicole1234]

Sally44,
thank you so much for taking the time to post a response. I am still hoping it is just a speech thing, since all the language seems to be there it just isn't always as clear as I guess it should be.
Other than the sometimes jumping and slight "flapping" of hands I can't see anything about a sensory issue. I need to read up on it more, but he doesn't have any issues with sound, textures, movement, or anything like that.

[888mom]

I agree with Sally44. Really it doesn't sound like you have to worry about autism.  Many children do what is called "stimming" which is hand flapping, spinning around in circles, that sort of thing.  There are lots of reasons for speech problems.  Really only having a speech therapist help diagnose is only way to figure that out.  Sometimes kids just pronounce things wrong and need a speech therapist for a few years.  Sometimes it will straighten out on its own... but again,  you really need a speech therapist/speech pathologist to assess that, if you have concerns.  If you live in the U.S., I know the school system can give a free assessment for you.  They start handling children at the age of 3.  Your pediatrician's office would know whom to contact or at least start pointing you in the right direction.  It's summertime, so most school systems are just closed right now.