Early signs of autism
We were actually quite fortunate when Johnathan was born, because I half expected him to be autistic (there is autism in my family) and I believe Kevin is probably on the spectrum too. So for me, it wasn’t a big shock (as it can be with families).
The very first signs of autism (well, actually, sensory processing disorder - which can be linked with autism) were that he would only sleep with some kind of light on in the room, he hated to have his feet touched and I would literally spend up to half an hour chasing his feet around the change mat because he didn’t want anything on them.
We had a lady come round to teach me how to give Johnathan a massage and of course, they start at the feet! I KNEW it was probably going to be a non-starter because the moment she took his socks off, OF COURSE he was going to try NOT having his feet massaged. And after that, if he saw her coming up the pathway or heard her voice in the vicinity, he would suddenly “fall asleep” so that she couldn’t touch his feet!
Cutting toenails and fingernails was quite enterprising. I had to wait until he was fast asleep, slowly get the toes or hands out from under the covers and cut them VERY carefully - generally only 2 at a time because he would wake if I did any more than that.
And when he started moving, he was on his back and went in circles. Now that, for me, was the confirmation that yes, he WAS autistic and there was no getting away from it. Of course, the policy in Scotland was to wait as long as they could before diagnosing a child.
His keyworker at the nursery next door to us, started there on the same day as him and they formed a great bond. I was really happy to see how much she cared for him and how she would say that the things I was telling her about his behaviour and autism was really helping her to understand him. At nursery at the time they weren’t allowed to bring it up to us until he turned 3. But they knew it as much as we did. He decided he was selective or elective mute (can’t remember which it is) and ONLY spoke to his personal key worker until the last year he was there. He didn’t understand groupings and although he was in the Penguin group, they would have to say his name as well for him to go with the group.
These were some of the early signs I noticed with Johnathan that told me he was definitely autistic. But every child is different, so make sure you know before saying something.