Sorry this may jump about a bit (and be a bit long!) but I'm looking for a little guidance on whether my concerns are neurosis or have some basis.
My DS1 is 7 and has always been a lovely, quite sensitive boy. He's not in any way boistrous or destructive, but can be careless very easily distracted.
So far all seems fairly normal, but there are other traits which are starting to get me concered.
The most obvious is his reading. His reading age is about 9.4 so above his actual age but this is based on reading a progressively harder list of words, and he's fairly good at this. However, when reading aloud or trying to concentrate on a book he simply can't do it. He can't get passed one sentence without losing his concentration / losing his place. He repeats lines not seeming to realise he is doing it and is constantly figeting and moving around. He also takes big gasps of air and makes noises that he doesnt seem aware of when trying to concentrate. He gets himself so worked up about it.
I've already been to the Gp with him a year ago as he's always had a series of tics that have ranged from excessive blinking to shrugging, making noises etc... The current one is licking the tips of his fingers. The GP didn't think it was tourettes as we can say to DS "dont do it for a minute" and he can control it when focussed on stopping. But he is seemingly unaware that he does it the rest of the time.
He also makes very silly mistakes in things like maths... I can ask him a question (i.e 10-5) and he'll sometimes struggle ot somtimes know it straight away. If struggling, i'll help him with the answer. But if I ask it again 30 seconds later he can't do it. I know this is getting hard to describe but its like he's not registering the question. His eyes are always moving around and he's just not concentrating at all.
I mentioned it to his teacher in Y2 and she said to just ease off on the reading at home. But he's now started year 3 of primary and we can't always not do the homework - I'd hate for him to fall behind. She did also say that he struggles to finish his work unless someone is right on his shoulder keeping his attention on his work and even then he deviates. Obviously this is not practical in a class of 30.
As he is quiet and not disruptive at all, I worry some of his difficulties are being over-looked.
Any thoughts or experience would be appreciated. I find myself getting cross with him when doing homework and can't tell if he's just being difficult or if he really does have issues.
Thanks!
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Behaviour/development
Inattentive ADHD or within spectrum of normal
Chooster · 23/08/2011 21:49
ds1 is 9 and doesn't finish work unless someone sits on his shoulder. and sometimes not even then.
he has some weird sensory issues but no specific tics. docs have suggested asd spectrum somewhere, odd, adhd, and a few other randoms, but nothing really fits tbh. he's just... ds1. if he's motivated, he's on fire and nothing can stop him - way above average on all counts. but nothing doing for the majority of the time in class. every teacher he's ever said has commented on how clever he is, but how difficult it is to engage him (as in, hold his attention) - he's not disruptive, no behaviour issues, quiet in school, so no real imperative for the education system to do much other than let him get on with it really. he's going into y5 and i'm frankly terrified. he does basically no work at school at all, but because he's capable of it, they seem to totally let him off.
ach. anyway, no real advice, but i share your pain. ds1 has some continenece issues too. this is the only thing the paed is interested in, really, and only because i'm pushing it...
food mainly. he eats in a really weird way, has to wrap his hand around the food so it's completely touching. used to always touch/ wipe/ tap his face/ cheeks with the food too, but we seem to have had had less of that in the last year (not sure if constant nagging or just maturity). he'd sit with a piece of cucumber and sort of stroke his face with it before eating it... was really resistant to cutlery - would attempt to eat everything with fingers. still does sometimes. he doesn't have any fine motor issues, but is a bit ambidextrous (so no idea if that was complicating factor). tricky to separate it all out really!
he's as stubborn as the day is long, though. but only at home.
homework hasn't been too much of an issue because they haven't had much. he's had two teachers in a row that don't believe in hw. (!) the year before that was a nightmare though. he just wouldn't do it. i suspect he's about to have a huge shock to his system as he starts middle school here, and there won't be any of that namby pamby no hw stuff going on.
we've got a paed appt next week actually (we just moved so completely new team) so we'll see what they say. it's really to discuss continence, but the rest of it will obv come up, and i suspect is all interlinked anyway.
he's capable of some great stuff, it's tricky. he won the science fair thingy at school last year with an experiment on displacement , but only because it was a magic trick he learnt at christmas and was desperate to show everyone. he did nothing at all for his project until the night before, and i literally had to force him to get on with it then. he picked up the concept reallt quickly, and could talk to everyone about the science aspects (they do a fair thing) but to get him to put anything on paper for his display boards was like wading in treacle...
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