We are the proud parents of Taylor James (TJ) he is now 3 yrs and 5 months old and was diagnosed with Autism last month by his Paediatrician. He started his life as a 'normal' baby. He cried when he was hungry and needed his bum changing or just simply wanted a cuddle. He loved baths and was always bright and cheerful. Even while he was teething he was still very good. He slept right through the night from being around a week old and very rarely had us up in the night except for feeds. All the children chipped in and helped out with him. Josh especially and fortunately for us Taylor took to Josh very well and sort of looked on him as a mummy figure!! As he got older he used to cry for Josh. We'd go to him and he would still cry, as soon a she saw Josh he'd stop and smile at him. It was nice as Josh didn't mind spending time with him and it gave us a break for half hour but it did make it awkward when he had to go back to his moms until weekend.

Taylor was a little late at sitting up and crawling but he was a healthy bright child. If ever u felt sad or upset all you'd need to do was look at him and his smile would melt you immediately. (I find it hard t shout at him even now when he's been naughty because of his dark eyes and eyelashes and his lovable smile) He loved it in his baby walker, he started off going backwards like all children do but he spent most of his time jumping up and down in it and not really moving (although he could). He sat up at around 5/6 months (a month or 2 late) he crawled, well to be honest he never really crawled he slithered!! He'd sit on the floor then roll over onto his belly and pull himself along the floor with his elbows. (he rolled over at around same time as he sat up) anyway he was about 7 month old (i got told around 2/3 month late) but no concerns were ever expressed by health officials, they just said it was normal for boys to be 'lazy' so nothing seemed wrong. Around the age of 12/18months old he started eating paper as most children do and we found it a little amusing at first. At the same time he developed an obsession with his hands and face being clean. The slightest thing on his fingers or hand and he's go insane, same with his face. If he sneezed he'd wretch and almost be sick, if he dribbled a little he'd scream to wipe his mouth/chin. After every mouthful of food he'd want his hands and face wiping and he always wanted his high chair tray clean. After every spoonful of food he'd make us wipe the tray as well as him and also his spoon or fork had to be wiped too. This got a little unnerving for me to watch, he got aggressive if he found even 1 tiny crumb on his tray and he'd throw things around the room and have a tantrum and hit me if i didn't wipe it straight away. It raised concern so i took him to see the health visitor and i said "the way he's acting i think he might have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)" they laughed at me and said he was far too young to obsess about anything and was just a 'fussy' child. -Reading that, do YOU think he sounded like a 'fussy' child or would you be concerned too?- Not very long after that his obsession subsided but didn't fully go away.

I think he just got used to it and learnt to tolerate it more. (he still goes mad sometimes even now if his hands are dirty, and he hates having a snotty nose still. He'll cry if you don't wipe it when he asks even if there's nothing there) He started with a new obsession - EATING wood, not just chewing on it and spitting it out, he was biting chunks of wood out of the door frames, cupboard doors, stairs, wardrobe anything wood and he was chewing it like a stick of rock then swallowing it and actually digesting it. I freaked when i discovered this new 'obsession' and straight back to doctors. Once again he was 'normal' and it was due to a Mineral Deficiency. Multi Vits and Minerals were bought and didn't work. That 'obsession' went on for almost 6 months then it stopped to our relief. BUT..obsession no 2 followed, eating his bedroom wall. He somehow managed to dig a hold in his bedroom wall and was caught eating wall dust like it was that powdered sugar u dip lollies into. I couldn't believe it. We plastered his wall and he stopped, thank goodness. BUT...obsession no 3 arose. Eating sand. he still does to a certain extent but not as much as he did, he would get a handful and put the whole lot in his mouth and crunch then swallow. Obsession 4 ran along side obsession 3 and that one was mud from the garden during the summer time. I told his health visitor/behavioural psychologist/doctor and everyone i can think of and they said it's 'normal'. A little more than a year ago they finally stopped referring to him as 'normal' and decided something WAS indeed wrong. He would NOT in any way, shape or form co-operate during his 2yr development check up. He had 4 attempts at co-operating but still to no success so they referred him to a paediatrician who after a session referred him to a place called Holly House CDC (Child Development Centre).

I didn't think that they'd get anywhere with him but they were a great help and have been brilliant. They spent almost 7 months assessing him in different areas and different ways and always kept us up to date on what they thought could be the cause or problem. They mentioned Autism right from the start which made us suspicious, although we had already wondered ourselves before he was referred to Holly House. Silly things he'd do like lie on the floor and watch the wheels go round on his cars and when he was stacking things he'd have to have them in a perfectly straight line or he'd knock them all down and start again but i was still swayed to OCD more than Autism although i had thought about it. They finally diagnosed him as Autistic last month at a progress assessment with his paediatrician and she arranged a final assessment meeting. His meeting was almost 2 weeks ago now and we got the final Discharge and Diagnosis Report through yesterday afternoon. It was like being told all over again for the first time and i cried. Seeing it on paper kind of made it final, now it's on paper there's no going back and it's finally official. Now I'm looking on the bright side and thinking of ways in which that piece of paper can help our son and us to gain extra support and help we so desperately need and I'm going to use it to it's full extent!!!