6 year old boy with low social and focus skills

[dr_kittycat]

I have a 6 year old son in grade 1. His teacher reported some concerns about his behaviour. She says that he has trouble focusing during group time, when he will pull his chlothes, put things on his head, throw stuff, flap his hands etc.He cannot focus on what she says nor will ask questions. He does not interact well with the children and will walk away while one of them starts to talk to him. Completes tasks correctly but needs reminding and supervision. He learned routines at school very fast , but she says his verbal skills are also limited, since he uses short sentences, whispers, or answers with one word only. He is not aware of his behaviour but will stop if warned. He was a fuent reader at 4, toilet trained before the first year, walk at 9 months , ran at 10 months .He is self sufficient, but rarely talks a lot, couple of sentences at the most.Will object if we take something from him, or stomp his feet or growl but he is easy to soothe. Slept excellent through the night since birth. Does not hurt himself or engage in dangerous situations, and was very aware always.Never ever touched anything that is dangerous, knew what poison and a stove is since he was a baby!I am very, very worried cuz the school is leaning towards autism/PDD.I can see that socially he is impared and has trouble focusing.He is an angel at home, asks for everything he wants, spends a lot of time playing on the computer and drawing pictures from his PC games, loves cartoons and movies and always reacts and laughs to them appropriately.I dont remember him having tantrums.Please help.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

The sometimes difficult task with a child of six is to determine if there is an organized, discernible mental health condition (such as, for example, something along the PDD spectrum), or whether the child displays some developmental immaturity. It certainly sounds like there are some immaturities in the language and communication domain, as well as some eccentricities in the peer relationships domain. It might be useful to have a developmentally-oriented assessment to gauge your son's status in the various areas (cognitve, social, emotional, motor, speech/language).

[dr_kittycat]

Thank you so much for yur response. Is it possible , if I undrestood correctly, for a child to be delayed in those areas but not to be in the autistic spectrum? My pediatrician dismissed autism but advised speech therapy and social skills therapy group and we are scheduled to start both soon. Besides that, the school will do an asessment of their own.Is there anything I am supposed to do as a parent?I feel rather helpless...

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

I think your pediatrician's counsel is very prudent, and I'd follow up on both fronts. Yes, it is definitely possible for developmental immaturities to be present without PDD-type disorder. The major difference involves the child's fundamental attachment to human beings and the ability/interest to relate. In part, this involves communication abilities, but a child can be interested in communication and have some developmental delays or immaturities nonetheless. It would also make sense, of course, to cooperate with the school folks. It sounds like you are doing the things a sensible parent would do.