Anxiety, processing problems, demand avoidance?

[Juniorwarriors]

My lovely Ds1 is 10 years old. He has a dx of ASD. I know that he is very anxious, and he has been from a very early age.

He is very behind at school. He asks for a lot of help and input from his teachers at school to the extent that one of his teachers nicknamed him her little shadow. He is well behaved at school and never disruptive. He will never do his homework, I always have to do it for him. If he is asked to do anything remotely academic at home he will cry and shout.

He can read reasonably well from a decoding point of view. However, he refuses to read to himself at all. This means that despite being in year 5 he reads aloud to me every day just like his 5 year old brother. He openly admits that he just sits staring at an open book during silent reading time at school.

He does not appear to be able to understand the things that he reads at all. He gets no pleasure from fiction or non fiction texts. He can not discuss what he has read or answer questions about it at all. For example, he could read a chapter of a book where the narrator tells us his name is John and he lives with his Uncle Tony, and refers to this several times. If I then asked him who John lives with, he will say who is John? I have no idea who he lives with.

His teacher does not think that he has any processing difficulties, and he definitely does not fit the description of PDA. Does it sound like all of these problems could just be anxiety? Can a person just be a bit demand avoidant?

Thank you for reading all that. Does anyone have any experience of a child like this? Any strategies to help him cope better with school work?

Do you think the teacher has enough experience to really judge whether he has processing difficulties? It sounds like he needs way more help than the teacher can provide, but also as though there is a processing problem with reading/ visual input, which is probably why he's asking for so much help in school. I think if it were "just" anxiety you'd get glimpses of being able to read and process information, when he was calm. But I don't know. It sounds like territory for GP and referral to an ed psych.

Thank you very much for your reply. I have been thinking about trying to get him an ed psych assessment for some time. I think that we will have to do it privately.

His teacher is the SENCO and is an experienced class teacher. His teacher last year was a brilliant NQT, who seemed to totally understand my son. His confidence increased massively and his attainment went up to just below average. It has dipped again this year.

You have been very helpful. Thank you

He sounds a little like my son. He has HFA and has also recently been diagnosed with adhd. He is not disruptive and an excellent reader but his comprehension is very poor. He finds it very difficult to hold his concentration.

BGD201, have you found any ideas or strategies that have helped your son?
Are there any books that your son has found more accessible?

I have seen it suggested that children with ASD sometimes prefer non fiction books, but this does not seem to make any difference to my boy.

Thank you

He quite likes David Williams books and we will read them together. He works better if I incentives him to do tasks. My son has convinced himself he doesn’t like reading which is half the battle with him sometimes.

Sounds like he needs both ed psych and speech & language assessments with a view to applying for an EHCP.