Hi Scrumpee!
My son's 3 going 4 next march. He plays catching. He also plays hide and seek. Might be wrong but don't think the ability to play these games are accurate indicators of Autism cos they can be taught or conditioned to play. Also, at 2, most kids (including "normal" kids) don't really play with their peers. They tend to parallel play.
Don't beat yourself up over the label "Autism". As Tam
mentioned, kids with Autism are sincere and honest, and I
think really lovable cos of their innocence. Once the speech
improves, other problems are likely to iron themselves out. At
21 months, there's lots you can still do to help your kid catch
up and also a lot of time and opportunity for him to improve.
I've seen a couple of autistic kids who make it in mainstream
(when I used to teach in a "branded" secondary school). So
it's not necessarily the end of the world. The kids who fit in
best are those whose parents are open about their disabilities
and accept them for who they are. So, the best thing we can
do is to have acceptance, love and faith. There are days
when I feel like there's no hope but need to remember that if as parents, we give up then how can anyone else help our
kids.
There are great things about Autistic kids, apart from their
innocence. Most of them have an area that they are
exceptionally great at. Look for that and work on it. Many also
have great memories so you'd find that they can start
recognizing letters n numbers n words earlier than their
peers. They are also mainly predictable, so are easier to
handle once u get used to their pattern. Best thing, for me,
now that my boy is finally talking, I know that when he tells
me he loves me, he really does cos Auristic kids mostly don't know how to lie or manipulate! So, try to enjoy your kid as much as u possibly can.