Grandson

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My 7 year old grandson does not seem to be able to keep focused on much of what he does. When playing soccer or basketball, there are times when he seems to be paying attention and there are other times when he care less about where the ball is or what he is doing. He will run slowly with short steps, sometimes on his toes, and he will just flail his arms running in circles.
He is in first grade and he is reading at 4th grade level. He has started taking piano lessons and his teacher says that he is a quick study. Instead of taking a month to memorize his assigned song. He does it in a matter of days and really seems to like piano. Also, i taught him how to play chess in just a few hours, but it is difficult to play for more than 10 or 15 minutes because he seems to lose focus and interest.

Another thin is that his vocabulary and communication skills are above normal for a 7 year old. Also, he has an active imagination and loves to be told stories or make his own up.
Our daughter is going to have him tested for ADD because his teacher says that he has difficulty staying focused and finishing his work.
Does any of this sound like autism?

Based on what you describe, I might consider making sure that he is also evaluated for Asperger's in addition to ADD. It could be either, both, or neither.

Getting him the support he needs makes it important to be certain of going down the right path based on an accurate diagnosis.

It sounds like giftedness with some ADHD traits (that appear a lot in gifted people without ADHD diagnosis, I have noticed), but I am not seeing ASD if he has above average communication skills.

It also depends on what you mean by above average communication skills. You can be the "little professor type" and use a bunch of $3 words and have tons of pragmatic issues that may go undetected.

How does your child interact with other children?

My husband could have perfect above age discussions (Aspie monologues) with adults as a child.

Had no clue how to intact with his peers. He might as well have been blind. Saw no social clues, and lack of pragmatics was the understatement.

Still a huge issue with him today.

Yes, verbal skills do not automatically translate to "good communication."

I have a great vocabulary, but that doesn't change the fact that I frequently cannot force myself to talk to people close to me about what I'm feeling, or that when I do, they often misunderstand what I am attempting to communicate. I could yammer on the radio for days, but my personal relationships were sheer hell. Big difference.

My 7 year interacts ok with other kids. My personal opinion is that if 5 kids are playing, he will not be the one that emeges as the leader. He'll try to be the leader sometimes, but when the other kids follow someone elses lead he is prone to get mad, withraw and go off and do something by himself and then return to the group a little later. He is the biggest kid in his class as his bday is in August and our daughter didn't want him to be the youngest in his class. So, being small is not an issue.

Also, in class he has priblems staying focused and finishing his work. He often says that the work is boring.

Tom

Last edited by Tom99 on 26 Jan 2014, 3:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Nothing really screams out ASD. Could be ADHD and/or gifted. Not ruling out ASD, but it doesn't seem obvious if it is. Not every kid is going to be a leader, so that seems pretty normal to me, regardless of his size.