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21 month old waiting for assessment

My 21 month old boy has been displaying concerning behaviours for the past months.  He started out hitting all of his milestones, and was even starting to talk.  This all changed around 14-18 months where I noticed he was not talking.  His tantrums and meltdowns were unbearable to the point I stopped taking him out with me shopping ect.  His sleep has been on and off. One night good, one night bad. But almost never sleeps through the night. He is still very dependant on his bottle and will meltdown when he wants one.  I noticed he does not respond when you call his name, he will just "ignore" you. He is very fixated on one cartoon and can spend hours watching it. Recently I noticed he does not like long sleeve shirts, he will get upset and try to push the sleeves off.  He has never liked socks and will always pull them off. He has recently started chewing wood.  Anything wood. Cabinet doors, my bed frame, dining table. They all have marks all over them.  If I catch him doing it and tell him no, he will look at me and react, then if I turn around, he will go straight back to chewing.  He is not social with other children yet. He does play with his 4 year old brother though. He does smile, cuddle and make eye contact and give kisses. His hearing was tested as he was noted for having an unusual amount of earwax, but his hearing test was fine.  He is waiting for his appointment in a few weeks with a pediatrician who specializes in behaviours and autism.  I was hoping for some other feedbacks here, and hopefully some suggestions on what to do about the chewing! My furniture is taking beating from it!
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Avatar universal
Sounds like he maybe somewhere on the autism spectrum. Good for you in noticing he needs some help, lots of kids dont get help soon enough. My daughter is asd, and is doing well now at 3.2 years but definatly we have work to assist her language skills. Anyways try looking up sensory chewy tubes on amazon for him to chew instead of wood. He may have a sensory processing disorder and his body is needing a chew sensory input to calm this feeling. I would call your local Early Childhood Intervention Program to come assess him and start some therapy and give guidance , help never hurts!
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1 Comments
I agree it does sound like he is on the spectrum.  My son has many similar symptoms and started Early Intervention around the same age and we have seen tremendous improvement.  He is now 3 and 1/2 years old just starting to communicate, and in a full day ABA program at a school in our district.  The Early Intervention program is key to help you son start to develop the skills needed and to help reduce tantrums, as well as sensory issues.  The Chewy stick is an excellent suggestion to start with.  You may also want to take your son to a Pediatric neurologist or developmental pediatrician.  They will both guide you as well.
Avatar universal
One more thing to note, he does hand flap almost daily, spins and I have seen him covering his ears with his hands.
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