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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Possible Autism? Help Please!
NoMoreJuice! 10:20 AM 03-28-2016
I have a new daycare boy who has been with me for 3 weeks. He's about to turn 4, so I placed him in my preschool class, but he's not adapting well even though he's sweet as pie. He can't hold a pencil or scissors, and is unable to follow along with any of our lessons. During our center rotation, I've been working with him one on one and trying to get him to grip a pencil and trace basic shapes like a circle, square, or even just a short straight line, he just can't do it. He'll scribble all over the paper, even though I've just done it with him hand over hand a second before.
He also doesn't seem to process what I'm saying to him. He is sweet natured, and always says "ok" after given a command, but also replies "ok" after being asked a question. It's almost as if he doesn't understand what I want at all. Example: "___, please take off your shoes." "ok"(and sits there looking at me). I'll follow up with "Shoes off" and point to his shoes, and sometimes he'll pick up on what I'm asking. This is by far my biggest concern.
Other behaviors are occurring as well. He doesn't understand why the other kids get so upset when he takes their toys repeatedly. During free play, I often have to quarantine him on one side of the room with his favorite toys so he doesn't take ones the others are playing with. He also hums Star Wars on repeat, which was adorable the first week, but I'd really like him to learn a new tune if you know what I mean. He'll often lay on the couch flat on his back and rock side to side while humming. Same thing during naptime, he rocked for an hour one day last week.
I have a developmental specialist coming to assess my entire preschool group next week (I didn't want his mom to feel I was singling him out). I am concerned how the mom will react if she hears there is a significant delay in several areas. She's very sweet, but I know it will be devastating to hear.
Does anyone have any clue as to a name for this kind of behavior? Is it autism? He makes excellent eye contact, and I thought the major symptom of autism is lack of eye contact, am I wrong? Auditory processing? Does someone have firsthand experience with a child like this?
He also doesn't seem to process what I'm saying to him. He is sweet natured, and always says "ok" after given a command, but also replies "ok" after being asked a question. It's almost as if he doesn't understand what I want at all. Example: "___, please take off your shoes." "ok"(and sits there looking at me). I'll follow up with "Shoes off" and point to his shoes, and sometimes he'll pick up on what I'm asking. This is by far my biggest concern.
Other behaviors are occurring as well. He doesn't understand why the other kids get so upset when he takes their toys repeatedly. During free play, I often have to quarantine him on one side of the room with his favorite toys so he doesn't take ones the others are playing with. He also hums Star Wars on repeat, which was adorable the first week, but I'd really like him to learn a new tune if you know what I mean. He'll often lay on the couch flat on his back and rock side to side while humming. Same thing during naptime, he rocked for an hour one day last week.
I have a developmental specialist coming to assess my entire preschool group next week (I didn't want his mom to feel I was singling him out). I am concerned how the mom will react if she hears there is a significant delay in several areas. She's very sweet, but I know it will be devastating to hear.
Does anyone have any clue as to a name for this kind of behavior? Is it autism? He makes excellent eye contact, and I thought the major symptom of autism is lack of eye contact, am I wrong? Auditory processing? Does someone have firsthand experience with a child like this?
Unregistered 10:37 AM 03-28-2016
Does he have previous child care experience? Any siblings?
He sounds rather like my dcb who has a sib with autism. Parents try to make the whole world bend to the needs if the child with autism and have little left to give to dcb. They are also so adjusted to the world they are trying to create for older child that they have lost sight of what normal looks like. Plus dcb uses older sib as main role model. He does not have autism but often looks as if he could.
I thoroughly agree with a professional evaluation. This is the appropriate route for you to go, imo.
He sounds rather like my dcb who has a sib with autism. Parents try to make the whole world bend to the needs if the child with autism and have little left to give to dcb. They are also so adjusted to the world they are trying to create for older child that they have lost sight of what normal looks like. Plus dcb uses older sib as main role model. He does not have autism but often looks as if he could.
I thoroughly agree with a professional evaluation. This is the appropriate route for you to go, imo.
EntropyControlSpecialist 10:53 AM 03-28-2016
I'm really straight forward so please don't take this as me being rude ...
But, thankfully you aren't a Doctor. You don't NEED to diagnose anything. You just need to document the red flags, present the red flags list to Mom, and refer her to an intervention program/assessor. She may follow up on it. She may not. After you have someone come and evaluate in your care and you hand her THAT list, that certainly may help to get the ball rolling as two opinions that this child is needing additional help is a lot harder to ignore than one.
Does this behavior sound typical to me? No.
But, thankfully you aren't a Doctor. You don't NEED to diagnose anything. You just need to document the red flags, present the red flags list to Mom, and refer her to an intervention program/assessor. She may follow up on it. She may not. After you have someone come and evaluate in your care and you hand her THAT list, that certainly may help to get the ball rolling as two opinions that this child is needing additional help is a lot harder to ignore than one.
Does this behavior sound typical to me? No.
NoMoreJuice! 11:16 AM 03-28-2016
I didn't think your advice was rude, and you're quite right that it isn't my place to diagnose him. I think my main reason for asking about a diagnosis is that I'm concerned I don't have the training or resources to help this guy get on track. If I'm not the best person to care for him I would really like to know now so I can refer this family to someone who can help. If other providers have had a similar child, I'd love to know more about how they handled the delays.
Unregistered 11:40 AM 03-28-2016
Your developmental specialist should have resources. He may need classes elsewhere. Does your school system do this for younger than schoolagers?
Even if your facility is appropriate to his needs, the specialist should be able to offer resources.
Sometimes children who have never been in care have to be met at their developmental level, regardless of where they "should" be.
Even if your facility is appropriate to his needs, the specialist should be able to offer resources.
Sometimes children who have never been in care have to be met at their developmental level, regardless of where they "should" be.
Ariana 11:44 AM 03-28-2016
I had a child that exhibited all of the signs of aspbergers in my care for over a year. It can be really hard getting parents on board as they want to see everything as developing normally. I presented my red flags to mom, suggested she take him to a developmental pediatrician for proper diagnosis and luckily she made the appointment. I knew mom did not suspect a delay and although she claims to not be seeing what I was seeing at care, there were major red flags for how she interacted with him and his behavior when she was here with him. In the end I felt it best to term before his assessment. I just felt it was becoming a stressful work environment because mom was clearly not on board. I highly doubt she took him because she never asked me to complete the daycare provider portion of the assessment.
He had great eye contact and was very cuddly. Autism is not always the child in the corner flapping their arms and won't talk to anyone. Autism is a spectrum and the best thing to do is get a professional to suggest further testing. The only thing you can do is present your concerns and allow mom to take it from there. Some children with autism do not get diagnosed until they are much older, especially children with aspbergers because most do not know the signs. In the case of the child in my care he exhibited quite a few typical behaviors but also exhibited many atypical behaviors so it was easy for the parents to doubt me.
Autism usually affects areas of:
Communication
Socialization
Play
Presence of repetitive behaviours and routines
He had great eye contact and was very cuddly. Autism is not always the child in the corner flapping their arms and won't talk to anyone. Autism is a spectrum and the best thing to do is get a professional to suggest further testing. The only thing you can do is present your concerns and allow mom to take it from there. Some children with autism do not get diagnosed until they are much older, especially children with aspbergers because most do not know the signs. In the case of the child in my care he exhibited quite a few typical behaviors but also exhibited many atypical behaviors so it was easy for the parents to doubt me.
Autism usually affects areas of:
Communication
Socialization
Play
Presence of repetitive behaviours and routines
EntropyControlSpecialist 11:48 AM 03-28-2016
Originally Posted by NoMoreJuice!:
I didn't think your advice was rude, and you're quite right that it isn't my place to diagnose him. I think my main reason for asking about a diagnosis is that I'm concerned I don't have the training or resources to help this guy get on track. If I'm not the best person to care for him I would really like to know now so I can refer this family to someone who can help. If other providers have had a similar child, I'd love to know more about how they handled the delays.
They may, actually, qualify for a free preschool/pre-kindergarten program that will have aides there to assist him one-on-one. I didn't think your advice was rude, and you're quite right that it isn't my place to diagnose him. I think my main reason for asking about a diagnosis is that I'm concerned I don't have the training or resources to help this guy get on track. If I'm not the best person to care for him I would really like to know now so I can refer this family to someone who can help. If other providers have had a similar child, I'd love to know more about how they handled the delays.
Or, therapists can come in to work with him (occupational therapists, speech therapists, etc.).
If you feel that he would benefit more from a smaller ratio can you say so, or is there a director that would need to address this?
I have had more than 5 that I have given red flag lists to in the past few years and 3/4 left for a free program since they qualified and the other 1/4 transferred into a program that has therapists on staff and has smaller ratios for each class.