My granddaughter when born would not latch on to feed. The nurses thought my daughter ouldnt do it. But I am the oldest of 5 children and the mother of 2. I could see very clearly it was to do with my new born granddaughter. She was trying to latch but couldn’t. She was indeed on the spectrum and it took us till she was about 3 or 4 before diagnosed. She didn’t answer to her name for about 3 years. Her reading skills and understanding of colours, numbers, and shapes was astounding for her young age. But her communication skills were behind what they should be. She still struggles and has difficulty concentrating. But she is smart and also quite affectionate so that is good. She knows she has autism and hopefully that will explain some things to her. She was only at school 4 months and came home saying she wished she was like everyone else. I tried to appease her by saying everyone was different - just look at their eyes and faces, no one is the same. She was silent for about 1/2 a minute then said ‘ but I’m different to them’. She was only 5 - I could have cried, just hugged her but couldn’t speak, it was very upsetting.
