Thanks so much for your reply.
He’s overly chatty, and will speak to strangers in exactly the same way he’d speak to someone he knows well, so happy to strike up a long conversation about something he’s interested in with another parent he doesn’t know in a park for example.
I wouldn’t say he’s anxious, except that he doesn’t like doors to be open, so if we’re going back and forth between rooms we would have to tell him that we need to leave the door open as otherwise he’ll have closed it.
It has felt quite hard in recent years as I think some of his inability to behave in a socially appropriate way looks like we just aren’t enforcing any manners, but actually, this has been an ongoing years long issue.
I’ve read through the sensory book link you’ve posted, I was reading it and thought, no, not much of that applies, but now I have started listing it, there is a short list that do. He does have ‘tics’ so as a young child it was wiping his hands on his trousers. If he was playing for example, he would move his hand to wipe it every few seconds. Current tic is facial. He doesn’t like eating food with his hands, so eating a sticky bun in a cafe results in using the paper napkin to hold it, we can’t butter a crumpet to the edge as he won’t then hold it. He doesn’t like labels, but this has lessened in recent years. He likes very tight, long hugs.
It’s only when you write it down, that you realise just how much we just accept as being normal for him.
Over the years teachers have expressed that he finds it tricky to settle in the new school year, so they will have a couple of tricky weeks until he gets the hang of classroom management.
I had reached the conclusion that I was going to speak to school in January, but felt I was likely to struggle to explain what I think is not quite how it should be, but your reply has really helped to formulate my thoughts. I’m fairly certain in my own mind that there is something unusual, and I think the school are generally supportive, so I’ll discuss with class teacher and then Senco.
I know that the professionals will have a much better view of this, it’s just that for the first time, Pragmatic Language seems to explain so many things about him.
I feel I’ve failed him by not addressing it earlier, but he’s so bright and lovely, I think I hoped it was just a bit of growing up that was needed.
@Blank Times I can’t tell you how much your post has helped. Thank you so much.