Giftedness and hyposensitivity

[mintymclinty]

DS who is 6 and in year 1 has been struggling quite a bit with behavioural issues in school. Nothing drastic, mainly problems with sitting, impulsivity, peer problems, boundaries etc. He was referred to paediatrics for assessment for adhd and/or autism. He’s had an OT and and Ed psych assessment. OT assessment says that he’s hypo-sensitive and is sensory seeking, which explains the behaviours described above. The Ed psych did a WISC (?) and he scored in the top 0.5% of people in his age range. We knew he was smart but this was a surprise. So the paediatrician has said that he doesn’t believe DS has adhd/autism, but instead thinks his struggles are a combination of giftedness and sensory processing problems which accompany the giftedness. Is this common? I’ve googled a bit this evening and found a bit about sensory processing problems in gifted children but what I’ve read seems to suggest gifted kids tend to be over sensitive to things. He’s doing well in school and is greater depth but I don’t think has stood out ahead of his peers particularly beyond reading very early and well. How can this be? Just trying to get my head around it. I feel a bit blindsided by it.

I’m surprised the EdPsych didn’t think autism, if I were you I would want a proper autism assessment with the combination of giftedness and sensory processing issues. It is possible to have sensory processing disorder without autism but they most often come together.

I was surprised too. I’ve thought that he’s probably autistic for ages and had just assumed that’s the diagnosis he’d get. He had a school observation which seems to have strongly suggested adhd but did not see any signs of social communication problems. The hcp attributed the “mild” problems with peers she saw to hyperactivity. But paediatrician really reluctant to diagnose. Acknowledged that problems might become more apparent with age but at the moment not enough evidence. Has referred for QB test for ADHD but couldn’t even be persuaded to put him on the two year waiting list for an autism assessment as he said it wasn’t indicated.

Hyper not hypo?

We had similar to this when DD was small too. We were told to look into "Debrowskis Over excitabilities" which did seem to fit

Years down the line we realised that it was rubbish, she has what would have been the Asperger's end of the autism spectrum & it delayed her getting help & diagnosis

but did not see any signs of social communication problems.

I missed this reply as you aren't showing up as the OP,

Mine didn't show any form of real social issues until it sort of escalated in yrs 4/5/6. She had/has a very strong moral code & so didn't like the usual gossiping & bitching about other kids & staff that comes a bit later.

Bullying became an issue from there onwards until high school & she began to struggle with the maths she had been brilliant at, because she was expected to write down the workings out to get the answers to gain a full mark. Which she struggled with as she literally just automatically knew the answer & had to be taught to work it out backwards & other similar sorts of issues