Hi. I can comment on the autism piece. My son was diagnosed with autism through a developmental pediatrician. They performed the ADOS on him. If it is something that you're concerned about, it's good to get that test done, and then you'll know one way or the other. My son is 7, and gets speech therapy at school through an IEP (although only for speech articulation). And he gets 12 hrs of ABA therapy a week at home. Right now, they are working on how to have a phone conversation, and also working through a program called Super Flex. They talk about different villians, like Rock Brain (when you have rigid thinking), and then how to defeat them. They do a lot of work with him on identifying emotions, how to communicate effectively, etc. He presents very mildly, so someone that meets him for the first time would just think he's shy. He doesn't have a lot of empathy, and conversations are very one sided (he'll talk at you about a topic he's interested in, but does not ask questions of others). His social deficits sound similar to your son. I would recommend having the ADOS done if autism is something that you're concerned about.
