Not quite right... the smaller boy edition.

I have a happy, cuddly and beautiful two year old son. Rapidly approaching three actually.

For a while now we've felt something was not quite right. His speech has not developed as you would expect. He has probably 50 or so words, and will speak in sentences but 95% of it is gobbledygook. He can parrot new words, but doesn't tend to use them. The words he does use often take a while to decipher, which frustrates him a lot when he wants something.

He is the third child. I know full well speech delay is not unusual in kids with older siblings (who do everything for them). I know it's not all that uncommon in boys either. I know.

But something just doesn't feel right.

I took him for his hearing test this morning. We were convinced that the answer would lie there, given his non-response to lots of aural cues.

He had an epic meltdown when the tester showed him the earphones. I'm talking hair pulling, headbanging, screaming and hitting. We decided not to use the.

I engaged him in a game and as the tones were played he was rewarded for his response by this (kinda creepy) dancing elephant thingy in a glass box. Yes, it was as weird as it sounds. He responded perfectly to all the tones, even ones I found nearly impossible to hear.

Then she needed to put a thingo in his ear to check for middle ear damage. Cue meltdown again. He does not tolerate people touching his ears. Not us, not anyone. In the end I had to pin him against me and squeeze him still. He was freaking out. It was not fun.

But it showed everything to be normal there too.

So he's been referred for speech pathology (9 month waiting list. Awesome). And then the guy came in and suggested if he's still having these meltdowns and struggling with language when he's three we should consider a Paed referral to assess for an austism spectrum disorder, as he displays a few markers.

This isn't the first time it's been suggested that he may have high functioning Aspergers or similar. But usually I'm hearing it from people who have no clues.

I really feel that that's not it to be honest. I've worked with (older) Aspie kids and I see my boy's emotional responsiveness and other behaviours and it doesn't sit quite right with me. But I do feel like something is amiss. Not just the speech, but the meltdowns which are relatively new, increasing in frequency and intensity, and nothing like his 'normal' toddler tantrums. The best analogy I can think of is that if you think of a tantrum as a nightmare, these meltdowns are like night terrors. It's like I'm not even there as I try to hold or soothe him. He looks straight through me. And then it ends as abruptly as it started, like he's just woken up. But they happen when he's awake, and seemingly for no reason.

Don't know. I don't want to trouble trouble. I'd love it if he just clicked one day soon and started speaking and grew out of the meltdowns and it was all just one of those developmental things. And maybe he will. I can only hope. But in the meantime I now have more questions than I started with.

Parenting. Again, never boring.