I have a 3 1/2 year old son who has some eccentricities. As a baby, he never seemed very attached to me. He didn't smile much and wasn't interestd in social interaction with me or my husband or his nanny. The only person he really showed affection to was his grandma, but to the degree where he seemed completely obsessed with her. I really started to worry when he still didn't point at objects of interest and only spoke 4 or 5 words by the time he was 2. I contacted the Regional Center (in California) and started him on speech therapy. The therapist told me, although she's not qualified to diagnose Autism, that he doesn't seem to display signs of Autism. So we continued on with his speech therapy only. After 1 year he made significant progress with speech and was re-evaluated by a different therapist who again assured me that my son does not have Autism and he no longer needs speech therapy. Now he's 3 1/2 and he socializes well with his family, has a sense of humor, able to use similes (moon is like banana, pear is like leaf...etc), able to read and react appropriately to facial expressions, but still mildly delayed in speech. Though I don't notice strange behaviors as much (maybe I grew accustomed to it) I am still concerned due to the folllowing behaviors. He does occasional hand flapping whe he's excited (he did it on a daily basis until 2) and covers his ears when the room gets too loud. He rarely looks strangers in the eyes or say "hi" to them until I ask him to (but he is fine with his family and friends). He's not particularly attached to his preschool teacher of 1 year. He's a very picky eater and doesn't like to have his routine disturbed. And he doesn't pay attention to the teacher during story time or when given instructions. Socially he's normal around his family, but is very shy around people who are not his family. So I have reasons to believe maybe there is something to these behaviors, but his preschool teacher who studied Autism in school and has worked with Autistic kids in the past assured me AGAIN that he definitely does not have Autism. Autistic behaviors are definitely waning as he gets older, but he still displays these abnormal behaviors that make me wonder. I'm debating if I should take him to yet another therapist. Honestly, I'm too scared of the diagnosis to get another opinion...