8 year old curling in to a ball at school.

[guitarosauras]

DS is eight. For the past few months the school has had trouble with him curling in to a ball at school. This can be during lessons, play time, assembly etc. They have said that they can not find a pattern, it can be that some one looks at him or simply that he does not like the activity/ task. They have no idea why he's doing this but said it can last up to two hours and some weeks it can be daily.

He does not do this at home.

Do you think this is simply him being 'naughty' or something more? The school and myself are obviously very worried.

He won't talk about it. He says that he is not being bullied but that he does not have many friends although he is always laughing and playing with his peers when I see him at school.

School wonder if it's because of anything at home but at home he is a cheerful funny little boy.

Curling up into a ball, or fetal position is a defensive, self preservation move.

I would be worried about this too.

Have the school suggested referring him to an Ed Psychologist?
He might talk to someone other than you or the school staff.

Children have a very strong instinct to protect their parents, so he may not want to talk to you about whatever is happening.

Does he have any sensory hypersensitivities? Classrooms can be very full-on places for that age.

I remember calling at my DC primary school to drop off a forgotten item. The receptionist said I could take it to the classroom (this was about 15 years ago).
It took me several minutes to make myself heard above the hubbub.
If I had been a child in that class I would have been curled up in a ball, hands over ears. It was horrendous.
Have you any idea whether it is noisy/chaotic at times?

My DD2 has done this a few times. She has AS and sensory processing disorder. She finds school exhausting and the sensory input and demands of social interaction added to the normal demands of learning and organising herself sometimes become overwhelming.

Another self defence mechanism is to 'zone out' and she uses this to go to another place in her head when the real world becomes too much for her. She also used to ask to go to the toilet a lot during lessons even thought she didn't need it and stand in the cubicle for a bit of quiet and calm.

Would the teacher give him a quiet place he can go to for a break if he starts to feel like this is going to happen?

He may not be able to express what he finds difficult but a good way to find this out could be to ask him to design a fantasy school that would be perfect in every way for him.

3littlefrogs- I saw the school SENCO last week to talk about 'what to do'. I have an appointment with CAMHS next week for his brother who has ASD and they've said to talk to them to see if he needs a seperate referral or if they can help as part of helping DS1.

I'd love for him to be able to find someone that he felt able to speak to.

Tunip- He doesn't seem to, we have this issue with his brother but not him.

Gold- I forgot that they did used to have issues with him going to the toilet all of the time, so maybe a quiet place to sit for a while may help.
Great idea about asking him about his fantasy school!

Hi guitarosauras, your ds sounds like mine when it gets too much for him. In after school care I had regular occurrences of finding him under a table, under a blanket, under a box at pick up time... My ds tends to get very frustrated when it's too hectic/noisy/full on and now takes himself off into a corner somewhere - especially in after school care, where it can be rather irritating for an introvert boy when Kindi and Y1 kids bug him. The carers know he needs 'down time' and let him find his own quiet spot with the stipulation they need to be able to see him. It's done wonders.

Thanks, I'm going to meet with the teacher later so will report back.
I feel so sad for him.