Hi,
I suspect my post will be like most newbie's posts but I would like opinions or advice please.
My daughter is 6. She met all her milestones that I can remember, it was when she started pre-school that things started to become a concern. She was very clumsy and the pre-school voiced their concerns and we had her evaluated by a specialist GP and the NHS physio. She was diagnosed with lax joints, no big deal, I have the same.
She also began having major meltdowns. Her reaction is just so over the top and disproportionate, it's often over something trivial and they can last between 5-30 minutes. Nothing we do or say makes any difference. It doesn't matter where she is either, at family, at the park or at the bowling alley, if something sets her off, she's oblivious to how she is appearing to others or to our upset or displeasure and continues. Even removing her from the scene or remedying whatever it was that started the tantrum, makes no difference. It's like she can't control herself once she is in that mode.
She will stamp her feet, cry, shout, throw herself around on the floor etc.
We also began to notice that she was having trouble interacting with others. She had trouble making friends, she would approach them too close or talk to them about inane subjects and you could see they were uncomfortable or uninterested but she couldn't. At parties, everyone else had a friend/group of friends but she is often alone or tries to join in and is still left out.
She complains the children in her class are rude or shout at her when she offers to help for example. I have known these children professionally since pre-school and am not so sure, I wonder if she can't read them so assumes they act that way but perhaps it's actually a reaction to how she interacts with them in the first place?
Lots of others things concern us as her parents - she has limited interests such as drawing or writing, taking lots of care over both. She will listen to the same songs again and again or watch the same film 3 or 4 times in the same day. She will talk intently about certain things, things that don't even matter really and is insistent that we acknowledge her and listen to her fully. She is still not night dry, she has inappropriate reactions if her siblings so much as breathe in her direction. It's like she doesn't know how to react or act in life to things.
This past week, she has started to do this deep breathing/sighing thing. I'm pretty sure it's not a physical issue but will take her to the doctors to be sure of that of course.
She also has issues with loud noises, for instance a dryer in a bathroom. She will clamp her hands over her ears, shake or cry - it can instantly stop her finishing toileting and she will refuse to continue even when reassured. She also has quirls about things like toilets, she won't use ones if she chooses not to - no rhyme or reason for which she will or won't, she just sees them and point blank refuses and physically stops us moving her. She has very picky eating habits, eating a very limited range of foods and always with ketchup. If you cut her sandwich wrong, major meltdown and she will point blank refuse to eat it even if you remedy it.
I'm very friendly with her school, and as a qualified TA myself, I like to think I'm tuned to detecting issuses but either way, my mummy instinct has always told me that something is amiss with her and others - family members have agreed. I've raised the concerns with her school who have said that she is academically doing very well and have engaged her in lunchtime groups thinking she's just shy or socially awkward but to no avail. She also seems to daydream at school, her last school report. I finally have a meeting with the school Family Link TA who has mentioned doing a CAF with us - I think it's a good idea myself.
Can you advise me what I should hope for/expect from this form and where I can go next? GP?
Thank you for reading, I would appreciate your thoughts too!
