Desperate to talk to people who feel the same and are going through what I am going through. I have been in denial, but at our 2 yr. check up today my pediatrician strongly suggested getting him evaluated. He is seeing a speech therapist already, but he very delayed with his speech. He does ok with eye contact and only shows affection when he feels like it. He is a calm child and has never thrown tantrums. He does not speak, point or imitate any animal sounds, but when he feels like it he does imitate what we do. Are doctors today just too quick too label?

My son was not diagnosed until four. I took him to doctors but they just thought he was developmentally delayed. I don't think the doctors were too quick to diagnose and I wish I would have pushed more when I knew something was wrong. Your child will benefit from any type of therapy offered to you. Many people cannot get help when doctors won't give a proper diagnosis, so I would just go with this and if after early intervention doctors change their diagnosis of him he will still be better off. Early diagnosis and early intervention iare very important and your child may be to go to to a normal school from receiving this. Good luck and remember - you child is still the same person they were before the diagnosis.

Hi, Welcome to the board. I have to disagree with the implication that Dr.s are too quick to label when it comes to Autism. Alot of times there should be a dx that they didn't give. If they are suggesting your son be evaluated, take them up on it. If he gets a dx it opens the door to more services which will help him progress quicker. The more early services you receive the better for your son in the long run. If it's not Autism, they can always remove the dx later. The best thing you can do for your son is to get as many services as you can while he is still young. My son has a PDD/NOS dx and I find myself often still in denial. He has done so well due to all of the therapy he gets. Some days he seems so typical that I forget he has PDD then there is the reality slap when he has the day or days together where the Autistic tendencies show. It's just the nature of how it goes. Remember, it's not about a label, it's about helping your son reach his full potential. Good Luck and Welcome

I am so glad your son is already in speech therapy. My son did not start until 29 months. The combination of ABA therapy and speech therapy helped my son catch up very quickly.

I also agree that doctors are not to quick to label (at least when it comes to autism). It is not a word that doctors throw around lightly. Your child has to be observed by a team of people or by a neurologist and must meet A LOT OF CRITERIA before they will say it is autism. I always tell people that they should not be concerned about the diagnosis of autism. What you should be concerned about is all the delays that led to the diagnosis. When you get your son diagnosed bring a paper and pencil (they will send you a report so you don't have to if you can't) and write down the things he could not do. That way you can start working on them right away.

After we got the diagnosis my son was able to catch up easily because we knew which areas he needed work in.