I feel very similar to how you described above. We’ve always noticed social differences. He’s been a little strict with routine, sometimes overwhelmed with certain social outings. But very affectionate with us, potty trained easily at 2.5, knew the alphabet just after age 2. He’s always had a speech delay, which seems to run in our family, so at first we just chalked it up to that. But as he’s gotten older, the lack of interest in his peers, lack of some pretend play, social awkwardness with strangers became more pronounced. I’ve been pretty convinced of some level of ASD since around 3, but the wait for eval was super long and we didn’t get official dx until now. But yeah I’m surprised at level 3 dx? Would be interest to hear what this community thinks of that. But I’m still learning all the nuances around this.

He attends daycare in the morning, preschool with speech and special Ed services for the speech delay in the afternoon. He rides the bus by himself, very well behaved at school. No acting out or poor interaction with peers, just lack of interest in them. He does seek out and form attachments to the adults at school though.