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I have some concerns about DCG. She is 20 months old and has been with me for 7 months now. The easiest way to describe her is that she is a difficult child to connect with. After spending 5 days/week for 7 months with her, sometimes I feel like I really don't "know" her. I've posted before that she is very small for her age and an incredibly picky eater, but I have some concerns about her socially as well. She plays with toys and shows interest in familiar children but in new social situations (i.e. if we go somewhere new or someone new comes to my home), she will retreat to a corner and tuck her chin to her chest, refusing to look up. She'll stand this way forever if I let her. I'm also quite confident that she would be perfectly content to stay in her pack-n-play in my spare bedroom all day if I let her. She would sleep, sing or chat to herself for hours if I let her. She seems most happy when its nap time. She is terrified of the vacuum and gets visibly anxious if I bring it out. She says a handful of basic words (mama, dada, dog, yes and a few others) but mostly says nothing at all (except "eh, eh"). I know that all of these things individually seem somewhat normal, but in all my years working with children, I've never seen a child that seems this disconnected from the world around her. Granted, I see a connection with her mother and with my 14 month old daughter, but other than that, not much. Anyone have experience with a child like this? What can I do to help her?
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I would certainly express these concerns to her parents, if you have not already done so. Perhaps her parents have already noticed these behaviors but need someone to point out to them that some of those behaviors may not be normal.
I am not a doctor or super familiar with behavioral disorders; so I cannot be confident in diagnosing anything. But... it does seem like she may be on the autism spectrum somewhere. At 20 months, she is probably young for any diagnosis, but not too young to start testing. But hopefully the parents will understand your concerns and get it checked out. -
My oldest son was like this, and he is brilliant (he is now 22).
I have a dcb currently (23 months) who is very similar. I am not at all worried about him, though. He does make eye contact, and he does snuggle back when snuggled. He will play with cars and drive them around telling himself stories, but rarely talks "on command".
Continue to give her opportunities to stretch her boundries, but respect that she may just not enjoy being in the center of the hub-bub, either.
As for the vacuum, maybe you could put the vacuum across the room, but don't run it while she's in there for a while. Give her a chance to get used to the quiet vacuum. Vacuum other rooms while she is in the safety of her pnp, but keep the door open. Matter-of-fact tone "I know you don't like the vacuum, but I have to clean the floor, so I will put you in here for a minute while I do that". She is young enough not to understand relative size. The vacuum eats up paper/dirt, so it can therefore eat her. I wonder if she screams when they let the water out of the tub at home...Comment
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