My 2 1/2 year old son was diagnosed with autism. He is definately speech delayed, that is true. He makes eye contact, is very loving and affectionate (he loves to pat me on the forehead and also pat his own forehead, playing with his hair or mine...many times a day), Dalton knows people who are familiar to him, and can recognize me in a mall or himself in photos.
Dalton does not mind any changes in his schedule, but likes to line things up. His head is quite large but not out of proportion with the rest of his body, and he does have an oddly shaped forehead (its mild...you have to look for it to see it). His head size was was the primary comment on his initial diagnosis by the neurologist (all other diagnostic tests were taken after his 15 minute evaluation). The only other comment about my son was that he was throwing a bit of a fit while trying to get me to leave during the evaluation (Dalton is very aware of doctor's office situations, and very un-cool about being anywhere he might get a shot).
Dalton does answer to his name, if I am pretty loud, especially if I raise my voice in an attempt to avert danger, but not in a conversational tone. It is difficult to teach him, and it is often difficult to get him to focus on a task long enough to learn it. He will sit with me, but does not relax enough for me to read him a book. His interest in cars supercedes almost all other activities in almost all situations.
My son does like new people, but not always instantly. He usually shows interest in what other kids are doing and will follow them around, sometimes attempting to play along with them...but that is generally if he is in a familiar and comfortable location. Dalton usually runs to the door to see who has arrived at the house.. Yet, my son seems a bit distracted often, but is not staring off into space, he is usually absorbed in a toy which takes precedence over people in most occasions. He will usually smile at new people, but doesnt always try to get them to play with him. He doesnt mind if most people touch him, but is not very keen on having strangers come up and get right in his face or try to touch him. If he has had a few minutes to get to know them, he is usually ok with it.
My main problem is that during the last testing session with several medical practitioners and therapists in the same day, I felt that my son was expected to interact with these new people instantly. In addition to that, some of the toys they were using to get his attention were more "boring" than other items in the room (the choice was either blocks or cars, so of course Dalton chose cars), Because of that, Dalton was accused of being "unable to perform" the tasks asked of him in that particular test.
Part of me does believe that my son has some kind of special needs, yes, because he doesnt talk much and is so difficult to teach (because of inattention), But part of me is still not seeing enough to say my son is autistic. I guess I am looking for an unbiased ear to tell me if there is some reason I should not doubt.
This discussion is related to
just speech delay or autistic tendencies?.