Questions about my 7 year old

by Gina
(Massachusetts)

My son has always been a quirky kid. He is a sweet little boy who is very affectionate and did almost everything on time and talked on schedule. But as early as preschool he hated fire drills and would get very panicky when one would occur.

He was diagnosed with mild low muscle tone as a baby and he is kind of a floppy kid with very little strength. He walks awkwardly and has an unusual gait. At times he will invade a person's personal space without even realizing it. He has never been interested in playing or watching sports either. He will play outside at playgrounds however playing on the slides and swings. He likes to run and climb but even when he runs he sorts of run/skips.

His classmates are starting to think he is a little odd and he is getting picked on by some of the kids in his class. He will sit with some kids at lunch but always prefers to play alone at recess. Ar first I thought he might have Asperger's due to his trouble making friends but he likes being around small groups of kids but at times seems like he doesn't know what to talk about. He is able to converse normally and is very comfortable doing so with the members of his family and plays frequently and appropriately with his 6 year old brother. He also has no stims, does not obsess about certain topics or continue to talk to people about things that they aren't interested in. He does understand emotions of others and has a great imagination. He does make eye contact too. I notice he does worse in social situations when there is a lot of noise and crowds. If he has a playdate with one or two kids he is pretty appropriate.

At school he is very disorganized, messy and has trouble finding a particular object if there are other objects around it. He has trouble filtering out noises and he is very easily distracted by both visual and auditory stimuli. He has trouble catching a ball and will often just stand still instead of trying to catch it.

He is somewhat structured but not overly rigid. He will have emotional outbursts at times (if he isn't getting his way) but they are usually manageable. But he will at times overreact to something minor. He has no texture, taste or smell aversions.

Does this sound like any of your kids? How do I get more help for my son? Please share with me your thoughts I am on the verge of tears all the time trying to figure out what to do. Thanks,

Gina