I want to know opinions form other moms about 4 year old maybe having Aspergers.

[ashulsman]

My 4 year old son has started doing "quirky" behaviors again and I am wondering if I need to pursue medical treatment again.  At 18 months I took him to a pediatrician because it was as if someone turned off a switch in him.  He stopped learning new words and didn't act like the happy little baby he once was.  He went through speech and occupational therapy for 2 years, which helped.  I pulled him out of therapy when he started preschool (He tested out of special need preschool by a few points).  I rode it out all last year with no therapies but stayed in close contact with the teacher.  He thrived in preschool and I was excited.  Though he still prefers to play with himself.  I recently became a stay at home mom and spend every minute with him and have realized that he does things that I don't think are normal for children his age.  Let me just list things I've noticed.  He prefers to play with himself.  He is obsessed with trains and cars, I mean obsessed to the point were he isn't really interested in playing with anything else.  He eats, sleeps, and showers with his trains and cars.  He mumbles the phrase "I am a good boy" at least 10 times a day that I hear. (He recently started this one and it freaks me out).  I believe that he is socially awkward.  I can't reason with him for example as I am typing this right now he has asked me at least 4 times to change the batteries in one of his cars...I told him that I am working and will do it in a little bit... and each time he screams no and walks around for a little and comes back and repeats this same action.  He actually just ran through here again and mumbled "i am a good boy"  He does it so he thinks that only he can hear it.  How strange is that? He has to be reminded how to hold a pencil each time we draw.  But on the flip side when we play game memory (which he can only sit through for 5 minutes at a time)  hes a genius... he would beat me if we actually could play a whole game.  Anyway, If there is anyone out there that has or knows a child with similar characteristics, could you let me know what you think?  

Thank you for your time
Andrea

[kai939]

Hi! I have got an 11 year old son and he still does the question thing. Whatever we've said or done in the past hasn't stopped this extremely annoying behaviour. He interrupts any talk with others or work or whatever patting me on the arm to repeat Mami, Mami. Ignoring him does not help either, he will not get angry, he just repeats my name until others will let me know my son wants to talk to me (as if that is not obvious to me). What he has to say might be important to him but of no interest to me or others. Did I mention that he is an Aspergers? Get somebody to have a look at him that knows and don't mind being clear about what you suspect and why. I think you have clearly a point. People with Aspergers are very different individuals, However the things that you mentioned here seem to fit. Good luck!

[peterpan1]

hi

I have a 4 year old son who has been diagnosed with aspergers recently, the best way to describe my son is he is eccentric. Like the other comment you have recieved my son will repeatly ask the same question, pulling on my arm, and will get louder, and will not stop until he eventually goes into a rage or he has an answer. he began his ways at about 18 months we noticed he would always tap the floor 3 times before entering a room whilst crawling, and obsessed with doors open on cupboards.he would not play with cars but would be interested in the mechanics of how they worked and still is even now but now it is bigger things such as proper cars and planes etc He also is in speech therapy and has been for the last 2 years. He is a terrible worrier and if anything gets broken or is not quite right he needs convincing that it was not his fault or he did not do it. He has an obsession with numbers and letters it can take us nearly 45 minutes to walk to the town which is only a 10 minute walk, as he reads the drains and sign posts where ever we go and has to do it like a ritual. He is extremely bright with an IQ of 137 but has numerous fears and other odd behaviours so many I could not list them all. he only understands routine and structure that he is comfortable with and again he likes to play alone if we go to the park or in a social environment he will interact with older children if they talk to him first but children of his age he will not. We went to a fun day recently we were there for about 6 hours at my husbands work so it was only a small event but he spent all that time not even looking at any of the other children and played by himself or insisted that I played with him. He also has big obsessions with collecting leaflets and disney characters but taken to the extreme he knows everything there is to know about most disney films he will act out the whole film all day and you have to stay in character and he will only answer you if you call him by his character name it is very repetitive. My advice to you would be if you feel that something may be not quite right with your son then persue it, we have since he was 18 months old it is a long path, but if your child had a constant cough you would keep going to the doctors and the same in the case remember you know your child better than anyone so if you feel that his behaviours need investigating then push to see a professional that can help. I hope you find the answers you are looking for GOOD LUCK .

[juliema]

I'm very curious about what you have done since posting your concerns. Our boys are extremely similar except that by boy isn't quite at the same level as yours . He'll be 4 in November 09.

My son also sleeps and showers with his trains. He plays in the dirt and sand with his trains as well. I've tried introducing other objects for play and he'll use them, but still prefers his trains.  He has a thomas the train blanket that he wont sleep without. The only exception is if its in the washer and he seems to understand that its dirty and will sleep without it. (thank goodness).

I shuddered when you wrote about your son saying, "I'm a good boy". My son too has a little bit of an obsession with being a good boy. Its very concerning to me. Examples: When asked what he is doing, he often responds, "I'm being a good boy". If I ask if he's having fun, he often responds, "I'm being a good boy". I wonder if I've instilled in him that he needs to be obedient and he needs to be a good boy, and in turn made him have this obsession. It makes me wonder. I know that's not exactly the same as your son, but its a little odd the similarity.

The batteries---my son is EXACTLY the same way. If one of his toys needs batteries he WILL NOT quit until its taken care of. He will ask over and over and over until its done. If I tell him dad will do it when he gets home - that's the first thing he asks his dad when he walks in the door. If something is broken, he MUST have it fixed. We are past the stage of throwing fits and I'm uaually able to reason with him.

My son started preschool this year and its not going well. He doesn't like the structure of preschool. He doesn't like any type of chaos and it seems like during the 'less structured' times of preschool he acts out. He is clearly different than the other children. He isn't motivated by sticker charts or prizes, but for some reason the candy suckers work as positive reinforcement for him, when candy hadn't been helpful in the past. He's not potty trained - just thought i would throw that in there too.

My son has never been interested in sitting down with me to read books. My way of getting around that was to read to him while he's in the bath. He's very smart, he's always had a large vocabulary and was talking way before his peers, but lately I've felt like he's now behind his peers. He doesn't seem to initiate intelligent conversations. That may just be because he hasn't read enough, or been exposed enough, but he just seems a little behind compaired to his peers. Writing, oh its a joke. His name looks like egyptian symbols. No matter how many times we trace his name---when he strikes out on his own its crazy looking. Again, this might just need practice...I dunno.

He won't let me sing to him, he yells until I stop. Just today, a friend of mine started singing, my son was in the other room, and he yelled from The Other Room until she stopped. Wierd. But, he's ok with the singing in preschool and church. We stopped going to McDonalds or to large playgroups because noisy kids seemed to be one of his triggers for bad behavior.

These behaviors could totally be normal, but I feel in my gut that something is not right.

What have you done since your post? Are you back in therapy? We went for a physical this week and his Dr. said I need to have him tested. I hadn't even mentioned my concerns about his behavior yet - she was the one to bring it up. That concerns me. I'm so worried. I want our boys to be able to lead normal lives, have families, have kids of their own. sad face. I'm trying to educate myself about this and its just so hard to take in.