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I have posted about one of my dcb's before, and the limited number of those who responded seemed to think this boy was just a bit quirky. But I really do feel that I have witnessed enough to believe that he is on the autism spectrum somewhere. Please let me know what you think:
DCB is 4. He seems very intelligent, and he is very loving and social. But here is a list of things he seems to be very different socially:
1. He knows NO personal boundaries. He hugs & kisses everyone around him multiple times a day, even those he has just met. Today he was my only daycare boy & we got permission to take him to the pool. He grabbed a girls hand to hold it that he had never even spoken to. He climbed on top of a girl he had just met and compromised her swimming ability. He was only trying to "snuggle" with her; and never realized that being on top of her compromised her swimming ability. He often kisses me all up and down my arms & hands.
2. He is a repeater.
For example:
I hear this about 10-25 times every day he is with me: "Umm, umm, Hey!" I then remind him that my name is not Hey, it is Miss So and So. "Ummm, Ummm, Miss So-and-so? Ummm, ummm, you're pretty."
If he is saying something to me or to the other children that really excites him; he repeats it 5-6 times; even after they respond positively to what he said.
He sometimes repeats my questions back to me without answering.
Anytime a parent is picking up their child, he tries to engage them with repeating words or phrases. Lately, he has been telling them about his new hamster. Over. And Over. And Over.
3. After asking him a question, he stares at me (no eye contact though) blankly, or he will answer with a nonsense response (a word or words that has nothing to do with what I asked). For instance, during Thanksgiving time we had a discussion about being thankful. We talked about what it meant, my son said what he was thankful for; and then I asked him what he was thankful for. He answered with "A, B, C, D, E, F, G." When I asked him again in a different way, he answered "T"
If I give him directions, he will often not follow them or just sit and do nothing. So I usually get down to his level and demand eye contact, which is impossible for him for more than a second or two. If I ask him to repeat back to me what I just said, he often will just say one word of the direction. Like if I told him "Do not pet the dog"; and asked him to repeat back what I told him; he would say "Dog". Today at the pool, I asked him to put his shoes on because we were leaving. He proceeded to pull down his pants and expose his naked body to everyone around us!! When I asked him why he pulled his pants down when I asked him to put his shoes on, he replied "Because I was wet."
4. He has a hard time putting his words together. Like today during lunch, I told the children they had to eat their crackers, cheese and lunchmeat in order to get their cookies (we had Lunchables at the pool). He was telling my son this by saying "John, you have to eat the white (pointing to the cookie), and then you can eat your crackers." And then he repeated it again. The sequence which he used was backwards, I told them to eat their lunch before they could eat their cookie.
5. He gives things his own names; he doesn't seem to learn vocabulary well. For instance, he kept talking about a game called Funny Chickens. It wasn't until he wore an Angry Birds shirt and pointed to them saying "Funny Chickens!" that I realized he was wanting to play Angry Birds! He calls ranch "white ketchup". He called the cookie today "white" (it was an oreo). He named every member of his family according to what they like to eat. He refers to himself as Corn, his mom Protein, his sister Bacon.
6. He fixates on objects or events. If he hears an airplane in the sky, he gets way overly excited and that's all we hear about for the next 20 min or so. If we get a thunderstorm, it is all he talks about for days. I'm still hearing about a hamster he got a month ago about 10 times a day.
7. Almost ZERO self help skills. Eight months ago when he started with me, when he almost 4; he didn't know how to put socks on, put shoes on, put clothes on, nothing. After a LOT of patience with him; he can finally do all of those things. But today I drove them to the pool (the neighborhood pool is just a little too far to walk) and he had absolutely NO idea how to unbuckle his seat belt. He looked at me blankly like I was talking to him in a foreign language.
8. He is hypersensitive to sounds and smells. He smells a dirty diaper from a mile away!
And he hears things that I don't usually hear, like the fridge running, etc. Every time he absolutely has to know "What is that smell?" or "What is that noise?"
What do you all think?
DCB is 4. He seems very intelligent, and he is very loving and social. But here is a list of things he seems to be very different socially:
1. He knows NO personal boundaries. He hugs & kisses everyone around him multiple times a day, even those he has just met. Today he was my only daycare boy & we got permission to take him to the pool. He grabbed a girls hand to hold it that he had never even spoken to. He climbed on top of a girl he had just met and compromised her swimming ability. He was only trying to "snuggle" with her; and never realized that being on top of her compromised her swimming ability. He often kisses me all up and down my arms & hands.
2. He is a repeater.
For example:
I hear this about 10-25 times every day he is with me: "Umm, umm, Hey!" I then remind him that my name is not Hey, it is Miss So and So. "Ummm, Ummm, Miss So-and-so? Ummm, ummm, you're pretty."
If he is saying something to me or to the other children that really excites him; he repeats it 5-6 times; even after they respond positively to what he said.
He sometimes repeats my questions back to me without answering.
Anytime a parent is picking up their child, he tries to engage them with repeating words or phrases. Lately, he has been telling them about his new hamster. Over. And Over. And Over.
3. After asking him a question, he stares at me (no eye contact though) blankly, or he will answer with a nonsense response (a word or words that has nothing to do with what I asked). For instance, during Thanksgiving time we had a discussion about being thankful. We talked about what it meant, my son said what he was thankful for; and then I asked him what he was thankful for. He answered with "A, B, C, D, E, F, G." When I asked him again in a different way, he answered "T"
If I give him directions, he will often not follow them or just sit and do nothing. So I usually get down to his level and demand eye contact, which is impossible for him for more than a second or two. If I ask him to repeat back to me what I just said, he often will just say one word of the direction. Like if I told him "Do not pet the dog"; and asked him to repeat back what I told him; he would say "Dog". Today at the pool, I asked him to put his shoes on because we were leaving. He proceeded to pull down his pants and expose his naked body to everyone around us!! When I asked him why he pulled his pants down when I asked him to put his shoes on, he replied "Because I was wet."
4. He has a hard time putting his words together. Like today during lunch, I told the children they had to eat their crackers, cheese and lunchmeat in order to get their cookies (we had Lunchables at the pool). He was telling my son this by saying "John, you have to eat the white (pointing to the cookie), and then you can eat your crackers." And then he repeated it again. The sequence which he used was backwards, I told them to eat their lunch before they could eat their cookie.
5. He gives things his own names; he doesn't seem to learn vocabulary well. For instance, he kept talking about a game called Funny Chickens. It wasn't until he wore an Angry Birds shirt and pointed to them saying "Funny Chickens!" that I realized he was wanting to play Angry Birds! He calls ranch "white ketchup". He called the cookie today "white" (it was an oreo). He named every member of his family according to what they like to eat. He refers to himself as Corn, his mom Protein, his sister Bacon.
6. He fixates on objects or events. If he hears an airplane in the sky, he gets way overly excited and that's all we hear about for the next 20 min or so. If we get a thunderstorm, it is all he talks about for days. I'm still hearing about a hamster he got a month ago about 10 times a day.
7. Almost ZERO self help skills. Eight months ago when he started with me, when he almost 4; he didn't know how to put socks on, put shoes on, put clothes on, nothing. After a LOT of patience with him; he can finally do all of those things. But today I drove them to the pool (the neighborhood pool is just a little too far to walk) and he had absolutely NO idea how to unbuckle his seat belt. He looked at me blankly like I was talking to him in a foreign language.
8. He is hypersensitive to sounds and smells. He smells a dirty diaper from a mile away!
And he hears things that I don't usually hear, like the fridge running, etc. Every time he absolutely has to know "What is that smell?" or "What is that noise?"What do you all think?
I think you should have a sit down discussion with the child's parent and recommend that the child be seen by someone who can tell whether or not there is something to be concerned about and if there is anything that can or should be done to work with and help the child and family.
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