3 yr old son diagnosed

I am so glad i found this forum. So many of the stories sound familiar which is a huge relief.

My son is 3.5 yrs and has always been young for his years but is such a sweetheart it didn't seem to be a problem until he hit 3. As with other he has symptoms that could be attributed to autism however his affectionate nature and interest in people made me fight against this diagnosis.

He has just started an early intervention program which involves one-on-one sessions & small groups with an early childhood teacher & a speech pathologist. As his case has been diagnosed as severe (though i am reluctant to believe that at the moment!) his preschool will get an extra teacher's aide to work with him next year. We are very lucky as all this help is govt sponsored in Australia.

Would love if people on this board could post regular updates on progress / frustrations etc so we don't all feel like we are battling alone.

We are not expecting our son to be an over achiever academically but just hope to see him functioning at about a normal level before he is at an age where is aware of his differences.

out of curiosity, does your son speak at all? What are his symptoms/diagnostic criteria?