'General Hospital' viewers suspect Leo has Autism

Last week on GENERAL HOSPITAL many viewers caught some clues that the ABC soap may be heading down a path where Leo Falconeri is diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum. The young son of Julian Jerome and Olivia Falconeri cut his finger and was taken to the hospital where his stepfather Ned Quartermaine's cousins Dr. Austin Holt cared for him. Leo was quiet and reserved, kept his head down, and did not speak much. Austin asked Olivia and Ned to bring the boy back to see him in a few weeks rather than go to his pediatrician.

Immediately GENERAL HOSPITAL fans began discussing the situation on social media and concluded that Leo might be somewhere on the Autism spectrum. Doctor Holt is seen as an interloper in the Quartermaine home and if he does conclude that Leo is Autistic, there may be problems. Olivia might be in denial and not familiar with this illness. She could brush off her son's quirks and think Austin is pulling some type of scam. There has been no confirmation that the ABC soap is going in this direction but many fans as well as some spoiler alerts agree this is where things might be heading.

Leo is the result of Julian Jerome and Olivia Falconeri sleeping together one New Year's Eve after a night of heavy drinking. When they woke up the next morning neither could believe what had transpired between them. Later Olivia got together with Ned Quartermaine and Julian reunited with Alexis Davis. Because of Julian's mob ties and his ending up in jail for trying to kill Alexis, Ned decided to officially adopt Leo. i.t's not clear why the child does not bear the Quartermaine name but he obviously is going to be front and center now in the Q mansion

Leo is now being portrayed by Easton Rocket Sweda since August 23. The young actor is also a model who is represented by Zuri Agency. Easton's father is Mick Sweda a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, since 1980. Mick owns his record label RedCake, where he records and writes. In addition to REDCAKE he has worked with WARNER RECORDS, CAPITOL RECORDS, and IRON WORKS. Sweda has had hit songs with "Smooth up in Ya', 'Rock Candy', 'For the love of money,' ET Cetera, and Ready to Strike. There is no information available about Easton's mother.

Leo has quite an interesting background that will probably cause him problems as he ages. His biological father was a mobster who was murdered by Sonny Corinthos but his half-brother Dante, also Sonny's son is a police detective. His half-sister Sam was a grifter who was married to the Corinthos enforcer Jason Morgan and now seems interested romantically in Dante. Leo's father was a hated man in Port Charles and his aunt Olivia who never visits the boy is a murderer who is trying to turn her life around.

Recent statistics indicate that 1 in 160 Americans has Autism and 1.8% of US children are on the spectrum. Autism has more than doubled in America during the past decade so kudos to GENERAL HOSPITAL if they are indeed going to tackle this issue. Be on the lookout for spoilers and updates to this intriguing storyline with Leo. It could turn out that Austin might be considered a hero for detecting what is going on with his cousin's adopted son but that may be a long time coming so stay tuned.