DS8 is bright and very active. He is academically very able and can sit and read or do homework in a focussed fashion for long periods of time.
However, his teacher recently told us he sometimes behaves impulsive at school, e.g. lashing out at others carelessly while playing during break. She observes it is as though he needs to release some sort of energy within him and it manifests as lack of impulse control. This is consistent with what we see at home - DS sometimes can't stop himself from launching a fake punch in the air towards someone (e.g. me, or another child). He plays it off as mischievous but it's clear he actually can't help wanting to throw a fist.
He also really struggles to listen at times - e.g. his teacher could be saying something to his face, 1:1, but he may be looking elsewhere or distracted and then returns to the discussion with a total non sequitur response/question which indicates he wasn't listening to the teacher. I've seen this happen a number of times but the teachers haven't raised this as an issue.
It has only recently struck me that because he is academically able ("working at greater depth" across the board), this behaviour may be overlooked or given a free pass by grown ups around him (including me and DH).
Added to this, he's recently struggled to make decisions about simple things that he ought to be able to decide or express a preference over - we'll ask if he wants apples or pears (just an example to illustrate the point) and he will sometimes get frustrated or worried and say "I don't know!" Or "I can't decide!". Furthermore, he won't let us decide for him either - we end up with him flipping a coin or offering him two closed fists to choose from ("Left fist!" "ah apples it is then").
Is this all normal 8 year old behaviour? Or should I be concerned about any of this and more importantly, what can I do to help him manage his behaviour/ decision-making!?