Ds aged 4 low self esteem and copying others

[Coffeeandcake32]

Hi,

My Ds is 4 and a half and has never been the most confident of children but feel like his self esteem is now really low and I'm struggling to help him build it. He was a late talker but has done so well with his speech but in large crowds or strangers has a tendency to follow and mimic one child in the group and talk in an unusual voice especially to adults. He never used to be shy until recently to adults and people are lucky to get one word out of him although he will go up to children and ask them to play.
He goes to nursery three times a week (long days) and will be starting reception in the summer so just trying to make it a smoother transition. He doesn't really do playdates even though we go to birthday parties etc so was thinking about asking one of his nursery parents and mum over and also sign him up to swimming lessons. Any other ideas?

Both are good ideas- let him choose which child to ask for a play date. Swimming lessons to try, but can stop if he can’t cope.

I would also suggest an autism assessment as delayed speech, mimicking others because you don’t understand how to be social, and anxiety/low confidence in social settings, and an aversion to crowds/loud/busy environments are indicators he may need a ND approach to boosting self-esteem.