Jonathan is a busy 2 year old, who spends most of his days at home with this mother and 4 year old sister. He has been recently diagnosed with autism by his pediatrician. Jonathan's mother has been researching autism on the internet. His father has stated several times that he will be fine. He just needs to go to school. Jonathan's family spends much of their day in the play room or out in the back yard. When he is in the backyard, he easily wanders away with no awareness of safety and will not respond when warned by his mother of boundaries or dangers. When Jonathan's mother calls his name, he never turns in her direction unless she speaks in a loud "squeaky" voice that seems to catch his attention. .
He resists diaper changes and having his hand held to walk to the car, which makes interactions during this daily routine very challenging for his family. Jonathan's mother does not take him to public places as he often cries and has a tantrum when in the community unless it is a park. She often gets emotional when talking about such events that have occurred in public. He will scream if his sister gets too close to him but will go to his mother for comfort, by sitting in her lap for a moment or playing with her hair.
Jonathan has an average diet and seems to prefer foods that are crunchy, but his mother is not concerned about his diet. He drinks from a straw "sippy" cup and will occasionally pull his mother by the hand to the refrigerator when his cup is empty to indicate that he needs more juice. He never requests food, though, unless he sees someone eating and will then help himself. Jonathan enjoys being chased around the room by his mom or dad and will get very excited during this game. He likes swinging in his toddler swing outside and could swing for hours, according to his mom. Chasing and swinging often end in Jonathan having a tantrum and becoming aggressive as he is either unable to calm himself down from the excitement and/or is unhappy that the activity is ending.
