My son has always been a sensitive child, since day one. As a baby he screamed non-stop from the moment he woke to the moment he went to sleep. In nursery, preschool, and junior school we would always get told his emotional development was "emerging" and was always about 1-2 years behind his actual age. He is now 10 and, while the tantrums have (almost) stopped, he still seems emotionally behind.
He saw a SLT for his emotional development at about age 7, who told me his speech and language skills were not the problem; he knew what each emotion was, but simply couldn't express that in terms of other people. For example, he knew what made himself happy but couldn't tell anyone what made me or his brother happy. He has always had this complete blackout when it comes to how others might feel, and will openly express how unfair things are when relating to him but if he acts the same way to others then he doesn't recognise this as wrong.
So, today I was out with him and he mentioned in normal conversation that he hates me. Not in an argument or anything, just that he hates me because "you tell me off". I know he doesn't hate me, he's treated very well here at home but yes, occasionally he gets told off for doing silly things. Things like winding his brother up deliberately, spilling things and not cleaning them up, etc. I asked him why he gets told off and he couldn't reason that it was because he does silly things. He said he didn't know why I told him off.
He just seems to have this egocentric view of himself and the world and doesn't recognise that others around him have their own views, opinions, and emotions, yet I thought that kind of behaviour would be getting less and less as he gets older. He's 10. Is this too late to still have this self centred view? What can I do? How can I help him?