How do I know if my child has autism?
My daughter is autistic and the signs you are describing sound like it. To be honest though all the research in the world on the internet won’t do much but help to confirm or deny what you already know. I honestly think the best thing to do would be go and seek a professional for answers. If this is what is going on with him you will be able to get lots of help when it comes to his education and other things in his life. You will need a professional diagnosis to get the help though. Good luck! It is a hard thing to deal with but in the long run it will work out. The more you educate yourself the easier it is to deal with.
He should be in elementary school by now. There are specialists there who can point you in the right direction. You should also make an appointment with his pediatritian to speak with him/her. I found the following at: http://www.autism.org/overview.html During childhood, autistic children may fall behind their same-aged peers in the areas of communication, social skills, and cognition. In addition, dysfunctional behaviors may start to appear, such as self-stimulatory behaviors (i.e., repetitive, non-goal directed behavior, such as rocking, hand-flapping), self-injury (e.g., hand-biting, headbanging), sleeping and eating problems, poor eye contact, insensitivity to pain, hyper-/hypo-activity, and attention deficits. One characteristic which is quite common in autism is the individual’s ‘insistence on sameness’ or ‘perseverative’ behavior.
If you reside in the US you can have him assessed at no charge by the local school board through early intervention services, which depending on the results he could receive speech therapy and/or occupational therapy. But if he does have autism or another condition it is good to have an official diagnosis from a doctor who is qualified to evaluate him, (developmental pediatrician, psychologist, psychiatrist, neurologist, etc.). They will give a more detailed evaluation to determine what he may/may not have than what the school will do, they will look more at the whole picture and not just the educational aspect of it. That can help him receive any therapies and/or services he may need outside of the school. Even though my son was diagnosed with autism, he still had to be evaluated for speech and occupational therapies outside of the school. Since he has a speech delay you should have him evaluated by a speech language pathologist/therapist, whether he has autism or another condition or
Okay my son has it. You won’t KNOW till you go in to diagnos, but he can also have milder forms that interfere with learning. This is cubbyholed PDD NOS. Our son was diagnosed at 3 but the average age has been 4 for diagnosis right up to 6 at times. Whatever you do find out. Your school system can test him or recommend a center in your area.
