Help And Some Advice Needed Please

[bugbabe]

Hi everyone

 

We had a little boy start with us in September, he had never been left with anyone before and we had the initial problems, crying etc, which we expected. He is an only child and said he didnt like other children

 

Once he settled down we noted his behaviour. He is now 3 years and 4 months

 

He has a fear of the hand dryer in the toilets and we have to tell him that it is broken. When he started he was hysterical being taken to the toilet, but is now not too bad.

 

He spins round in a circle, eyes to the ceiling.

 

He does not respond to anything you ask him e.g. what colour, shape, do you like, what have you been doing etc etc, nothing! He walks away. He does not join in with any songs, but will move to music if he is at the back of the group. He doesnt appear to listen to any stories, even his own that we asked mum to bring in!

 

If you ask him to do anything e.g. put your coat on, he repeats 'put your coat on, put your coat on, put your coat on' and doesnt actually do anything.

 

He wont participate in messy play or any adult directed play willingly.

 

He is affectionate and will sit with a staff member (usually his keyworker). He waves at staff from a distance and will walk past staff and brush them with his hand or cuddle them from behind, but if you put your arms backwards towards him, he walks off.

 

He does not play with any other children, although sometimes will follow a child around. If he is playing and another child comes into his space, 9 times out of 10 he will move.

 

We have had a job assessing him and have spoken to mum and dad. They said he is away with the fairies at home some times and she had spoken to her HV who said we should continue to observe him and we will discuss it again in January. He does speak to mum and dad but sometimes ignores them to. Mum has been given a copy of the development matters and a child development chart as she also had some worries. After looking at the sheets, she was not unduly worried, but she knows that he is not like other children of his age (she is a nurse).

 

We have tested his hearing as best we can and there doesnt seem to be a problem. He doesnt appear to like loud noises and covers his ears, but if it is a noise he is making then he doesnt have a problem with it.

 

He likes watching the sand timer, will use the home corner if it is not too busy and generally flits from thing to thing without doing much.

 

We really dont know if we should be worried or if he is just settling in still. But mum wants our opinion. To start with 4 out of 5 members of staff thought there was some underlying issues of some sort but now they just dont know

 

Any help or advice would be grately appreciated.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[Guest]

I'm no expert but a few of these things sound like some kind of autistic spectrum disorder, as he is obviously having trouble with sensory input.

 

Hopefully someone who knows more than me will come along, but in the meantime you could do a search online for autistic spectrum disorders and see if it fits your observations.

[Panders]

I agree with Suzie, we have a girl who is now 4yrs 4 months who has had very similar behaviour to that you describe the noise thing is quite interesting with her, she is now used to our electric hand towel dispenser and takes no notice but initially it really freaked her out. It was this sensitivity to noise which first alerted us. However, she herself makes extremely loud noises and it is comical to watch how she covers one ear with her hand while hammering the life out of something with the other! She was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome 6 weeks or so ago. I initially contacted area SENCo, who agreed all was not o.k. and we made referrals from there, it took quite a few months to get diagnosis. Just completing her IEP actually, when I thought I'd take a break and log on here.

[diesel10]

I agree with both, sounds like there is a problem there. If it was me I would contact Area Senco and HV for advice.

[bugbabe]

Thank you, I did some research as suggested and some of his mannerisms do sound akin to ASD.

 

We did speak to our area SENCO previously, she said continue observing and the HV said he was just settling in!

 

It has been 4 months now, would you think that has been long enough, before we start pushing for help?

Edited January 6, 2010 by bugbabe

[Panders]

Thank you, I did some research as suggested and some of his mannerisms do sound akin to ASD.

 

We did speak to our area SENCO previously, she said continue observing and the HV said he was just settling in!

 

It has been 4 months now, would you think that has been long enough, before we start pushing for help?

 

 

I think any child should be settled in after 4 months, - by all means continue to collect evidence, but frankly we found our local authority was not really pushed to do much until the academic year started in which she would start at primary school. We had advice, but no referral

action. Now they are all concerned that she is "made ready" for school.

[Guest]

Keep writing things down. It could be a very long time before you get a diagnosis, and then it may not help, so concentrate on getting help to write a useful IEP. Just think of the next little steps all the time. Be encouraged, you have been watching and getting to know the child, so you will be experts on what needs to come next. It might be something really small, but you can always write another iEP once the achievement has been made, and you and the parents will all be able to see progress.

In our LA they are very reluctant to diagnose ASD and children often get 'Social and commuincation disorder' which doesn't seem to trigger the same level of help. Good luck. Oh, get a report from a speech therapist and see if the health visitor will refer to the community paediatrician. The more reports the better.

[bugbabe]

Thanks for your help. We have a meeting with mum tomorrow and I am sure she will ok further help.

[eyfs1966]

Do let us know how you get on. It does sound as if this child has autistic spectrum type difficulties, but gatting the relevant specialist help in early years which is so crucial does depend on the parents being onside, and then being able to access the correct specialists, both of which can be very difficult.

 

Good luck and thank goodness that you are there to look out for this child and concerned enough to push to try to help them.

[Guest]

Hi,

Have you thought about doing a CAF, you could invite the Health Visitor, Senco and together with mum discuss all the concerns, and come up with some strategies.