AntsMommy

Hi I'm new to the Forum. My son is 4 years, 3 months old. He has recently been diagnosed with:

"High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder (possibly Asperger's Syndrome)"

The doctor originally said Very High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

At the age on 1 1/2 he count count from 1-10 and recognized the word "Book" and "Word" anywhere he saw it. He would say "B.O.O.K book" and the same thing for word. He has always loved books. He could point at pictures and say what they were.
At the age of 2, he learned the Alphabet letters and phonics in less than a week. He new the basic shapes and colors. His was saying a few words and seem to be pretty much on track with his milestones. Some milestones he seemed to exceed. He used to say small sentences, "I want water", "I want an apple", etc.

Since we lived in an apartment. We had problems with our neighbor downstairs. I didn't allow him to run around or scream. In other words I didn't allow him to be himself while being in the apartment. I was going to college and was depressed since pregnancy. I feel that as I was going to school it affected him. He used to hate when I dropped him off at my mom's house. I noticed that from that time he stopped talking.
After I graduated college, my counselor advised for me take some time off and take care of my number 1 priority (my son).

At the age of 3, I noticed that he wasn't talking like other children. He was saying 1 word sentences. By 3 1/2 he was saying 2-4. He was trying to speak the way he thought I want it to hear it. Now that he is 4 he is speaking anywhere from 2-7 word sentences. He can read books and spell words. He started spelling before reading. His favorite books are Dr. Seuss. When he sees words he has never seen before he phonetically reads them. He can count from 0-100 and after that he knows what 200, 300, 400... is. He asks questions, making me know he wants me to ask him that question. For example: "Where do you want to go Mama?"
He knows the model of every car that drives by and every sign he sees while we are driving. Recently he received a Bear (stuffed animal) for Christmas from his teachers. He named him Anthony Bear. He has personalized his Bear and seem to be his friend. Age: 8, Favorite Shape: Pentagon, Favorite color: Purple, Favorite vitamin: Grape. etc. The bear likes different things than him.
His speech therapist is amazed by him. She has mention that word gifted and calls him Little Einstein.

Well that's the positive. Now for the negative (the things he doesn't like): anything the vibrates, bare-feet and TV cartoons.
Is afraid of: the bathroom at school, a specific dancing Santa, some images of sponge bob. He doesn't seem to understand some concepts. Used to echo almost everything that was said to him. Once in a blue moon he throws a tantrum. He is not very strong and he doesn't run fast. He can't jump more than 4 inches off the ground. And sometimes he misses words in his sentences. A kid at his school called him "Anthony loser", instead of feeling hurt he started laughing. I don't think he understands that is not a nice word. My husband and I don't curse, so he hasn't heard any bad words.

Sorry for the long post. I wanted to know if anybody is going through something similar.