• Replies 5 replies
  • Subscribers 65 subscribers
  • Views 981 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

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 he cannot complete a sentence and seems very withdrawn, and he has also started flapping his hands, rocking and spinning (these are behaviours that he had previously displayed until age 3-4, and now normally only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

Parents

  • 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!)

Reply

  • 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!)

Children
No Data