Many Questions, please your thoughts?

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Hi all.
I have a 4 year old son that has some 'signs' of being on the autism spectrum. Ive made the decision to perhaps get him checked out - I dont have an appointment yet and now im worried ive over thought this and the dr thinks im mad. Ive been googling and now im way overwhelmed! Does anyone think im on the right track or am i being paronoid?

Mr 4 finds it hard to interact talk to strangers, he speaks in a different tone, sounds like a robot or high pitched and wont look at them for too long, he make all sorts of weird facial expressions at them (both kids and adults) he will go off topic and sometimes just ignores and just laugh lots....if someone not close to him hugs him he freezes up, after he thaws out after a while hes much better and talks pretty good, at home he talks and flows with conversation fine - he does the facial expressions when excited about his talk, he gets extremly frustrated if hes talking and get inturrupted and has even scratch/bitten his sister to shhhh her up - its like a bout of anger rushes through him and theres no stopping him. He plays very well with his sis make believe etc. But if she does something not right the anger comes over him - this is not all the time just sometimes.

He is extremly good boy - everything i tell him he really truly beleives me, and does everything thing i ask, and a rule is a rule and no breaking it ever! (which has helped re the biting a bit) he is very quick to tell on his sis for any 'rule' broken. sometimes hes quite up-himself about this - much bigger/better/taller/stronger etc than everone.

He get obessed in things trees and chainsaws were very huge when he was 2 till 3 yrs..running up and down the lies of trees and plants/fences over and over. now its music/ipod dancing singing when he does he claps in beats with excitment - wherever we are. though he does still play with other things. when he was 1yr he always was so fasinated in toes and nailpolished toes always, and only push one car around. he used to lie on his back and constanly rub it on the carpet.

I know these are minor things but im wondering if im reading too much into it. There are many small things over time hes done but thats the crinch of it - thanks so much look forward to reading responds.

???

http://www.theonion.com/articles/more-u ... l-ten,248/

Couldn't resist, sorry:

I think every (sensible) 4 year old is shy of strangers; it's a good sign. When people are nervous, their voices change too.

a fixation on odd objects can be a sign, but a lot of kids have fads over a particular toy. The rest of what you've described seems pretty normal for his age. Most people have a trait or two that could fit; autism really is a spectrum, all the way from Rainman right through to Joe Normal. If he's not having any social disability and gets along with his peers (siblings not included ), he may not need a label.

If you're really concerned and want peace of mind, your GP can probably give you a referral to a psychologist.

That was like a kick in the guts. Im really concerned and you can joke it off, ive been reading and listening alot lately and very rather sensitive.. Not nice.

ps. the gp has referred us, but we dont have an appointment yet....waiting.

It was just a joke article. It was not intended as an insult. You admitted yourself that you might be reading into things.

I also spent time giving you proper advice underneath, which is more than anyone else has so far. You're welcome.

Anyway, sorry for upsetting you. I didn't mean to make light of your concern.

At this point he has a lot of aspie traits, but it's not obvious one way or another. He might grow out of them, and he might get worse. There's not much more that we can say. You should go ahead with the evaluation. If things do get worse, it will be useful. If he does develop problems, it will probably be in a few years, when he is about ten years old.

i 'snapped' earlier.....im sorry I thank you for replying to me, i need lighting up tbh! im all over the place at the moment with emotions and was quick to get at you....thanks again.

geez, why are you acting like it's the end of the world? "oh no, my child may have been born with AWESOME, whatever shall i do??"

pff whatever

Because it's very hard work to raise an autistic child, more so than an NT child though that can be hard too.
The child might not show affection and have speech and behavioural problems. Behavioural problems like not following directions or being violent. It's not intentional but it's a lot harder to deal with these problems with an autistic child.
There is also the constant worry about the child not fitting in, being picked on or just not developing skills at the right level.
Parents want the very best for their kids and it's much more difficult and emotional draining to raise a child with autism.
The kid could end up like me. Struggling to find work, still not able to relate to people and be dependent on people even though I'm almost 30.

Autism can also range from mild to severe. Although this kid sounds high functioning but still there can be a lot of issues to deal with. Just imagine you are a parent and have to raise yourself. I could not raise me. Learning spelling and basic skills was tough enough for me, imagine how my parents and teachers felt.

Manna, sorry if this post disturbs you. I'm just trying to explain it in a way that someone on the spectrum can try to understand. There is a bit of a superiority complex amongst the higher functioning ones on the spectrum despite the fact that hey would struggle with raising an autistic child themselves. Some can have remarkable skills and function well enough but they are forgetting about the ones that still struggle with basic daily tasks.

It's ok; looking back, it was pretty tactless of me to post that link. My sense of humour gets me in trouble at the best of times.

Good luck getting an answer one way or the other

Thanks to you both - just learning and understanding things, i dont really think its the end of the world ! You explained it well for me thanks. I had a great talk to his preschool teacher yeaterday so feeling better!