[evettes]

My child is about to turn 3 in January and only says a couple of words. When he turned 2 he wasn't saying any words so I enrolled him into full-time childcare hoping it would help, he has since learnt about a dozen words including the word mom. He has had hearing tests which have been normal and now being assessed at the Child Development Centre. He squeezes his hands together all the time and has been doing this since 3 -4 months old and still does it every 30 minutes or so. He is an affectionate little mommy's boy, and from the time he was born he was always a calm baby who never cried and would lie awake in his crib and just looked around the room until he fell asleep.
I noticed he wasn't jumping until nearly 2 and a half and he has no interest in bikes, drawing, music and dance.
He was an incredibly shy boy but with childcare and constant analysing by specialists, and have many people live in our home, it has taught him not to be so shy.
He loves to watch movies, play with cars and balls, and knows every shop (lollies) and playground on the 10 minute drive to childcare even if we have never been there, so he doesn't miss a trick.
When he was a little baby he wasn't drinking enough of my milk and refused other milk except goats milk and the family doctor and I came to the conclusion he had milk allergies, which he doesn't seem to have any more. His weight loss or lack of gain was become serious at that time.
When he was born he was overdue by nearly 2 weeks and it was a 3-4 hour labour and had the cord wrapped around he neck 2 times and needed a little oxygen to get him breathing for about 2-5 minutes.
I have been told by the specialists that he doesn't have autism because he is too social and has very expressive jargon when talking and understands the difference between people and objects.
I hear other people with the same problem but its never diagnosed, so what could this be??

[evettes]

To add to this, he hates loud noises, even when I laugh he bursts into tears.

[artlady]

I am providing a link for you that I think may fit some of your child's behavior and speech delay and also address his fear of loud noise.I hope you find it helpful.
Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation | Research, Education and Advocacy

[rosemcs]

There should be a Regional Center in your area that can provide you with local referrals for specialists in this area. They can also enable you to find other parents that have this same issue. Depending on insurance, it may or may not be covered.

Sometimes the Regional Center can send out a person to assess your child to see if they qualify for a service. Your pediatrician should be able to help you obtain this information and send in a referral to them for their assessment.