Several people have recently reached out to me about my two-year-old son's speech delay because they suspect their child may be having the same delay. The question always gets asked, what causes it. Honestly, there are a number of reasons behind our little late bloomers speech delay but there a big chance his is Autism related.
Several professionals that have worked with my son and confirmed my suspicions that my son may fall on the Autism Spectrum. Understand there is a long journey to the final diagnoses but that hasn't stopped me from making moves.
Whenever I explain our journey to people, mainly mothers, this look of terror comes across their face or the pitty-girl-I'm-sorry look happens. First, understand my son is perfectly fine and functional he just perceives the world differently. I take no offense when I get these looks because when I first speculated he could be autistic (Mommie intuition) I was sad because I want him to be smart. He IS smart though, he comprehends complicated activities quickly and does them with ease. Sometimes he functions more like a four-year-old instead of two. There are children who are mentally impaired on the spectrum but my son's impairment is socialized. Play is work like literally, he has to intentionally work hard to actually play because he will always socialize differently from other kids.
Autism is now referred to as a spectrum because no two individual will function a like! There are different levels different coping mechanisms, my son flaps his hands kinda like a chicken flaps it's wings when he get's excited. Different levels of sensory issues, sitting in church is a no go because the music is too overwhelming for my son. The list is endless but I think you get the idea, they're different from their peer group but just like them in the same sense that kids on the spectrum are different from each other are just like each other.
If you worry that your child or relative on the spectrum may not be smart let me inform you Albert Einstein was on the autism spectrum.
If you're still having trouble understanding here is a video from Amazing Things Happen with a pretty cool explanation.