my son has just turned 8. I don’t spend a lot of time with other 8 year old boys and am questioning whether his behaviour is normal or he may have autism. It’s hit me since he turned 8 that he’s getting older now but still acting quite young and doesn’t seem to be maturing as much as I’d have expected. He seems more neurodivergent compared to his peers than he used to and his 5 year old sister is much easier to engage with. Examples:
talks ‘at’ me obsessively about topics and will rabbit on and on about them despite me showing very little interest. however he is capable of holding a regular conversation but more than often it’s one sided ‘rabbiting’
eye contact is terrible, eyes darting round the room when talking to you. He can do eye contact if you remind him, but quickly forgets and starts roving. I’m not sure if it’s because he finds eye contact uncomfortable or if he’s so distracted by what’s around him
completely all consuming obsessions with whatever he happens to be into at the time. He will acknowledge he finds it really hard to get ‘off’ a topic and he finds the obsessions intrusive. He’s been like this since he was 18 months and got obsessed with fire hoses. It’s been one thing then another since then, e.g Xmas eve he just talked about Santa constantly, way more than he should have and I found it quite upsetting
often behaves in a silly way, throwing himself all over the place making stupid noises etc. always fidgeting, fiddling with stuff. takes jokes too far
he has severe anxiety in certain situations that is worsening with age. E.g starting new clubs, getting a haircut and around dogs.
he and his sister play imaginary games however she’s usually the one inventing the scenario etc. she’s 2.5 years younger than him.
gets a bit bothered if I use approximations e.g 6 months when it’s really 6 and a half months etc. he understands the concept of figurative language but will point it out when I say any figure of speech
laughs a lot but not really belly laughs. I don’t often find myself laughing with him at stuff and he doesn’t make me laugh like his sister does
he enjoys the company of other kids and has never lacked friends/people to play with although I do get a sense that he may be less popular than he once was, possibly due to his peers maturing and him not. He’s generally made friends easily though and still does and plays with a wide variety of kids.
he is academically bright, his teacher tells me he’s top of his set (which is top set). He’s particularly good at maths. Not really any behaviour issues at school apart from sometimes being distracted. His teachers always tell me how polite he is.
He can go for a couple of weeks at a time acting really ‘normal’, but then goes back to seeming really ‘off’.
His best quality is that He’s affectionate and has true empathy. If I’m upset he’s very sweet and understanding. He’s very caring and loving towards his younger siblings and has endless patience for his little sis who can often be a bit of a brat towards him.
would love to hear how the above compares to other boys of similar ages!