Please or to access all these features

SN children

Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.

Reception-age son: where do we go with this?

6 replies

Slatecross · 11/12/2013 14:59

He's 4, and a lovely, bright affectionate boy. But, he can't/won't listen to and act on adult instructions and directions. I thought all 4 year olds were like this but his teacher assures me his behaviour isn't what she would expect.
He loses focus, gets hugely frustrated in a flash if something doesn't go his way, particularly when getting dressed, and doesn't seen to know why he's doing things.
When nervous he does some daft noises and jigging about, and he's not very good at telling me (or anyone) what's been happening, what he's done that day etc.
The HV did a review and asked for a paed referral but the paed team said they didn't see how they could help and he might be better seeing an educational psychologist.

Do his behaviours jump out at anyone as being typical of anything?

He doesn't have any special interests, or anything that would make me think ASD but what do I know?
We went to a party recently with an entertainer and he simply wasn't following what was going on, it was like the entertainer was speaking another language.
Please help!

OP posts:
sammythemummy · 11/12/2013 15:10

Hi,
Theres lots of people who know more about this than I do but I didnt want to read and run. Perhaps you should have a speech and language therapist assess your sons ability to process language?

bochead · 11/12/2013 16:13

poor receptive language.

At that age my lad wanted to do as he was told, but just couldn't process the instruction. A SALT finally picked up on it in year 1. Visual prompts and a decent SALT programme improved his quality of life and behavior no end, as spending all day, every day at school feeling totally confused isn't nice.

PolterGoose · 11/12/2013 16:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sahkoora · 11/12/2013 16:33

Hello, this sounds a bit like my DS. He has ASD, but until he went to school, we had no clue. He didn't have anything that my (admittedly uneducated) eye had ever picked up on as autism. I'm ashamed to say that until I witnessed his ADOS test, I never realised how many autistic traits DS displayed.

Another big eye opener was watching videos about autism on YouTube. I could see a lot of DS's mannerisms in the kids I saw, particularly noises he made, and the extent to which he repeats things I say after I have said them. He has an excellent vocabulary and spoke very early, so i just wasn't looking for problems with his speech.

At school, he would never sit down to join in with the other kids in his class, he would get extremely angry in a flash, be inappropriately direct to adults, could be violent to other kids, and was constantly trying to escape from the classroom. At first, I put it down to him being one of the youngest kids in his year.

If you are worried, an Ed Psych referral is definitely a good idea. At the very least, he or she will make recommendations to the school of how they can help DS in the school setting.

Do you have anything like a Specialist Teacher team in your area? They were very helpful in giving suggestions as to how DS could be supported in school, too. The more reports you have and evidence you can have that your DS is experiencing difficulties, the easier it is to get help, ime.

Sadly, our school journey did not end well. A year later, after a formal diagnosis and getting a full statement, school were still treating DS like a naughty boy and tried to have him sent to a PRU. The Head wanted to permanently exclude him, and promised he would talk to other local heads and make sure no other mainstream school would take him either. After a wrangle with the LA, DS is languishing on home tuition until Sept when he has a place at a special school.

The school we won is amazing, and will be the perfect place for DS, but I know he could have been better supported in mainstream with the right attitude and a little intelligence, so please don't think this will be the route you will need to take if your DS is diagnosed with something similar.

Sorry, this sounds a bit doom and gloom now. I hope I haven't depressed or worried you. My DS is still the same funny, intelligent boy he always was, bit I am very glad we sought a diagnosis and pushed for labels on everything. It served us well when the chips were down!

AgnesDiPesto · 11/12/2013 17:02

In some areas they have speech therapy drop ins e.g. at children's centres etc. Look at your local hospital website under speech therapy for children and see if they offer something similar. I took DS to one and he was immediately admitted onto the SLT caseload, referred for hearing test and to paed.

Slatecross · 12/12/2013 17:17

Thank you, I'll read more on all of this especially receptive language issues because that sounds like the most likely fit.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page