Looking for feedback regarding my son
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| Mon, 06-19-2006 - 11:59am |
My middle son is 3 yrs 4 months old. He is a sweet, lovable little boy that has been exhibiting certain behaviors that have led us to request an evaluation by the child study team through our school district. It's been suggested to us (not by professionals) that he could have ADD, or an ASD, or maybe SID. I will tell you about him and would love to hear what you think.
He loves to laugh, loves to have fun, is very affectionate, loves toys (especially vehicles), loves tv. He is very smart and remembers what he is taught. He knows all his letters, colors, numbers, can count, can spell some words. Knows colors and numbers in Spanish (which he learned from watching Dora and from school). Very interested in his environment. He can hold a very simple conversation but does not always answer a question with an appropriate answer - iinstead often changes the subject.
He was home with me for 3 years until this past March when I went back to work. He is going to daycare which is his first real interaction with kids his own age. Things went well for the first few weeks, and then he started becoming aggressive with the other kids, and it's now to the point where they are afraid of him. His behavior can be very impulsive - out of nowhere he pushes kids,
pulls their hair, etc. He is also very aggressive when someone does something he doesn't like. He is like this at home with his brothers and it's only gotten worse since he started school.
He twirls his hair and pulls it when he's tired or upset and a few months ago gave himself a small bald spot (this was before starting school). He is almost obsessed with my hair and has to play with it whenver he's near me. He frequently walks on tiptoe. He flutters/flaps his arms/hands when he's happy or excited. He cannot tolerate having his nails trimmed - we have to do it when he's asleep. He hates having his hair rinsed but has gotten a bit better with it.
When he does something wrong and is disciplined for it, he doesn't seem to care or doesn't understand the consequences and will do the same behavior again only minutes later. Doesn't seem to feel remorse
for making other kids cry, even his brothers. Sometimes when we scold him for his behavior he doesn't react, and even sometimes smiles.
He does get upset if we put him in his room when he's done something wrong, so that's been our method of discipline at home. But at school, all they can do is put him in time out and though he doesn't like it, he goes back to the same behavior.
Repeats himself periodically, and engages in repetitive play. His favorite toy is a remote control train but he gets hysterical if we turn on the remote. He wants to push it himself and will just push it around and around for a long time. (but will no longer play with it by himself, someone has to take turns with him pushing the train).
He can sit quietly watching tv or playing on his own, and enjoys playing with his brothers. But eventually he will do something aggressive towards them.
If you read all this, thank you!
Andie

Andie ~ you're little one sounds somewhat like my 5 year old. He tends to get agressive too, but it seems like he's angry about something and doesn't know the appropriate ways to express his feelings. He also hates his nails and hair cut and his hair washed. Matthew has mostly the social-emotional problems which causes him problems with being able to read peoples faces and figuring out social skills that we really aren't taught, but that we just pick up, like not getting in another person's personal space. He just doesn't get it.
Of course I'm no expert at all, but lots of the things you listed are things the Dr. asked us about during Matthew's evaul. It does sound like he has something going on though and my experience has been the sooner they can get therapy the better off they will be.
Michelle
Boy your post sounds familiar to me. My son is 6 years old and does so many of the things your son does! My son won't allow us to cut his toenails (when we HAVE to we hold him down and the neighbors probably think we are beating him), he hates to have his head rinsed-will only let me use a cup so we rinse his hair in dirty bath water. He also loves trains and he is in charge of the way they are set-up. He is highly intelligent and was the first to read in his Kindergarten class. Changing the subject is very common here, it is often change to what interests him. He also, twirls his hair and has two bald spots from it-we are working on this desperately. Regular discipline doesn't work for our son as he has no care about it either. We know spend much time explaining to him what he did wrong and how he should be doing it. When he was younger he was more aggressive because kids would touch him and that set off his sensory issues. It got better with age because I think at 6 kids don't touch each other quite as much as at 3.
Anyway, my son was recently diagnosed with Asperger's. I would defintely have your child evaluated by a professional as it sounds like he may have some of the characteristics.
Take care and good luck.
Melissa
Welcome, Andie,
It's very hard to say what could be going on with your son.
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