I'm struggling with my son's behaviour at the moment, particularly after school. I'm not sure if we're just in a difficult stage, or if it's suggestive of something else going on? I'm not looking for anyone to "diagnose", but could you all humour me a bit and let me write out a series of things that I'm struggling with?
So, first of all he'll answer back to everything I say. For example, earlier I said something like "Everybody needs help now and again" and he completely ignored the sentiment, just very abruptly (and rudely) said "Not EVERYBODY!"
He then really focuses on that aspect rather than actually talking to me. I honestly don't know if he takes things literally, or is trying to push me somewhat. If I was to say "I've told you a hundred times already"...he'd say "Not a hundred times" and then constantly challenge "well you said a hundred times and it's NOT a hundred times".
He won't let me help with anything and gets really frustrated when I try. Learning to do his tie...helping him write out a particular letter...he just gets angry with me and pushes me away. I always let him try to figure it out for himself, but then when I see him making the same error again and again and very clearly struggle, I'll ask "can I help show you?" But then he gets so annoyed with me. And when he can't do it, he gives up and gets annoyed with himself.
He struggles to say hello to anybody when he's with us, for example when walking into school and his teacher says hello, he'll just look at the ground and not answer. I've talked to him about how to respond so as to not seem rude, but at the same time I don't want to "make it a thing" if he's actually feeling anxious.
We play games like yahtzee at night - if he loses, or gets a bad dice roll, we get one heck of a tantrum. Full blown rolling around on the floor kicking his legs around. He also struggles to play on his own, so as soon as a game is over he'll say "I'm bored, what do I do now?" Then says no to everything I suggest unless it's a game we do together.
He's very bright and academically is doing well at school, but I do worry about his social development a bit. He was also a late talker and is currently in speech therapy (you can understand him just fine, but he struggles with certain sounds formations). He seems happy and has people to play with, but he'll spend after school club writing out his times tables rather than playing with anybody. On the coach for a school trip recently, he sat and read his book rather than talk to the child next to him.
I've wondered about ASD, but I'm just not convinced and I feel these traits are probably quite common in a 6 year old? I'm not sure...are they?
Appreciate you reading, thank you