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Backwards step when older...

mordrid187

Hi all,

My son is fantastic, amazing and wonderful and has a formal diagnosis of ASD and GDD.  He is 5 years old now and after following up on our concerns of regression at around 12/13 months old we eventually received his formal diagnosis at about 2 years old.  He is the yougest of 3, having an older brother (11) and sister (6) and we live in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  He and his sister are the best of freinds and they are ALWAYS up to some mischeif or other :) I will provide a little background info to let you know his story.

He has been doing wonderfully, and after lots of work (mainly on his part of course!) he proved the experts wrong and began to talk and hasn't stopped :)  He had the normal interventions of speech therapy, occupational therapy, autism intervention teams and regular contact with health visitors and social services.  He went to Segal House Mencap nursery at age 3, before attending mainstream nursery with a statement and support assistant at age 4 as he had progressed so well, and I am pleased to say he continued to impress by proving himself to be one of the brightest in his class.

He completed an occupational therapy 'transition workshop' in the summer to help with fine and gross motor skills and to introduce him to how different it would be when he moved to the main primary school - luckily the primary is on the same site as the nursery so he knew most of the kids attending.  He has again been doing well and is up to speed on all curriculum, although still has some issues with immature behaviours, safety awareness, playing and making freinds... but this has always been the case.

Why I am writing on the forum is that he has just started back now after half-term since wednesday, and since being back he has been very, very quiet... he cannot complete a sentence and seems very withdrawn, and he has also started flapping his hands, rocking and spinning (these are behaviours that he had previously displayed until age 3-4, and now normally only show if he is very tired, distressed or feeling ill).  It is as though we have stepped back a couple of years.... he is having difficulty reading at school and saying more that 2 words to his teacher... he is hardly talking at home, and is getting upset often and as well as his other stimming/coping behaviours he has been putting his hands on his ears (a behaviour we haven't seen for a long time which was due to noise being a sensory issue).  His support assistant and his class teacher have said that nothing at school has been different and we have had nothing different from his normal routine at home either. 

Over the years we have met many children with ASD and their families and have heard them saying '1 step forward 2 steps back' or that their child had gone back to old behaviours, however, we have never experienced this since his initial big regression at age 13 months....

  • should we be concerned or will this pass?
  • is there a 'term' for regression at an older age, as all I can find online is earlier regression? 
  • is there anyone we can talk to? (I am planning on contacting autism intervention on Monday)

Please could anyone give any advice on this 'backwards step'?  Thanks for your time in reading this - any advice or help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

  • Thats a great point, I will check if the pace/content has been changed since half-term, or if the structure has changed at all (maybe storytime/reading is at a different time for example...), thanks for that 'hotel california' Smile... you're right, it could be something simple.

  • Loss of skills may not necessarily be loss of skills, it may be sheer inability to perform what he is capable of due to being overwhelmed and stressed.

  • I am wondering if he is being asked to write more than he is used to or read more, something along those lines, and it has knocked his confidence.  The teachers may not notice this to be the cause because it may be seen as a natural progression and therefore achievable for his age group.  

    It maybe worth getting an ed psych to assess him if the regression continues.  

    I do know a little boy who at the age of 5 who regressed in his reading.  It turned out that his mum had stopped him reading his favourite book at bedtime, which he knew off by heart.  She wanted him to read something more challenging.  He stopped reading altogether, a sort of protest I suppose.  Anyway the book came back as long as he agreed to read something else first, which worked. 

    Hope this helps.

  • Hi longman,

    Thanks for your reply.  I have asked the support teacher and her colleagues if they noticed any bullying but they said no, and will be on the look out.  He has been with the same class (with only 1 or 2 new kids) since nursery and all the kids and parents have always known of his diagnosis and we get on well with the other kids/parents... so I cannot see this being the issue, and he says the other kids are good to him but will keep checking.

    Our main concern is that he has taken a backward step in the skills he has acheived over the years.  Thanks again for your reply.

    Has anyone else had similar issues with loss of skills/withdrawing?

  • Is he being bullied? Teachers may not notice if this is happening.

    By bullying I mean a collective reaction against him because he is different, rather than conventional bullying involving specific individuals picking on weaker kids. Many people on the spectrum suffer demeaning treatment and ridicule from classmates.

    Bear in mind that classmates are talking to their parents about him (things he has said or done in classroom or playground), and the parents may be warning their children to avoid him etc. Often these difficulties arise because of the attitudes and prejudices of parents reflected back through their children.

    Aside from regression, which might be a factor here, if his environment has changed, his reactions and responses will take a lot more settling down, and he may find it difficult to express this. 

    School environments involve peer pressure to conform. Those that don't adust invariably experience rejection, ridicule and exclusion (and often from other kids outwardly the nicest and sweetest their parents would wish for!)