Stimming!

Can I ask why you think he doesn’t have autism? I only ask cuz for the longest time i didn’t think my son was autistic… but it was cuz I was autistic and didn’t realize things were different… and to be clear im not saying either of you are… just asking to understand more…

@Lyss Thats okay! So some of the reasons being he does make eye contact, he has hit all his milestones so far on time, he understands simple instructions and can follow directions when he wants to he is going through a no phase right now🤦🏽‍♀️ he says probably 250+ words and says a couple sentences we are working on more. He uses his words when he wants something like drink, snack, chicken, etc. he plays well with other kids and adults. Those are just some of the things. Our doctor says when he goes to preschool in the fall he was really start talking with more sentences. I stay home with him and his brother so they dont get a whole lot of interaction with other kids besides each other but when he does meet new kids like at the park or church he says hi and tries to have a convo lol just trying to get his words more clear!

Ok so us not making eye contact is a stereotype. Some of us are very capable of making eye contact. Hell sometimes I make so much eye contact people think I’m flirting, I’m not I just don’t know what the socially acceptable amount of eye contact is ok. And we can follow directions. We are capable of following through based on directions. Now if the directions make no sense we might question it but we can follow along. And again autism is a spectrum. Some of us are non-verbal. Some of us are environmentally mute. And some of us are hyper verbal. And we want to make friends. We enjoy companionship. The issues is that non-autistic people do not have to communicate with us and so it’s harder to make friends. And we view friendship differently. And we play different. Like a lot of us prefer parallel play vs playing together. But again it’s a spectrum. Some of us are hyper social while others of us are more introverted.

@Lyss I get that but then if thats the case I could name like 50 people who I know that would fit on this spectrum? So would they all have it? Im just curious. I can’t think of anyone who doesnt have atleast one of the things listed.

Well I mean there are a lot more of us out there than I think people realize. And typically birds of a feather flock together. And autism is genetic. So it’s definitely possible. And it goes so long undiagnosed in families because families normalize a lot of the behaviors and say everyone does it when in fact, only autistic people do a lot of the things that the families normalize that’s why it went so long for me to to know me and my kids are autistic. Because my mom would say it’s normal, but she was also autistic.

@Lyss Yes that true but at this point based off your list I dont think ive ever met a neurotypical person🤷🏽‍♀️ like even outside my family. My friends growing up did some of the stuff thats on these list. Im just wondering what a typical person does because everyone I know does alittle bit of this stuff

So ok one of the tells for me is (this is just an example) Autistic people when communicating with allistic people (non-autistic people) Autistics- when we are talking with someone and a question like- “why is this item made” for example… autistics are more likely to go wanting to learn why and what and who. Like we are curious about everything around us that interests us. Allistic people when conversing and a question comes up- “why is something made” they will just ask the question and not care for the answers. Autistic people, we hate small talk. Allistic people mainly only like small talk with strangers. Autistic people when talking with people are generally curious about others. While allistic people only ask questions to see where you fit in the social hierarchy. These are just examples of how I can see if they are autistic or not. Outside of the typical DSM of us having sensory issues and communication issues and what not

And I want to clarify allistic people do do some of the things we do. So it does have to be a combination of things but I also think that a lot of people don’t realize they are autistic or refuse to acknowledge it cuz of internalized ableism

Thank you for the info! I will probably bring it up with our pediatrician at his 3 year appointment and see what he thinks!

If it’s just the stimming I’d say normal. My son is 3 and autistic and doesn’t do all the things you say your son does

@Sam Thank you for your input!❤️ its just stimming and picky eating!

@Sam ive thought maybe that He might have adhd? Or like a sensory thing?