My little boy has just turned 7. He displays a few behaviours that I think might point to there being an underlying condition such as ASD or Sensory Processing Disorder. I just wondered if anyone had a child who displays similar behaviour?
This is a list of his 'symptoms'
Makes noises a lot. These used to be random shrieks but now tend to be humming or singing, but not words more like 'pi pi pi' kind of thing. The humming often happens when we're on a bus, and I'm not convinced he's even aware he's doing it.
Shakes his head from side to side when he's running, though usually only for the first few seconds of running.
Finds it hard to make and keep friendships. He constantly complains children are 'horrible' to him at school but the teachers have never witnessed anything. He also complains to me about things like children looking at him, when they've only given him a quick glance, but to him that's them being horrible. He does play with children when we're at parks etc though, but never seems to lead games, more follows others around. He tends to get on better with slightly younger children.
Every single day without fail, while his brother comes in and takes coat and shoes off, he will first get distracted by a toy or something and will have to be reminded to take his things off.
He can dress and undress himself but I still have to monitor it as he tends to get distracted and put a top on without a vest first, or trousers without pants.
He is easily distracted and tasks such as completing homework can take ages as he gets sidetracked -even with an adult sitting beside him. At school teachers say he takes ages to finish his work.
He can find it hard to keep his place when copying from a list. At Christmas I wrote out a vertical list of children's names so he could write Christmas cards. I showed him how to write the first name in the list, then put a line through it and go on to the next one. He would start a name then lose his place and finish off by writing half of a name about six places down the list. In the end I had to keep my finger pointed to each name as he wrote it.
He complains he can't work at school as it's too noisy, but he often shouts out or makes noises himself.
He can get annoyed about things that to most people don't matter. He went through a phase of getting annoyed if the bus that turned up wasn't the colour he wanted it to be and would try to refuse to get on. Similarly if someone was sitting in a seat he wanted he would start complaining.
I'm constantly telling him to stop fiddling with things that aren't his. My necklace, the toggles on my coat, things in shops etc. He just seems to have to feel things he comes across.
He doesn't seem to be able to 'hurry.' If we're running late he'll put a shoe on then spot a toy and go and pick it up, then start asking me something, etc. I feel I'm always reminding him what he's meant to be doing.
He speaks in quite a high pitched voice and does have problems pronouncing some words. He often starts a sentence, repeats the first few words then finally finishes it - often changing a word in the middle. Eg. Can I, can I, can I have, can I, can I go on the computer? He is on a waiting list for speech therapy.
I am constantly repeating myself. I'll tell him something and he'll often say pardon, so I repeat it. His hearing has checked out fine and sometimes I think he actually hasn't understood what I said, rather than didn't hear it.
He finds it hard to be still and is often fidgeting. We go to church on Sundays and he'll fiddle with the hymn book, it'll end up dropped, he'll sit on my lap then put his arms back and grab me round the head, then squirm about etc. He's just never still. He is better if he has something to hold. So the week he cut his finger and held a tissue against it was great as he sat really still as he was concentrating on the tissue so much! I know it often is advised to give children something to fiddle with as then they listen better, but although he fidgets less he doesn't listen at all as all of his focus goes on whatever he's holding.
Although I remind him daily to sit on his bottom, his preferred way of sitting on a chair at the table is to crouch/squat down with his feet on the chair.
He is very clumsy and is often banging his arm on door frames, stubbing his toe etc. He also knocks things over or off tables frequently.
He is on School Action at school but is keeping up with the rest of his table. His reading is finally starting to come on. He's on Level 4 of ORT.
He finds it hard to keep track of days. So he knows he goes to a club on Tuesday nights, but will ask most days if today is Tuesday. He doesn't really have much concept of the difference between days, weeks and months. So if I tell him there's 2 weeks left at school before a holiday he'll get excited as he'll think that's the same as 2 days.
So, does any of that sound concerning at all? Sorry to make it so long but I was trying to give as clear a picture of him as possible. Thanks