Is he just immature?

[bstmom]

My son is now 5 he spent the first 4 years of his life extremely sheltered.My husband worked 1st shift and I worked 3rd. He spent a lot of time in front of the televison.The last 2 years I have stayed home with him and he has come far,potty trained in a week and speech and personal development has greatly improved.Last fall he started pre-k it was hard,he did not like the structure of the classes,ex. the lines,group activities, extra classes,sitting on the carpet, etc.So at firstthey let him do what he wanted.We changed that and worked up to him staying the whole day at school.He came far in those months.He is now attending a summer session (for socialization only), with the teacher he will have for kindergarden.He is doing well.She tells me he is doing well but he has the habit of talkng to himself.He likes to be with other kids but it seems to me he does not know what to say so he will blurt out something about a movie or something that has happened to him in the past.When he does it at home I will say its not real, its a movie or that happened before and he will say okay, but continues to do it.He doesnt do it as much as he used to and I limit the amount of tv and toys that have a repetitive saying or activity, but he has a memory like an elephant.I have considered aspergers but he is not that extreme, or is he?Is he too young to know?Any suggestions I would be most greatful

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

It is more likely than not that your son is exhibiting immaturity in his social relationships as a result of the influences you described. If this is true, as he progresses through his kindergarten year he should be more and more capable in relationships. Having said that, it is possible that he displays some condition along the Pervasive Developmental Disorder spectrum, and this can be clarified by having him evaluated. The best way to do this would be to arrange a developmental evalutation. This would involve the perspectives of a developmental pediatrician, a developmental or clinical psychologist, a speech/language pathologist, an occupational therapist and a clinical social worker. Such evaluations are typically available at pediatric teaching hospitals. If such a broad evaluation is not feasible, arrange to have hiom evaluated by a child psychiatrist,  clinical psychologist, or clinical social worker. He is not too young to take a look at this question.