His favourite magazine was Cosmo - he seemed to prefer the feel of the paper and then there was the added sensory treat of the peel back perfume samples and beauty cream samples! We indulged this for a while by putting Cosmo on subscription for one of his birthdays!
Is he Autistic?
Now if I had a pound for everytime I've answered that question I'd be living in a luxury villa on an exotic island!
Early on some people queried his eye contact. And then, of course, he did not develop speech at the usual time. Add in that he liked to flap the pages of books or magazines and often made a lot of noise and you could see why everyone felt the urge to ask.
My usual response was no he has cerebral palsy and his development is delayed. No "experts" raised the question until he started school.
Then his teacher felt he could have aspergers as he suddenly found his voice, went from being non-verbal to talking in short sentences and reading words aloud. His school was served by a different health authority to ours and they were prepared to diagnose him and support the school's view that they were not the right place for him.
I challenged this strongly. Was I in dennial - maybe. Or was I following my instinct. Then and now I maintain he displays some autistic behaviours. In some ways I feel the HECW2 diagnosis justifies my view.
Later on in his education the question came up again following a period of challenging behaviour. He was diagnosed by a team at Guys who also challenged the cerebral palsy diagnosis.
I accepted the autism label at this time and it helped others to understand him. It also helped us get a Post 16 education provision for him.