Lilbutterflie 12:49 PM 04-26-2012
I have a 4 yr old dcb who exhibits LOTS of repeating behavior. I know that repeating things (questions asked of them, directions, phrases, etc...) is normal for language development; but up to what age is it considered abnormal to constantly be repeating things?
For example:
I hear this about 10-25 times every day he is with me: "Umm, umm, 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 responding positively to what he said.
He sometimes repeats my questions back to me without answering.
More often, though; he stares at me blankly after asking him a question, 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. If I ask him to tell me what I just said, he often will just say one word of the direction. Like today I told him "Do not pet the dog"; and asked him to repeat back what I told him; he would say "Dog".
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. 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.
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.
He exhibited all of these behaviors when he first started with me and seemed to have gotten better after about a month. Then, a couple weeks ago, I noticed them all returning again. It's so strange! Something is off, I just can't name it or place my finger on it. He otherwise plays and talks well, it's just difficult to carry a two way conversation with him b/c he can't really answer questions.
Ariana 12:53 PM 04-26-2012
I really have no idea but could he just be eccentric? If this is the only thing going on maybe he's just odd! We all know odd people who are "normal"...kwim?!
Bookworm 01:15 PM 04-26-2012
I have a 4 1/2 yr old DCB who is like this. Not as extreme but very similar. We have to repeat everything at least 3 times and when he does answer, he gives such random answers that it takes about 20 mins to decipher what he just said. He also has problems with syntax so at times he sounds like Yoda. He also has some behavior issues. His parents have decided to have him tested only because he will be in k5 this fall and they don't want to be embarassed when he starts. In my case and yours, I think it might be the way both DCBs are talked to and maybe too much tv, JMHO.