Lo NG one- apologies!
I have a wonderful DD who has just turned 8. She’s funny, thoughtful, intelligent, creative and musical.
She’s always been an emotional and sensitive girl.
I always just presumed it would get better as she got older but if anything it’s just getting worse.
She’s not bad in the house although there’s certain things that trigger her (getting ready for the day/going food shopping/ walking the dog). She really struggles when things don’t go the way she thought they would, and out of the house says she’s tired a lot and cries because she wants to go home. She can be having the best time of her life and then the tiniest (in our view) thing can happen and it’s just a downward spiral. She’s never violent/hurtful in her actions, just very upset and cries a lot.
She is involved in quite a few extra curricular activities (3 sports, 2 instruments) which she loves but it does mean she’s on the go a lot.
She has a lot of friends and loves spending time with them, although there always seems to be fallouts. This might be normal, although I have an older DD and it didn’t seem as bad at a similar age.
I’m not sure how to deal with these emotional outbursts when we are out and about. It seems nothing we say/do helps and she generally just wants to go home (which isn’t always an option). A recent example was at a work event recently that locals were invited to. I was working at it and she was there with her Nana having a great time as some of her friends were there. All of a sudden she was wailing because she couldn’t buy something from one of the craft stands and it just spiralled. She wanted to go home but with me or her dad, not her Nana (who she is extremely close to).
At her recent birthday party she wanted it to end earlier than planned as she was ‘so tired’. We did manage to distract her at this one as really didn’t want to have to contact all the parents for an early pick up!
I’m starting to wonder if there is more of a ND angle on this. She fixates on historical and musical things. As a result - ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Six’ are her favourite things ever and she is an expert on the American revolution and the Tudor Era. She can literally recite every word of every song in these musicals. She also went through an Anne Frank stage and did a talk in front of her class about her when she was 6. She’s also written and composed a few songs herself, which IMO are pretty good! I remember her writing her first song before she was 5.
I’ve always just admired her thirst for knowledge, but we’ve had a couple tough weeks with her emotions too (the other thing is you can’t laugh at anything she does - even if it’s funny - as she just thinks you are laughing at her).
other things I’ve noticed are:
-she loves Lego and has many sets. She always starts with enthusiasm but ‘gets tired’ or distracted and then never seems to want to go back to them.
-she writes stories every day, but never ever finishes them.
-she talks A LOT and it’s sometimes really difficult to follow what she’s actually trying to say. She often starts a sentence 3 or 4 times before she’s able to complete it
-when she is watching something on her iPad, she hangs upside down to watch it, or in other very strange poses.
-she still needs her comforter to help calm her down when she’s upset/tired.
I’ve spoke to the school, and from their POV she’s the perfect student. She’s very bright (at her 7years reading assessment she scored 12+years) and she’s very well behaved, kind, considerate, funny and well liked by her peers. she has even received an award at school for her inclusion of children who have LD, making sure they are never left out or alone. She feels so deeply for others, but also in the moment for herself too.
The School have been good though, and although shocked when I mentioned the above, haven’t dismissed it. They are setting up a meeting with an educational psychologist for and initial assessment after the holidays and they will then advise whether they think we should get the ball rolling with a potential ND diagnosis OR help us by giving us (and DD) coping strategies.
I’m not sure whether she’s just an emotional/sensitive girl who wears her heart on her sleeve - but either way I just don’t know how to handle her big public tear fests. I’m not one to raise my voice, both DH and I are gentle and empathetic by nature, but I’m really struggling about how do deal with these situations.
Anyone been in a similar situation? What was the outcome?