* When I would take him to see the Naturopathic Doctor, he would sit the whole time opening and closing her cabinets over and over. Everyone thought it was cute and made jokes about what a great toy that was for him.
* Matthew started flapping his arms and making a grimace face. I was wondering if he was in pain. People around me would say that he was excited. It was concerning me!
* He would take a bunch of toys and line them up when he was playing. Matthew had a pattern for his line up and got upset if we would move anything out of order!
* He enjoyed putting things on his head. We have many pictures of him with a washcloth or dish towel on his head. Something about this was comforting to him. He would walk around and play with it on his head.
* Matthew did not like touching anything that was soft, gooey and messy.
* Due to no language yet, there was a lot of screaming and running at times. I chased him down in parking lots and playgrounds many times. We left many restaurants with him screaming. We got to the point where we did not go out much at all. The meltdowns were unpredictable and we weren't sure what would set him off.
During all this I was starting to wonder what is going on with my child. With my Education background I knew something was not right. The Family Doctor told us every child develops at their own pace and that he was fine. We left that practice and went to a Pediatrician. At his two year well check up the Pediatrician was concerned because he did not have very much language. Maybe five words. She said lets give him six months and if he still doesn't develop more language she would do a referral for a speech evaluation.
The journey to a diagnosis is just beginning!
