Autism Doesn't Happen To Us

If you had said the word 'Autism' to me several years ago - the first thing I would have thought was a person incapable of looking after themselves and rocking in a corner. I was ignorant in my understanding of autism, I had none to be fair. Then along came my middle child. A happy baby with obvious delays. At between 8-10 months he finally began rolling over. He walked at 15 months old, a month after his little sister was born, but he was very advanced at the same time. Before he was 2 he could count, and name all the shapes up to hexagons. When we started potty training it was obvious it wasn't going to be easy, he appeared to be scared to poop, we visited the doctors regularly begging for help. Their answer was to keep prescribing medication to make it softer and therefore easier to go.  I knew this wasn't the answer. He started nursery and they quickly noticed something wasn't quite right. They asked about his eye rolling, his socialisation (or lack of), and many other things. We laughed it off. It was just who he is. I went home and out of interest googled the things we'd been asked and the same thing appeared in every search result - Autism. But how? Our child doesn't have autism. How is that possible? I did my research, lots of it, and he was referred to the educational psychologist in our area, who would be 'absolutely astonished' if they were not to diagnose him on the spectrum. I believe had he been diagnosed when first referred in 2010/2011 he would have been diagnosed as fairly severely autistic - when his 'symptoms' were at their worst. I also think his gastro toileting problems played a big part in them.  I followed my intuition and stopped with the meds and we went straight back to square one. We introduced him slowly to the toilet,  then to sitting on it, and took each little step one step at a time. I spent many many hours sat on the toilet floor just trying to get him to sit there for a few seconds. There were times I just wanted to run away. But I look now and cannot believe the difference. He is a changed child. He has friends, he socialises and plays. I can see some imagination shining through. I never imagined this would be the case a few years ago. Its taken a lot of time and determination from ourselves and school, I don't believe medication is always the way forward. We get the formal diagnosis anytime now, though probably autumn now. It won't change my child, but knowing and having answers certainly changed my outlook and has made me less ignorant. <3