WWYD? Autistic Neighbour
Hi there,
I live in an apartment building with my flatmate and I have lived here for just over a year and my flatmate has lived here for around 3 years.
We have a family above us; mum, dad and 2 boys. From what me and my flatmate have seen and heard, we’ve assumed the youngest child has severe autism due to the fact he doesn’t speak and only make loud humming noises, sometimes it sounds quite distressing. He also always stomps or bangs on the floor or the stairwell railing and railing outside the french windows our building has, consistently everyday. The family has never told us if he is autistic so we are just assuming due to these things.
He gets taken to, what we have assumed, is some sort of school but it’s occasionally, never everyday but other than that he is never out of the flat and it sounds like he is always in the same room.
A few weeks ago, we heard the mother and older boy having a very loud argument. He was saying things along the lines of hating her and him leaving and her being the reason for that but it was very loud and heated.
Both me and my flatmate have gone up on different occasions about the noise. When I went up, the older son was outside in the hallway and I ended up talking to him since neither parents came to the door. When my flatmate went up, the mother talked to her and immediately got very defensive and was saying my flatmate was accusing her of things when all my flatmate asked was just if there was anything that could be done about the noise.
Taking all these things into consideration (the kid always being stuck at home, the constant stomping (which i believe is him stimming which i read is caused by stress or fear), the mum being very defensive and then the recent arguments) I’ve considered possibly calling about getting a welfare check sent to the flat as I’ve been getting slightly concerned about the whole situation however thought it would be best to get some other opinions as neither me nor my flatmate have any experience with autism.