Observation at school today

[Rainbowscarf]

There was an observation on my son’s tapestry app today. He’s 4.5 years old.

He’s not got a diagnosis of anything yet but I suspect Autism (or Asperger’s as it used to be called).
Am I right to be concerned about this? He wants to know everything about numbers and more. Knows all the names of the planets in the solar system and the order they go in too.
If you don’t know the answer to something he finds it really hard to understand why.

He sounds exactly like my eldest, in fact 2 out of my three sons are a little 'different'. They are, however, all in their 30s and there wasn't as much knowledge about non neurotypical children then. First was very early reader, knew his colours and vocalised them at 10 months and his maths abilities were exceptional, he could work things out in his head (which led to problems when maths teachers insisted on them showing their working out for GCSEs🙄 and he thought it was a waste of his time/effort.) In hindsight (I later trained as an OT) he was dyspraxic, couldn't get on with riding a bike nor his youngest brother who was also exceptionally advanced academically. He has gone on to get all As in exams and has a very successful career.

I do wonder whether there is a bit too much emphasis on diagnosis rather than just treating each child as an individual,enjoying them for who they are and playing to their strengths and dealing with their weaknesses on an individual basis.

@Mossstitch For me the benefit of a diagnosis has been answers, not only for me but also for the two diagnosed. They both knew they were different and the diagnosis gave them the reason why. Not saying they found the diagnosis a blessing, they don't it's more of a curse for them but at least they have a reason. The diagnosis gave them support from services only open to children with a diagnosis. They attended independent specialist schools where diagnosis was a requirement for admission. Mine got their diagnoses early, before age three, I know people diagnosed as late teens and adults and they all regret not having answers until later on.

My son was assessed by the Ed psych at 4.5. He was undiagnosed autistic then.
She gave him several lines of numbers expecting him to identify them individually.

He read each line to her in thousands, hundreds, tens and units as a complete number. She was a bit

He understood numbers. He could communicate in numbers, they made sense. He is autistic.

Decades later he's a computer programmer.

I wouldn't say it's "concerning" per se but 2 of my DC are like this and do both have ASD diagnoses so it is worth looking into.

Some autistic people and children are colour sensitive, yellow in particular.