2 year old with possible spectrum disorder?

[ash85315]

My son just turned 2 in Febuary. He was/is behind with his vocal speech and even if he can prounounce and say words he often misuses them or gets them confused.- i.e. says "bye" when I tell him it's time to go to sleep. Can't verbally comunicate what he wants. Instead he takes my hand- and leads me to whatever he wants. If he wants something out of the refridgerator he will bring me to the kitchen and place my hand on the fridge. I play the guessing game and ask him what he would like - He does say yes and no . But seems to get overly exsisted when I am finally able to figure out what he wants. For example  after going through a list of what he wants and him passivly saying "no" when lets say he wants popcorn and I ask and show him " do you want popcorn"  his response to anything he wants is "yah yah!!!!" (smiles and jumps up and down). As far as obsessing with toys goes, he is a typical boy and loves trains, and cars- and plays VERY well with them- good imaginative play, but also plays and lines up random things by catagory.- groups them.  Most of the time it's based on the labels. No matter the size . He also seems to have a facination with small things he finds on the floor - and occasionally will carry things like fuzz around with him, not just to the point of picking it up and investigting , literally carry it around as if it were his best friend. He does have occasional outburst , but they seem typical for a toddler and can usually be dealt with effectively with a short time out. Now I know all of the above mentioned aren't a big deal- however within the last month I started noticing some weird behaviors - I thought no big deal but no looking at everything.
*randomly spins in circles BUT turns eyes to the side and looks from corners of his eyes well doing so.
*randomly has to run circles around objects on the floor- usually people sitting on the floor , he babbles well doing this
*obsessed with letters of the alphabet, not only does he know and can say most of them, they visually excite him
Okay I have a plethora of other concerning factors , but I feel this will suffice for now. I am concerned enough to get him checked out . Our family physician would always tell me he was developing fine at all of his checkups, and I 've be upfront about everything, just now it's all coming together , and I think there is some sort of issue, or I am just being a nervous mom.

[ash85315]

Thank you so much for your great response. It's always nice to have my mind somewhat put at ease. It's so hard to see my son develop in so many areas, and as I may or may not have mentioned he is a very bright little boy, but I got in a nasty habit of comparing him to other kids -I know a major no no as no two kids are the same, but just want to also make sure that it's nothing I am doing wrong. I will have to admit the speech thing is hard for me.  I def think there are certain syllables that he needs to work on, but I've found the in cooperating them into play works best after all hes' a toddler and on the go. It's odd though because he's speech has actually been improving , more so  that he is actually talking more- but as his talking increases the other issues arise. I too thought much of it was corky and cute but now  i'm starting to question things. I wonder too if it's a sensory thing with my son.  Like right now he is in a habit of trying to stick q tips in his ears and leaving them there- I of course stop this when I see him, but sometimes he goes to the point of digging them out of the garbage. He doesn't jam them in though. And then at night he grabs my hand to rub his ears, and INFACT no lie as of lately it's the only way to get him to calm down if he's wound up. Anyway I def will be speaking to his pediatrician who is a great doctor, but I have to take the wheel and make sure my son is getting the best care- so thank you again for your advice it's been immensely helpful :)

[specialmom]

Hi.  Well, you sound like a terrific mother!  You are taking great care of your little guy.  I think when we moms hear our internal warning alarm going off inside of us, it is only prudent to act on our worry and check things out.  So, I applaud you for not brushing your concerns under the table and trying to understand if anything extra is going on with your son.

I'm the mother of a child with a developmental delay.  My son is mild on the scale of things so many early signs were quite subtle.  Our pediatrician did not pick up on things but it was a preschool teacher when my son was three that clued us in and we started the process of having him evaluated and then working on his issues (so thankful for this!).  My son's developmental delay involves his nervous system and processing and it is called sensory integration disorder.  This delay can be seen along with other things often such as autism or attention deficit disorder but it can be all by itself as well as with my son.

My son also would spin.  He'd **** his head to the side when he did it and we actually found it "cute" and called it dancing until we started to feel it was a major impulse for him.  It was.  He is a sensory seeker and that was something he would do.  I found he did it when he wanted to calm himself.  

On the good side of what you describe in terms of speech for your son is that he is understanding quite well!  That is great.  There are three parts of speech-------  receptive speech (understanding what others say to you), expressive (what you want to say to someone else) and articulation (being able to be understood when saying the words).  

So, what would I do if I were you?  I'd go ahead and request that your pediatrian refer  you to the next step of evaluation.  This could mean a speech pathologist (does your son have any feeding issues such as he had difficulty chewing solid food as he transitioned to it?).  Or a developmental pediatrician (often associated with Children's hospitals).  Or to the program in your city that oversees kids suspected of needing early intervention (in the US, all kids age birth to 3 years can be evaluated upon request and referrel for any developmental issues and get a case worker to oversee any services needed.  This is done by law and is funded by state and federal government.  At age three, it switches to the local public school in your area and that program is 3 to age 5).  I'd go ahead and take this step.

Simple things to do for speech, stregnthen those oral muscles.  Have him blow bubbles--------  with the kind you get in the store as well as putting a straw in a cup and blowing milk bubbles or juice bubbles or whatever.  Have him drink thick liquids through a straw such as smoothie, milk shake or even apple sauce.  Play games that work the muscles of the mouth and face.  An example would be to put on music and make silly faces.  When the music stops, everyone feezes their face.  Speak clearly and slowly for him and make him watch your mouth as you say the words.  good luck