Child who can't remember names?

-I am a preschool teacher and had a 3 year old boy enrolled in my class on November 1st. He will be 4 years old in May. I have concerns about his behavior, but am not sure if it may be related to a lack of social contact in the past. He was in a home-care environment with two or three other children, and I'm not sure of their ages. His symptoms seem somewhat consistent with mild aspergers, but I hate the vagueness of autism spectrum disorders! What would be your next step in this situation? Wait it out and see if he progresses, or call a meeting with mom?



The child often cannot name friends in the classroom and does not participate in interactive play. He shares materials with the other children when prompted, but does not play with them. He prefers to play alone and says no if a child asks to help with a puzzle or to play a game with him.



When I play with him, he often gets very close to my face and I have to ask him to back up. He tells me often that I am his best friend at school, but he forgets my name a lot of the time. He is also unable to name my co-teacher. (I feel that an almost 4 year old should be able to name his teachers after 3 months.)



When prompted to choose a table toy, he chooses the same toy every time and builds the same thing, a car. He often goes into the Cozy Corner during center time because he does not like the choices that are available to him. He seldom participates in art activities and rarely writes, draws, or colors. He cannot identify his name on labels around the classroom, he mixes up colors, and counts inconsistently but never past the number 6. He had extreme difficulty following even one-stop directions when he was enrolled....he can now follow a one and two-step direction on most occasions but still has difficulty at times.



He walks on tippy-toes most of the time or has a strange dragging feet kind of walk. His arms hang loosely at his sides when he walks and they wiggle back and forth excessively like he has no muscle tone and isn't controlling his arms at all. He doesn't always look at me when I talk to him, and he sometimes stretches his neck out and turns his head to the side in an odd posture.Wow sounds like you have a serious situation on your hands. The more I read the more I think you should defiantly have a parent/teacher meeting. Nip this in the butt now before he gets to public school. So many teachers just don't bother with kids when this kinda thing happens and then our precious children slip through the cracks. Isn't this why most of us became teachers? to help our children? I say do it now and hopefully you can see some change before he moves out of your class. Good luck I understand the stress that this puts on you.
" I hate the vagueness of autism spectrum disorders!"



Bonus points for recognising that, though, and not clinging to some nice simple tidy wrong answers or pigeonholes!

And you are right: we vary, enormously.



You describe symptoms and traits that are clearly consistent with an autistic spectrum disorder, but that are not of themselves diagnostic. Not least because there is considerable overlap with possible alternate conditions.



If his traits and levels of achievement are such as to raise questions about his progress without extra support or being in a different nursery environment, your observations need to be communicated to his parents (perhaps first as a query as to his behaviour and activities at home?) and possibly to the special needs coordinator if your class is attached to a school that has one.

This will vary according to which country you are in.





Not a professional, but with some experience in this area.
I agree with the autism or other developmental disorder answer.

I have worked with a tutoring company in the past and we have seen behavior like this that has been deemed extreme ADHD. I would recommend that he be seen by a professional.



The Mom Mentor, www.themommentor.com
Oh wow. You just described almost perfectly a situation I was in not that long ago.



After a lot of back and forth, the director, my co-teacher, and I decided to have a conference with the child's mom. I even talked to a friend of mine that is a special education teacher for advice on broaching this topic with parents.



I explained how her son behaved in our class and asked if she noticed anything similar at home. I told her that I was no expert but she might consider talking to his pediatrician or our state program about getting him screened. Unfortunately she was not receptive to hearing this about her son and told us that she saw no reason to do anything because there was no problem.



I agree with everyone, I think you should get all your ducks in a row and have a conference but be ready for a possible difference of opinion.
He shows many signs of autism, most noticeably attraction to one thing (in this case the same toy). The "getting in your personal space" is also part of autism, as autistic people have a different sense of what is comfortable and what is not. While the child may be autistic, it should not be a major concern if he can communicate his thoughts clearly, many people are slightly autistic in ways. However, if his behavior presents a learning disability, then I think this should be mentioned to the parents.