My little boy is turning five (he is middle son out of three) this weekend and I'm a little worried about his development. Since he was about two he has shown some signs of HFA or Aspergers. But never enough to get him referred for a proper assessment. He did see speech and language when he was three but they signed him off (assessment included visit to nursery). The kind of issues he's had over the years have included sensory sensitivities (real issues with noises and clothes at around the age of 3), speech (his reciprocal language was slow to come and he repeated a lot) and lack of flexibility (he is on the whole fine with transitions but in the past it has been hugely hard to get him to think about how his actions might impact other children). Today, much of his speech issues have been resolved. He is articulate with a large vocabulary. He does still stutter a bit at times and repeat when he is trying to get a sentence out but it isn't too bad and the school aren't too worried. He isn't particularly socially driven. He likes to play with children in a boisterous way but one on one play is more difficult for him. He has an amazing imagination but tends to want to lead/control the game which obviously can cause issues. He gets upset if other children don't follow the 'rules' of the imaginary game as set by him! His teachers say he has friends and his friends like him. But the thing that worries me is that over the lockdown period he has gone further and further into his imaginary world. To be specific, he thinks he is an alien boy (he is pleased with this) and likes to tell everyone we meet he isn't from this planet and his mummy and daddy found him under a bush in the front garden after he travelled to earth on an asteroid. If anyone asked him a question he answers it as if he is an alien boy (as in 'what would like snack?' and his answer would be 'alien chicken drumsticks'). He actually has a name for his planet and the type of alien he is too but probably too complicated to get into. He starts school in September and I'm worried this kind of behaviour is going to be considered a little odd. The other thing he does is stim. I'd not considered that it was stimming until his preschool teacher mentioned it but now I can see it might be that. He does unusual finger movements like explosions and tapping when he is bored but mainly as part of his imaginary play. The teacher said she wasn't concerned about it but wanted to mention it. He does it at home too but I hadn't thought it was a big deal. The health visitor said she agreed he was a little quirky yesterday (he attempted to show her his imaginary photo album from his home planet) but that she thinks unless he struggles at school then we don't have a clear enough reason to have him assessed for aspergers. In a way I'm glad about that and I hope he settles when he starts at school but I can't help but worry I should be doing more. Or am I worrying unnecessarily? He doesn't have tantrums and is well behaved on the whole. He has lots of enthusiasms as well as his main alien one (sea creatures, Peter Rabbit, dinosaurs, volcanoes, making up stories with his toy figures, football). I keep hearing though that children with aspergers benefit from early intervention and I don't want to miss anything. I perhaps sound overly concerned and please do say if you think that but I'm finding it hard to completely enjoy his childhood while worrying about his quirks. Having said that I do obviously adore him completely and don't want to change him. I just worry he is going to have a hard time at school and I'm missing something. The other issue is that we are due to move countries at some point soon and I am worried about how he will cope with this. My main question though is whether others have encountered similar issues and whether it seems like it could be Aspergers? If so, should I push for assessment or maybe try to get help from a private speech and language therapist who specialises in social interaction or just put it down to personality quirks. Thank you!