What Made Me Ask for an Autism Evaluation

Signs of Autism that my son showed that I thought was normal toddler behavior.

Honestly, I didn’t know anything about Autism, what it was, signs to look for, how to handle it. I’ve heard of it but was never aware of it. I didn’t know anyone on the spectrum and the thought never crossed my mind that something could be wrong with my child.

My little boy was a healthy 9lb 6oz baby. My pregnancy went smoothly, birth went great, and he was the perfect little boy.

He was an amazing sleeper. I remember the nurses telling me while I was in the hospital that I needed to wake him up to feed him. He would sleep for hours. Even after bringing him home, he was the best sleeper.

He ate extremely well. Transition to whole foods went perfect and he’d try and devour almost anything I would give him.

He was hitting milestones that he was meant to be hitting. He was the perfect 1 year old.

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Around 1.5 years old I started noticing things.

It wasn’t alarming to me some of the things he would do.

He fell in love with the movie Cars. I mean what little boy wouldn’t love a movie about fast cars and racing right. It came to the point where he would watch it on repeat all day. From the moment he woke up till he went to bed, he wanted it on. This last for a couple weeks and then it would be a different movie. Same thing, he would watch it nonstop on repeat like it was the first time he’d seen it.

He was fascinated with cars and anything that would spin. When I say anything that would spin, if he could get it to spin it would spin.

He started lining things up. I wouldn’t say in a specific order but just line his cars up. He would rearrange them and get eye level and walk down the line admiring his creation. After every walk he’d adjust one, add one or replace one and do the same thing, eye level and walk down the line. You’d find lines of cars randomly in our home.

He wouldn’t interact with us. We could say his name 10 times and he would not respond. His attention was somewhere else whether he was playing or just dazing. We couldn’t even get him to play with us or color, do blocks or anything, He would rather be by himself.

The handshaking eventually started. When he got super excited about something his hands would start shaking. I told him he was going to fly away if he flapped any harder. He’d do this when he’d get things spinning, or when he’d walk down his line of whatever he made.

His eating went to wanting to eat nothing. He wanted the same thing all the time, chicken nuggets, pop tarts, pizza. There was not trying new things anymore. He would go through periods of only wanting one thing every single day for weeks,

This one hit me hard. He started playing in his poop. If we didn’t get him changed as soon as he pooped, he would have it everywhere. Everywhere meaning he was eating it. I didn’t know what was happening. Nights became a series of trying to figure out how he wouldn’t be able to get to his diaper if he ended up pooping. The amount of poop I’ve cleaned off his crib, walls, the floor, toys, his bedsheets was crazy! I didn’t experience anything like that with my other 2 kids.

He wasn’t talking. He wasn’t even trying to talk or say words. He would just stare at us when we’d speak to him. There was no babbling, nothing. Boys are late talkers though, aren’t they? I kept telling myself.

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Aren’t these normal toddler behaviors though.

I told myself this all the time. He will learn to talk when he’s ready. He’s going through a Poptart and chicken nuggets stage. Every toddler refuses food at some point. I would tell myself he will get to where he needs to be when he’s ready and at his own pace.

But I was starting to check no for hitting milestones at his checkups. I was starting to question if having that big of a fascination with cars and spinning things was normal. Shouldn’t he be at least saying mamma and dadda by now.

Then one day my MIL said about Autism. I don’t really remember what I was thinking but I called her friend and talked to her about things her little boy did, and it resembled mine to a T.

At his next checkup, we ended up leaving without getting a checkup done because he wouldn’t let them touch him. Before we left though I had mentioned getting an evaluation done for Autism and she quickly agreed.

I remember holding back tears that day sitting in the chair in that little room. Not tears from being sad but more so tears of relief.

This is our journey living with Autism.

These are the things our son did at an early age that we had no idea were signs of being on the spectrum.

All kids are different, they grow at different speeds, they do things at different stages in their lives.

I’m sharing what we went through, knowing nothing about Autism to hopefully make other parents aware. Because not everyone knows signs to look for. You want to look at your babies and think they’re perfect just the way they are, which they are!

I am thankful we got the help as soon as we did.

I am thankful my MIL said something that day.

I’m thankful I’m more aware and educated just a little more on knowing signs of Autism.

I am thankful for my little boy who is perfect just the way he is.