Aa
Very intelligent but inattentive 5 yr old.
My 5 yr old daughter is having some problems in kindergarten. We (my wife and I and her teachers) believe she is highly intelligent, but have some concerns about her habits and inattentiveness in school. She has not been to pre-school and is only a few months into her kindergarten year and has taught herself to read with little help from any of us. She's now reading at a 3rd grade level and her reading comprehension is near perfect. She is also very advanced in her math skills. Our concern though, is that she appears to have normal social skill but is very soft hearted and emotional, rocks and squirms in her classroom chair, spins through recess, never hears her teacher giving instructions to her, and can't find her pencil sitting on her desk in front of her. Almost all instructions you give her seem to "go in one ear and out the other" to the point of people thinking she is misbehaving....when she just simply doesn't know what she should be doing. Lack of concentration isn't an issue, maybe too much concentration is. We are just looking into mental or behavioral problems recently because her teacher (with 20yrs experience) described her as "perplexing" and thought we should look into it.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
The description you provided does not meet the diagnostic criteria for autism or aspergers, but I would certainly recommend sharing your concerns with your pediatrician who has or will be able to obtain a fuller picture of your child's development. Many children and adults of typical development show some characteristics (e.g. they are less social or prefer and orderly environment) similar to indivdiduals on the autism specturum. It seems that autism awareness has allowed a wider range of individuals to recognize these characteristics. In some cases, this awareness has led to early detection, but in others it has resulted in undue concern.
Whether or not a developmental issue is identified, it will be important to work with your daughter's school to improve the behaviors that are concerning. This will take some work on the part of your daughter, you, and her teachers. To start, adult may need to work a bit harder to gain your daughters attention. For example, instead of trying to gain your child's attention from across the room, adults may need to approach her, interrupt what she is doing, and gain eye contact. It would then be important to follow through with interactions initiated in this way. If you ask, her to do something, persist until the request is met. Otherwise, you would be teaching her to ignore you. This strategy is important with all children and is not the typical manner of interacting.
Whether or not a developmental issue is identified, it will be important to work with your daughter's school to improve the behaviors that are concerning. This will take some work on the part of your daughter, you, and her teachers. To start, adult may need to work a bit harder to gain your daughters attention. For example, instead of trying to gain your child's attention from across the room, adults may need to approach her, interrupt what she is doing, and gain eye contact. It would then be important to follow through with interactions initiated in this way. If you ask, her to do something, persist until the request is met. Otherwise, you would be teaching her to ignore you. This strategy is important with all children and is not the typical manner of interacting.
The things you are posting are sensory related, but you just don't recognise them as being such at the moment. Some of the other behaviour might be autistic traits.
Trouble using sissors can be down to co-ordination. That is the sense or proprioception. Problems with glue, or things feeling sticky (whether they like or dislike them) can be down to the tactile sense of touch and sensation. There might also be difficulties with washing/cutting hair, teeth, nails and clothes may need to be of certain fabrics or they may need their tags removed. Or there can be interests in certain colours or patterns and children might insist on only wearing certain clothes or combinations of clothes.
Problems with sitting still might be down to attention and focus. Can she pay attention for a long time on things she is interested in, but finds it hard to concentrate on whole class situations? That might be an autistic trait or it could be an auditory processing difficulty or delay. Children with autism usually function better one to one and find whole class instructions hard to understand because they need them to be addressed to them personally rather than a general instruction. In some way they don't see themselves as being part of the 'group'. If it is sensory based she may not be able to follow the class instructions at the speed the teacher is talking. This is nothing to do with IQ, it is to do with how the brain is processing language. It is quite possible to excel at reading and have great difficulties with spoken language (called receptive language), and there can be huge difference in expressive and receptive abilities which can only be assessed by a SALT.
Eventhough you say she is reading and comprehending books and sounds very advanced. I would still suggest an assessment by a Speech and Language Therapist to assess all of her speech and communication skills to make sure that they are all developing at the same rate. Children on the spectrum always tend to have a spiky profile. This means they excel at certain things and yet find other simplier things hard or impossible to do. For example my son scored on the 93rd percentile for spatial awareness and on the 2nd percentile for understanding verbal instructions. That is a big difference. Children developing 'typically' tend to get a similar percentile across the various skills with allowances for normal variations due to skills and abilities. But the difference between 93 and 2 is just too great.
The senses of smell, taste and texture are closely linked. My son also cannot bear foods to be mixed together as in casserole, soups, pies etc. He cannot stand the textures of foods like beans and peas. He will run away from certain food smells. Again this is all sensory based.
If her senses are out of balance and are not being addressed it can cause other senses to get more and more sensitive as you describe. Do you think any of her senses are undersensitive eg does she appear deaf, appear not to feel pain. You have already said she can have difficulties seeing things in busy surroundings. That is an under sensitive visual sense or difficulties with visual processing.
I would definately recommend at least reading that article I mentioned by Olga Bogdashina and if it sounds useful going and buying her book to complete the questionnaire.
Occupational Therapists are the professionals who deal with Sensory Integration. But to be honest, they are quite behind what alot of parents of autistic children (and adult autistics) already know. They tend to concentrate on the senses of touch/balance and co-ordination, but I think alot of research is underway about Sensory Integration. The thing to understand is that it fluctuates day to day and throughout the day. That is what makes it so difficult for them because the same experience can be perceived differently eg. on one occasion it might cause them discomfort, pain or repulsion, whilst at another time it could be enjoyable or even hard to understand.
What is her balance like (that is another sense), and her co-ordination (another sense).
Sensory difficulties are not part of the diagnosis for autism, although everyone thinks it will be included in the next version of the diagnostic criteria.
If your child is on the spectrum I think she is probably mildly affected with alot of talents and even some areas of gifted ability.
Don't be afraid to look into what could be causing her difficulties. These are very real and won't recitfy themselves. With therapies, support and a school with experience of her difficulties she will improve and learn strategies to organise herself and to support herself in any areas of weakness.
My son is still in a mainstream school. But it is one that also has autism unit for more severe children, so the teaching staff have alot of expertise. My son is in a mainstream classroom, but he is given extra structure and support during lessons and playtimes.
It is scary to be looking at the idea of autism. But
Trouble using sissors can be down to co-ordination. That is the sense or proprioception. Problems with glue, or things feeling sticky (whether they like or dislike them) can be down to the tactile sense of touch and sensation. There might also be difficulties with washing/cutting hair, teeth, nails and clothes may need to be of certain fabrics or they may need their tags removed. Or there can be interests in certain colours or patterns and children might insist on only wearing certain clothes or combinations of clothes.
Problems with sitting still might be down to attention and focus. Can she pay attention for a long time on things she is interested in, but finds it hard to concentrate on whole class situations? That might be an autistic trait or it could be an auditory processing difficulty or delay. Children with autism usually function better one to one and find whole class instructions hard to understand because they need them to be addressed to them personally rather than a general instruction. In some way they don't see themselves as being part of the 'group'. If it is sensory based she may not be able to follow the class instructions at the speed the teacher is talking. This is nothing to do with IQ, it is to do with how the brain is processing language. It is quite possible to excel at reading and have great difficulties with spoken language (called receptive language), and there can be huge difference in expressive and receptive abilities which can only be assessed by a SALT.
Eventhough you say she is reading and comprehending books and sounds very advanced. I would still suggest an assessment by a Speech and Language Therapist to assess all of her speech and communication skills to make sure that they are all developing at the same rate. Children on the spectrum always tend to have a spiky profile. This means they excel at certain things and yet find other simplier things hard or impossible to do. For example my son scored on the 93rd percentile for spatial awareness and on the 2nd percentile for understanding verbal instructions. That is a big difference. Children developing 'typically' tend to get a similar percentile across the various skills with allowances for normal variations due to skills and abilities. But the difference between 93 and 2 is just too great.
The senses of smell, taste and texture are closely linked. My son also cannot bear foods to be mixed together as in casserole, soups, pies etc. He cannot stand the textures of foods like beans and peas. He will run away from certain food smells. Again this is all sensory based.
If her senses are out of balance and are not being addressed it can cause other senses to get more and more sensitive as you describe. Do you think any of her senses are undersensitive eg does she appear deaf, appear not to feel pain. You have already said she can have difficulties seeing things in busy surroundings. That is an under sensitive visual sense or difficulties with visual processing.
I would definately recommend at least reading that article I mentioned by Olga Bogdashina and if it sounds useful going and buying her book to complete the questionnaire.
Occupational Therapists are the professionals who deal with Sensory Integration. But to be honest, they are quite behind what alot of parents of autistic children (and adult autistics) already know. They tend to concentrate on the senses of touch/balance and co-ordination, but I think alot of research is underway about Sensory Integration. The thing to understand is that it fluctuates day to day and throughout the day. That is what makes it so difficult for them because the same experience can be perceived differently eg. on one occasion it might cause them discomfort, pain or repulsion, whilst at another time it could be enjoyable or even hard to understand.
What is her balance like (that is another sense), and her co-ordination (another sense).
Sensory difficulties are not part of the diagnosis for autism, although everyone thinks it will be included in the next version of the diagnostic criteria.
If your child is on the spectrum I think she is probably mildly affected with alot of talents and even some areas of gifted ability.
Don't be afraid to look into what could be causing her difficulties. These are very real and won't recitfy themselves. With therapies, support and a school with experience of her difficulties she will improve and learn strategies to organise herself and to support herself in any areas of weakness.
My son is still in a mainstream school. But it is one that also has autism unit for more severe children, so the teaching staff have alot of expertise. My son is in a mainstream classroom, but he is given extra structure and support during lessons and playtimes.
It is scary to be looking at the idea of autism. But
Thanks, Sally44. I did some Googling this morning and decided that Semantic Pragmatic Disorder and Executive Function Disorder don't seem relevant here. She really does have great comprehension when reading. She's on a 2nd grade reading routine where she reads 3 books a week and then takes a written comprehension test on them. She reads her own tests and has a 98% overall average for the year.
We have been digging a little more into Sensory Integration disorder, Her teacher actually suggested that last week. But, while she shows many signs of this disorder, they are mostly very minor. And we're not sure that some of her short-comings (like trouble using scissors and glue or sitting still and quiet in class) aren't just because she's the only kid in the class that didn't go to preshcool. She's never been introduced to this type of structure for hours at a time. What really bothers us is that you have to speak directly to her and make her repeat your request to get her to follow instruction. One other thing...lately, she will only eat certain foods here at home and she's starving when she gets home from school. I think maybe she isn't eating a good lunch. She used to be a good eater, but she will never eat mixed up foods. Her list of "tolerable" foods is getting shorter and shorter. A casserole is definetly out. I made the mistake of mixing hamburger into mac &cheese (2 of her favorite foods) and she literally gagged trying to eat it.
I dunno, maybe we're making to much of it...maybe she's just being 5.
We have been digging a little more into Sensory Integration disorder, Her teacher actually suggested that last week. But, while she shows many signs of this disorder, they are mostly very minor. And we're not sure that some of her short-comings (like trouble using scissors and glue or sitting still and quiet in class) aren't just because she's the only kid in the class that didn't go to preshcool. She's never been introduced to this type of structure for hours at a time. What really bothers us is that you have to speak directly to her and make her repeat your request to get her to follow instruction. One other thing...lately, she will only eat certain foods here at home and she's starving when she gets home from school. I think maybe she isn't eating a good lunch. She used to be a good eater, but she will never eat mixed up foods. Her list of "tolerable" foods is getting shorter and shorter. A casserole is definetly out. I made the mistake of mixing hamburger into mac &cheese (2 of her favorite foods) and she literally gagged trying to eat it.
I dunno, maybe we're making to much of it...maybe she's just being 5.
she might be on the autistic spectrum at the 'gifted' end. Or she might have some autistic traits, but not enough to get her a diagnosis. These are a couple of things she might have difficulties with. I am a parent of a child on the autistic spectrum. Your post makes me wonder about the following:-
Firstly are you sure that her comprehension of her reading is good? I would advise that a Speech and Language Therapist assesses her comprehension skills as well as her receptive and expressive language abilities to see how she does. Autistic children can teach themselves to read, but sometimes there isn't the understanding behind it, or the understanding comes much later than the ability to read.
I would also ask that she is assessed for Semantic Pragmatic Speech Disorder (Google it and see if it sounds relevant). Does she appear to have delays understanding speech eg. does she reply to questions about 10 seconds or more after being asked?
You say she can play and socialise okay. Google Theory of Mind to see if that sounds relevent as those on the spectrum tend to have varying difficulties with this.
But the main thing you have posted sounds like Sensory Integration Disorder. Someone who is at the forefront of this is a woman called Olga Bogdashina. She has written a brilliant book called Sensory and Perceptual Differences in Autism and Aspergers. Google her name and read an article by her in Autism Today. Her book has a caregivers questionnaire at the back that you can complete to get sensory profile of your child.
But spinning rocking, appearing deaf, appearing blind (unable to see or recognise things in certain situations eg. not seeing a pencil on top of a desk) is typical of what Olga talks about.
You might also google Irlen Syndrome as those with autism, dyslexia and sensory perceptual problems can sometimes be greatly helped by just wearing these glasses with the tinted lenses.
If she has difficulty following instructions, organising and planning, understanding time etc then I would google Executive Function Disorder to see if that is relevant.
All of the different disorders I have mentioned are common to autism. Some you can have without autism. I think you might find some answers in some of those disorders. Post back and let me know what you think?
Firstly are you sure that her comprehension of her reading is good? I would advise that a Speech and Language Therapist assesses her comprehension skills as well as her receptive and expressive language abilities to see how she does. Autistic children can teach themselves to read, but sometimes there isn't the understanding behind it, or the understanding comes much later than the ability to read.
I would also ask that she is assessed for Semantic Pragmatic Speech Disorder (Google it and see if it sounds relevant). Does she appear to have delays understanding speech eg. does she reply to questions about 10 seconds or more after being asked?
You say she can play and socialise okay. Google Theory of Mind to see if that sounds relevent as those on the spectrum tend to have varying difficulties with this.
But the main thing you have posted sounds like Sensory Integration Disorder. Someone who is at the forefront of this is a woman called Olga Bogdashina. She has written a brilliant book called Sensory and Perceptual Differences in Autism and Aspergers. Google her name and read an article by her in Autism Today. Her book has a caregivers questionnaire at the back that you can complete to get sensory profile of your child.
But spinning rocking, appearing deaf, appearing blind (unable to see or recognise things in certain situations eg. not seeing a pencil on top of a desk) is typical of what Olga talks about.
You might also google Irlen Syndrome as those with autism, dyslexia and sensory perceptual problems can sometimes be greatly helped by just wearing these glasses with the tinted lenses.
If she has difficulty following instructions, organising and planning, understanding time etc then I would google Executive Function Disorder to see if that is relevant.
All of the different disorders I have mentioned are common to autism. Some you can have without autism. I think you might find some answers in some of those disorders. Post back and let me know what you think?
You are reading content posted in the Autism & Asperger's Syndrome Forum
Fearing autism, many parents aren't vaccinating their kids. Can doctors reverse this dangerous trend?
Yummy eats that will keep your child healthy and happy
What to expect in your growing baby
Is the PS3 the new Prozac … or causing ADHD in your kid?
Autism expert Dr. Richard Graff weighs in on the vaccine-autism media scandal.
Could your home be a haven for toxins that can cause ADHD?
