Possible regression in dd (8) ?

[siblingrivalry]

Hi

My dd is 8 and has Sensory Processing Disorder, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and is undergoing assessment for developmental problems.

Recently,she seems to have develped new 'behaviours' IYKWIM. Some of them may seem random, but are giving us a bit of cause for concern collectively.
Firstly, she is starting to struggle with basic hygiene issues and dressing herself. This is normal for her, but seems to be getting worse.
Then, today, she wet herself. She was out with PIL and was desperate for the loo. Understandable that she may not have been able to hold on, but what bothered me was that she was unaware of her accident. When she came home over 2 hours later and was putting on her pjs I noticed her wet pants. When I asked her why she hadn't told MIL or asked for clean clothes, she seemed surprised and said she didn't know she was wet. I don't think it was embarrassment -she genuinly seemed unaware.

Then, there are things like her handwriting. It was always quite neat, but lately is large and sprawling. Her teacher flagged it up at parent's day last term.

Then, she asked for baby dolls for xmas. I know that this may seem totally normal for an 8 yr old girl, but dd has never shown the slightest bit of interest in dolls before now. She is treating her doll as though she is real - again, normal, I know - but she is taking it to the stage where someone has to 'hold' her baby and she insists on her being in a car seat etc. IMHO, this is more typical of a younger child and is how my dd2 (4) tends to play.
It feels as though she is regressing -even DH has commented, which is unusual .
I know it could be psychological or developmental.

I would appreciate any opinions or experiences. I may be too sensitive to these changes, but I feel concerned. She has an OT, psychologist and sees her paediatrician at the end of January.

TIA

Bumping for you..............

i can't really give advice,just a memory of my dd playing with baby born and annabel with her bf a lot at this age.it tended to be pretending to be mummies in the park or dressing them etcmy dd and her bf were forward in their ways,they just enjoyed pretend games but this aspect notat all unusual imo.In fact i can remember her getting a new pushchair for them when she was q old as well

replying to bump this up again as much as anything as don't have anything useful to say. I can quite see why you would be concerned about any possible regression. Possibly she's found the Xmas period stressful? Or she might be coming down with something, DS's echolalia is always worse when he's becoming unwell.

In terms of the dolls - maybe she is copying other children? The 7 year old girls on my street are still into dolls.

Hope that things improve soon.

There has been a lot going on recently with Christmas and all the flummery surrounding that. it may be that those thoughts have occupied that bit of 'brain space' and that which is weakest goes out of the window. My son always used to regress before he was ill - sometimes up to three to four weeks before and then he was ill then back up to 'usual'. He has 'regressed' over Christmas - which now takes the form of being a bit more repetitive and telling me things that I already know and just sounding incredibly dim. It usually gets to a stage that I can't stand it any longer and chunter at him and he makes some sort of effort to engage his brain and returns back to his usual self. If it helps, my 8 year old 'normal' child wet the bed so catastrophically the other night that the mattress is STILL drying out and can quite happily wet himself and slightly soil himself because he is too busy doing something and leaves it too late. It may be that she was so involved with PIL - perhaps a bit in awe of him, may have given him some clues that you or your hubby or MIL might have picked up on but he was oblivious. Then, she might have been so involved that she just chose to ignore the wetness. I think children like ours have an amazing facility that is a nightmare in someways but really valuable in others in that they can just shut down aspects of their lives that to us scream 'do something about it' but to them are of far less importance than say how a light switch works.

Cranial osteopathy always used to help as well. If he regressed then i would take him. This time of year - with it being dark etc is always a time of regression I think.

Thanks everyone(and for those who 'bumped')
Totalchaos and Tclanger,I agree with the points you made, particularly about xmas and how our dc might play with toys for younger children because of developmental delay.

flyingmum, again the comment about the stress of xmas causing regression makes perfect sense. I may have to start anticipating these things in advance!
Funnily enough, I was thinking about cranial osteopathy today. We are applying for DLA to help out with extras like that -fingers crossed!

Saw dd's psyc today, who has dx SLD as well. There are enormous areas of uneven development, from dd being above average verbally to being woefully below average in non-verbal skills, memory and perception.
Although I was expecting it, I still feel a bit stunned.
Thank Heavens for MN - DH doesn't want to talk about it tonight.

sorry the appointment was a bit grim, remember whatever the profs say she's your lovely bright girl.

Thanks TC, that's what I need to hold on to. She is such a lovely child - I'm so proud of her and how hard she tries.

What were her play skills like before she started playing with the dolls? The reason I ask is because my two boys (ASD) had very little interest in pretend play at first but when they did start they started at a younger stage before working their way up IYSWIM.

The wetting and not noticing is something that mine do if they're either tired (especially so at this time of year) or if they're too busy concentrating on something else. Ds2 used to strip off completely if there was so much as a drop of liquid on his clothing (sensory issues) but lately has been oblivious to even being soaking wet.

Ds1's handwriting gets worse when he's tired (asain especially at this time of year). Ds2's usually neat writing turns scruffy when he gets bored with what he's doing.

I think I would keep an eye on things but give dd time to settle back into things after the Christmas holidays. It sounds as though the Paed appointment has been nicely timed - just long enough to see how dd settles.

Btw I loved the description of dd looking after her dolls. She sounds gorgeous.

Thanks, coppertop -dd is gorgeous, but I am extremely biased .
She used to play with barbies when she was younger, but stopped abruptly a couple of years ago and hasn't touched them since.
She is also very tactile defensive when it comes to labels, seams in clothes;etc -which is why I was surprised she was unconcerned about being wet.
Good idea about giving her time to settle after Christmas. She is exhausted, so that could account for a lot.