My oldest (will turn 13 in March) is diagnosed HFA. He only got the official diagnosis recently, though we have been dealing with various aspects such as fine motor deficits for years. The middle child (will turn 12 in June), and is diagnosed with ADHD and ODD (He is my biggest handful to deal with).
My youngest child (the Sprout) will be 5 at the end of June. He is the one I have questions about today. Basically, does this sound familiar to anyone?
This child is very smart, I strongly suspect that he would test in the mildly gifted range. However, I don't think that anyone would be able to get an accurate measure in testing him due to his odd behavior. He refuses to perform "tricks". For example, he can count to at least 16. I've overheard him counting his toys when he thinks no one is paying attention. When asked to count some objects it goes something like this.
Dad: How many candies are in my hand *holds out hand with 6 candies
Sprout: Six. Give me the candy!
Dad: Count them out loud first
Sprout: 5,9,8,4,3! Give me the candy!
He might or might not give in and count it 1-6, and he never counts if you just ask him to count to a number without incentives. When he was somewhere in the 24 months, give or take 3 months range, he would count in base 3. Show him six items and he'd say 1,2,3,1,2,3. Four items was 1,2,3,1. He would even add and subtract. I saw his dad ask him once if he had three candies and added four candies (there were no actual candies in sight at this point) how many candies would he have, and the Sprout answered without hesitation, 1,2,3,1,2,3,1. Then his dad asked him to take two away, and the Sprout answered 1,2,3,1,2. He has stopped counting like that now, though.
I don't know how many letters he knows for similar reasons. At one point he'd play along and answer and he knew about 15 letters, that was a couple of years ago. Now, he has me convinced half the time that he can read, but doesn't want us to know that he can. Sometimes it is obvious that he is only "pretend reading" by making up what he thinks something says, but other times he gets things word perfect, and we have no idea how if he isn't reading. I am not sure if he is just memorizing everything anyone has ever once pointed out what it says, or what. His general refusal of cooperation makes determining practically impossible.
He is very particular about his things, he has bags for his various toys, and it is very rare that he leaves them lying around. For instance, he has a large collection of Super Hero Squad action figures. He takes his bag to a room, empties it one toy at a time, and lines them up like a little army. Now that he has so many, he makes several rows, so he can reach them all. Then he picks up one toy in his right hand and the first one from the line in his left and those two have a battle for a few seconds. Then the toy in the left hand goes back to the line and the second toy from the line has a battle, and so on and so forth. When they've all battled the toy in the right hand, he will either pick a new toy for the right hand or put them all back in his bag.
He doesn't like to transition from one activity to another and trying to add a timer to tell him when the activity is over only results in the entire time being spent protesting the timer. He won't step on cracks in floors or sidewalks. He likes to walk on his toes. He generally has no trouble separating to go to his one day per week preschool, but when he's at home he can be incredibly clingy to me, and often says things like, "I only listen to mom. Mom is the only one that is right" etc. Especially when his dad or brothers are telling him something he doesn't want to hear, like "Nap time." He is very obsessive about the computer, and would play on it 12 hours a day, if I'd let him. He mostly plays Angry Birds, but he can also turn on Youtube and watch Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies videos--which he finds by himself.
He told his first story when he wasn't even two. It had a decent plot, and involved a beginning, middle, and end. He's had an imaginary family, though we don't hear much about them any more. He literally talks like a child of at least ten years old in his language usage (I did have that tested, because his articulation sounded so immature. Turns out his articulation was normal for a four year old. It just sounded immature compared to his language). He is sometimes shy with strangers, very often refusing to speak to them unless they are one on one and entice him with something he finds interesting. My in-laws were convinced he couldn't talk until they started asking him how to play the Angry Birds game he was playing at Christmas this year.
He's never had any sensory issues unless the liking to walk on his toes counts. His motor skills and muscle tone are great. He's good at identifying and using words to describe emotions like, "I am very angry and frustrated, right now!" Although he doesn't always proceed from words to appropriate actions. I had to pick him up early from preschool last week, because he was hitting himself and choking himself and then throwing his shoes at the director's chair after he was sent out of class. His reason was that he'd been at his Mimi's all week (because one of the others was very sick) and he missed me (and Angry Birds, but he wouldn't say that), and didn't want to go to school, and that made him very angry and frustrated, so he did those things.
Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? He is very different than my oldest or the middle child was at his age, but he is very different than the average kid, too. I don't know if it has to do with his brothers both having behaviors related to their diagnoses or what. Neither of them show these particular behaviors, though.
08 Feb 2013, 9:04 pm
