Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all, so this is my first post here and I'm not on any social media, this is quite overwhelming for me so please be kind! I have a 5yo son who was diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia at age 3 after i really pushed for help. I had suspected he was on the autistic spectrum from appx 18 months although lots of "clues" were there from birth. He has not had a diagnosis though. On all reports spanning nearly 3 years "social communication difficulties" keeps cropping up. If you look at him in a blanket way - he makes eye contact, he laughs at an age relevant joke, he doesn't mind physical games with peers that he knows.... paediatricians mention the lack of social communication but dont mention ASD due to him being ok with these things. He will only let me kiss him in one particular spot on his cheek. He gets fixated on particular friends at school. On playdates with boys his age he tends to end up playing with the younger siblings instead. He is more emotional than peers at school, he needs instructions repeated directly to him by teachers as he doesn't absorb what is said to the group. He has motor tics and is currently in the habit of peeling his nails (picking at them) theres more but i cant list everything. Has anyone had similar please? Thanks for your time and sorry such an essay !
Hi.
Welcome to the forum some of the things you mentioned are familiar, my daughter is 8 and still awaiting assessment been trying for years! We also saw from a very young age that she was developing differently to the "norm". She was rejected on one referral because she can hold a conversation and has a very small number of friends. But it is limited and on her terms and most of the social behaviour she does show is mimicking others. She I also fixated on one friend it is bordering on obsessional.
I completely understand the picking. My daughter started doing this at 3 she would rip all her nails off and then start on her toes. She then moved on to her teeth at 5. And recently she has started again with the nails, however this time I had done loads of research into stimming and the picking and recognise she is trying to communicate that she is anxious, at least that is what starts it then her obsessional behaviour takes over and she continues. I have been trying to encourage her to tap her fingers or click (similar sensory feeling) instead that way she still has the outlet without hurting herself. I have also introduced her to to more stimming through movement and this is helping as she is not trying to hold it in.
Most of what you say sounds like asd, we have almost given up believing that professionals will do their jobs so started making allowances and autism specific changes at home and it has helped massively
Thank you for replying, your daughter sounds very similar. I sent all my son's reports to the Lorna Wing Centre with a referral signed by my GP (I filled out the form myself and then passed it to my GP secretary to get it signed) and they have agreed to see him for assessment based on what they have read in his reports, I'm just waiting for my GP to sort the funding. The same as you I notice my son nail picking when his hands are down by his side's and he's waiting for something in an anxious way. Like how someone would shuffle foot to foot. He hasn't had a noticeable tic in over a year and I'm thinking this might be his latest "thing". Previous have been ear flicking, eye twitching, shoulder rolling. I got to how you feel with professionals when it came to his speech, they were my listening when I said he had verbal dyspraxia so I went private. The private therapist then got him into a London NHS specialist who gave him the diagnosis that my local authority wouldn't do. How did you cope when your daughter lost her first tooth? Was she ok? My son has word finding difficulties too and easily forgets things.