Thanks for posting this, Maz... my friend's 2-year-old DS has just been diagnosed as 'severely' autistic (whatever that means) and has been showing all these symptoms and more pretty much since birth (he didn't even want to come out of his mum's belly lol, she went two weeks overdue and the induction failed, he refused to budge so she had a c-sec). The sad thing is that his dad and grandparents flat-out refuse to believe there's anything 'wrong' with him and are forever berating my friend for her 'bad parenting', accusing her of deliberately holding back his development in order to get attention and sympathy for herself. She's the one who has been fighting long and hard to get someone to tell her how to help her little man, and even though her (now ex) partner was with her at the latest doctor's appointment, he still thinks she's somehow at fault and that there's really nothing so odd about him anyway. Even his parents are now in on the act - they're shirty that a diagnosis has said their grandson isn't 'perfect' and are now demanding that my friend give them back his cot, changetable, clothes and toys that they've bought him, etc etc... pair of ****s.
I wish I could print Maz's post out and give it to him, try and get him to wake up to himself and admit that his gorgeous little man needs help, not denial, but obviously it's not my place to stick my nose in. All I can do is support my friend and try to help her as best I can. I don't know what the future holds for them, but I hope he can get the treatment he needs without his father and grandparents interfering because they're 'ashamed' of him.