My DS6 is currently in year 1 and has missed most of reception and a chunk of year 1 due to lockdown. He’s always been a quiet, shy child who likes playing on his own most of the time, even when he’s with other children. We always assumed he likes playing on his own because he’s an only child and that’s more or less what he’s used to.
Anyway, his teacher contacted me and said they would like SenCo at his school to assess his social skills, as they said he struggles to form relationships with children, is a loner, doesn’t like to share, hates losing, cries at small things and doesn’t like kids joining in with stuff he’s making/playing with. Although they did say he’s improved loads since reception.
I thought a lot of these traits were due to being an only child and being out of practice socialising with lockdown but now I’m wondering if he may have some type of autism?
He’s also very behind physically, although the teacher thinks he’s just not sporty. He didn’t walk until he was 18 months, didn’t jump until reception, is an awkward runner and can barely catch a ball. Although academically he’s very bright.
We have a few friends out of school that he plays with at the weekend. And he does play games with them and gets excited when they come around but he mostly talks about stuff he likes eg computer games, volcanoes etc. He struggles with two way conversation.
He often says no one plays with him at school and he doesn’t know what to talk to the other children about. He did have one good friend but he left for another school earlier this year.
So I wonder if this is all due to lockdown/ being an only child or if it’s something else like autism, dyspraxia etc. Does anyone else have any only child that are similarly behaved? Or any advice on what I should ask the teachers? Thanks.