Untitled

[debs40]

Hi

I'm looking for some advice.

My son is nearly 6. He has always been a fussy eater. he had reflux badly as a baby and I've always put his over cautious approach to food down to this.

However, there are other characteristics he exhibits that make me wonder whether he has SPD and I'm looking for soem advice on this.

For example,

He goes crazy to wear the same socks every day. He can't stand seams of socks. His socks have to be really snug. He will get hysterical about this.

He will physically wretch at smells that no one else can smell! He was sick at a friend's house yesterday for example because of the smell of butter. This gets worse when he is feeling under the weather

He can't stand labels in his clothes

He can't stand his clothes getting wet (e.g. water being splashed while washing) or getting food on his clothes

He won't put his shoes on as he has to have me pull them ridiculously tightly

He chews things - paper, books etc. This seems to be associated with when he is nervous. He chewed his books at his old school which was a very large infant school. I have since moved him and he is much calmer

I wonder whether his coordination/balance is great. He won't try the bike we bought him for his 4th birthday as he can't push the pedals.

He is nervous of new situations although generally otherwise confident in a setting he feels comfortable with

He responds overdramatically when things he is doing go wrong or if he is hurried or chided.

He seems to be getting on fine withhis school work and he has friends and seems otherwise happy.

I had a really bad morning with him today. He overreacted to everything. I had to change him as water splashed on his sweatshirt and he constantly wanted to retrace the same route again and again from the house to school on his scooter because he was getting it right and he was in tears as a result as I had to hurry him because we were getting late for school.

Any advice? I don't want to pathologise his behaviour but I wonder whether this is signs of something he needs help with

Thanks

does his new school have any concerns re his sensory issues? i vaguely recall you may have moved him because you disagreed with the head who thought he may have some underlying sn? (and obv her way of approaching this with you) apologies if you are a different poster. at this age it is best to speak with the school and ask to meet up to discuss any concerns you have and for their opinion. (you can of course speak with your gp, but sometimes it helps to appraoch with 'i have noticed this and school have noticed this') does he have a pead? it may be appropriate for ed psych to assess at school and refer for paed assessment and any subsequent referrals if they do have concerns. some of the behaviours could be sensory and helped by an OT programme, but some could also be seen as anxiety related or even ASD type traits so a proper assessment would be beneficial.

Hi

Thanks Romy. Yes, it's me. Well remembered. This wasn't reason we moved our son. There were long-standing issues with teaching/playground supervision which led to our move. The nmeeting with the head just brought the matter to a head - a last straw if you will!

You might remember that I had arranged to see the head about the issues above and that she threw up other issues at me in a very hostile way without warning. She never really concluded anything about her concerns and I still believe she handled it all badly. But my exchange of posts with people here did get me concerned and I looked in to sensory disorders and found that there were matches between them and my son's behaviour.

However, you might also remember that when we then pursued this with our former head and my son's teacher they both said they thought it was nothing to worry about, so I left it at that.

It has laid a seed of worry in my head though and I certainly approach the way I deal with some of his behaviour differently e.g. sock battles etc.

Do you think it is worth me asking his new teacher for some time to talk about this then? Is that my first port of call?

I don't want to escalate matters but I do see him in a different light after what happened with the last school and as he gets older some of the tearfulness etc seems more inexplicable. It's not constant, I hasten to add, so I am worried about making too much of it.

Thanks for your help

i would speak to the new school - did you go through the history with the new head or not? i would be really honest with the teacher/ head, and ask them for their honest advice/ first impressions (he's been there a month or two now, right? can't really remember when it was lol) they would have concerns if, for example, he was actively avoiding messy/ painting/ sand play etc -
easier to approach doc with the opinion of school, or if school think it is worth getting him assessed internally ie senco/ ed psych etc, then it should all follow through if necessary.
that way you can be sure that they are actively looking out for any markers, and bringing them to your attention, rather than assuming any different behaviour is related to school transfer etc.
there are a lot of ways sensory stuff can be addressed (usually an occupational therapist programme) but best be sure all angles are covered.

nb - i would ignore the 'nothing to worry about' from teachers/ heads you have lost faith in, tbh. you have no way of knowing whether they were responding to your original belief that he had no sn issues, or just agreeing with you to keep the peace as you were removing him lol. i'd make your own mind up and ask the new school for help along the way.
there are loads of kids with sn of many forms in most schools, it takes a while to learn your way around the system, but the first step is to ask for opinions on whether he needs further assessment. either school or gp is fine, but i'd go school, then gp personally.