hi....have to say that i havnt posted here before, and have only just registered today, though i have lurked reading for a while.
i have a 7 year old son who has always had trouble. He was born 4 weeks early, had jaundice, became undernourished, had undiagnosed fits which just stopped and never looked into. he had bad reflux up till he was approx 12MO. then dx with congenital Nystagmus but 20/20 vision. then at 2 we started the path of hearing tests and has since had 3 lots of grommets.
becuase of all this, his behaviour was always "put down" to somthing else in his little life, like his frustration on not being able to hear, or his lack of co-ordiation becuase of his vision.
over the last 12 months i have been trying to get people to listen to me as i believe that most of the things that were brushed aside we actually symptoms of aspergers.
my husbands brother (my sons uncle) has aspergers, and my mother in law can see the similarities. I have always prided myself in being able to know when something is not right with him, as its always been me who has instigated appointments and requested investigations, and my "gut" is telling me this time that his behaviour is not "normal" for a 7 year old.
here are some of his traits....do they seem familiar to anyone?
*VERY figity, better if he has something he wants, to figit with in his hands.
*will bounce up and down on the edge of the couch even though he knows i will tell him off.....other things happen like this like he "cant help himself"
*his teacher has described him with the words "if i could let him out of the classroom for 10 mins to run it all off he would calm down again"
*he will sit quietly if its something he wants to watch on telly, but as soon as he decides he doesnt want to watch anymore he will try to turn over even if others are watching
*doesnt like crowds / loud noise (when at school disco lately he didnt want to let go of me, eventually went to the senco, and told me after the party that "sitting watching a bag was way more fun than dancing")
*craves routien, tantrums easy if changes are made without notice, he needs his day planned out in his head, can be very dificult to calm down.
*doesnt like contact play
*all emotions seem exagerated almost like he doesnt understand how to show them propperly, and doesnt understand the more compex emotions of others...does know happy/sad but not worried/confused
*VERY clumsy, cant ride bike/catch ball/kick ball. last week eventually did roley-poley
*can be awake till 11pm one night, but asleep right away at 7.30 the next
*short attention span but can concentrate on a single thing for hours
*HUGE appetite-almost like he has no off switch
*exceptional memory for songs/theme tunes, and also for details in events months ago that i didnt even notice.
*clicks fingers/tongue/whistles
*hasnt grown out of things other boys his age have such as fireman sam
sorry if this is another post like many others, or if i seem dumb. i just dont seem to be getting much support from family (apart from hubby, and slightly from mother in law)
thanks in advance xxxx