Is anyone willing to 'hazard a guess' at what DS's issue might be?

[Welovehamsters]

DS is 2 years 7 months. We have been 'struggling' for want of a better word since he was about one. At Xmas I felt I was becoming unable to cope adequately and contacted the HV's. For various reasons his formal assessment with HV only happened last week and she is referring him on to paediatricians for further assessment. She said whilst he is developmentally within all normal ranges, there are some other behaviours/clues that her experience tells her may indicate that he has some type of issue.

Main issues are

Night terrors- DS has been having severe, long night terrors since about age one. These took the form of him waking virtually every night between 1.5 and 3 hours after falling asleep, screaming, thrashing about (to the point of actually physically harming himself if we did not put padding etc around him). Totally unrousable and lasting up to one hour. These much less in the last few months but still a problem. More night mares now!

Sensory issues- ds hypersensitive to sound, unable to 'continue' wih what he is doing if he hears a noise that's out of pace or /unusual to him, asks 'what's that noise constantly, sometimes 20/30 times an hour if the situation arises! Very sensitive to new or slightly 'alien' feeling clothes, is its taken me 3months to get him into a new pair of shoes, he is nearly grown out of them! Also will only tolerate tepid baths.

Eats his nappies!!! Not the contents thank goodness but constantly picks at the nappy and eats it (sometimes causing gagging)

Physical aggression, this peaks at Xmas where he was constantly hitting, biting, kicking everyone and anyone, including the other children at nursery, hence was commend on a behaviour plan. Will still bite if he gets over excited now.

Very very 'accident prone'. I am literally a bag of nerves ( have had to rest to anxiety mess lately!) over the frequency of his accidents, been to a and e three times in th last year plus tens of near misses, he just falls over his feet or disregards things like doors being in his way if he is in a hurry.

These are the main problems but now I have written it all down I can appreciate that maybe each thing on its own seems quite insignificant but I would really appreciate if anyone has a child who is similar or knows about SN's I would be very grateful. The DN did seem t indicate that she didn't think he had autism (she didn't say it but implied it several times) this is because he seems very switched on socially and responds to social cues and that type of thing.

If anyone has any thoughts I would be very interested and grateful as I am quite anxious about what the paediatrician might come up with.

Many Thanks

[willitbe]

I would not hazard any guesses, but I think that an occupational therapist assessment would be an important start. I hope you get answers soon.

[EllenJanesthickerknickers]

His sensory issues sound problematic. A referral to an OT who specialises in sensory processing disorder might be really useful. Agree with book recommendation from poltergoose. Couldn't comment about ASD from your description, but my DS does have ASD and part of his problems include sensory seeking behaviour and dyspraxic type issues. He fell over at least 4 times a day when younger and had a high pain threshold, but could also fuss over small injuries. He also suffered from night terrors but not as extreme as your DS.

[Emily7708]

Hi Hamsters. Does your DS have milk before going to bed? The reason I ask is because my DS had the exact same night terrors and clumsiness which began around age one, which was the age he switched from formula to cows milk. We removed dairy from his diet and the night terrors stopped within three days, they were actually just him waking in agony from the milk intolerance. The accidents and clumsiness also stopped shortly afterwards, and I can only assume that the disturbed sleep was affecting his balance etc.

Hope you get your answers soon. xx