For a while now I've wondered and worried about DS's behaviour and attitude towards things.
For reference, DS is 7 but is 140cm or there abouts, roughly 4ft 6/7 but weighs 7 stone despite us completely limiting his junk food, having healthy balanced diets and encouraging exercise. He has always been on the 99.99th centile for height and weight, never fallen.
Ever since I can remember he has been above average intellectually (this is important I promise). He walked and talked early, is ahead in school, enjoys reading and maths, is very analytical and has rarely put up with "baby nonsense"/role play (his words, for example in nursery he refused to participate in a game where a child wantes him to pretend to be a fire engine because he wasn't and couldn't understand why you would pretend to be one).
However, the flip side of that is slight quirks of his. He has fixated on hair and shoes for a long time. He will wear one pair of shoes until they die a death and then he will have a tantrum that has no end until we find another suitable pair. All shoes must be velcro, no laces allowed and if you try to make him wear lace shoes god help you. His hair can never be touched, never have any product in it and if a barber does put product in it he kicks off big time. If his hair sticks up he throws a major tantrum, think world ending, and he will not leave the house.
Both the shoes and hair issues have causes enormous problems with getting ready.
More recently, the past 3-4 years, he has stopped wearing any trousers that are not jogging bottoms. We even had to source jogging bottoms that looked like jeans for a more formal setting. He point blank refuses to get dressed otherwise.
He has had an obsession with hair and gymnastics for as long as I can remember. He will try to do your hair constantly and doesn't seem to understand when someone has had enough. He fixated on gymnastics and certain gymnasts for a year before we entertained lessons. He now does it religiously around the house.
As a child he found it difficult to understans social cues and norms. He once told a girl at nursery her dog wouls die soon as it was old, after she told him it was 7. He didn't understand why he was in trouble because what he said was factually correct. This type of lack of social awareness has grown and manifested itself in to him being quite critical/open avout appearances of others, his feelings towards others and so on. He cannot seem to see that this is hurtful, and he doesn't do it intentionally.
Progressivly his behaviour has been worsening, with more outbursts. He lies about silly things or things you have seen him do, he picks at the skin around his fingwrs subconsciously, throws temper tantrums, screams and shouts, lies on floors and refuses to get up, covers his ears to block out sound and can become quote aggressive. This has become more frequent and small things will set him off - getting ready in the wrong order; being told to wear a jacket when it is sunny because he cannot understand it might not be warm etc. He also has a habit of forcing himselg to be sick when crying to make matters worse and/or get his point across.
His interactions with other people can also be strained and, at times, different. He has a small handful of close friends, but finds it hard to interact and play with other children. He finds it hard to integrate himself with others and will remain alone until someone speaks to him and so on.
I've also posted before about his issues sleeping and a few posters mentioned their asd children having similar issues. I won't go in to too much depth but the thread should be in my posting history.
In the past a few people have indicated high functioning autism or aspergers syndrome but I've brushed it off. However today we attended a dental appointment whereby he received bad news and he went in to complete overdrive. He refused to listen, became hysterical, threw a hanky at the dentist, covered his ears and tried to run away. Eventaully she suggested we have a pre-visit to the hospital and wanted to arrange play therapy beforehand to make things easier for him to understand due to his needs. When I questioned her she assumed the same as others.
I'm now starting to wonder whether people may be on to something. I'm not excusing his bad behaviour, but the more I read on the subject the more he seems to fit some of the boxes. My only issue is that he doesn't act this way in school, aside from the shoes/clothing/friends and socialising. There are no outbursts.
Wibu to speak to a gp about this and take matters further? Am I barking up the wrong tree completely? Does he sound similar to anyone else's dc with a similar condition?