Age 3-4

Here are some more bits and pieces DP and I noticed about T1 between the ages of 3-4.  We plodded through this year thinking that T1 was being referred to the Child Development Team so we just continued to take notes on any differences we noticed:

• T1 moved to playgroup for 3-4 year olds and seemed to settle better ?due to increased structure and routine e.g. circle time and tidy-up time
• he struggled to sit with the group at circle time and would often want to wander off and do his own thing
• he struggled to stand in the queue for snack - he would jostle those in front and behind him and would wander off and have to go to the back of the queue again
• he showed an unusual interest in objects - he would sniff most things and explore them with his nose
• he had poor awareness of others' personal space - he would get very close to someone if he wanted their attention
• he showed signs of hyperarousal and overstimulation both at home and at playgroup including running back and forth repeatedly and making random noises like squeaking
• he wasn't really interested in playing with his peers and would often play on his own given the choice
• he started to become very interested in a limited range of topics both at home and at playgroup including a book about fighter jets that we got from the library (and to this day it has never been returned, we had to pay for it!); elephants; the playgroup slide and trains
• he was able to increase the variety of food he would eat after trying different food with the other playgroup children at snack time - his general fussiness continued though, this was not texture specific but he would generally only eat those foods that were familiar to him
• we had trouble getting him to stay in his bed - we tried the rapid return technique (Dr Tanya Byron) for 5 months and decided to just read to him until he fell asleep which worked a treat (he can settle himself to sleep now)
• T1 wouldn't generally know you were speaking to him unless you used his name at the start of a sentence
• he didn't seem interested in learning new motor skills such as getting dressed and putting on his shoes etc.
• he was able to use some imaginative play but usually only on his terms and including one of his special interests
• he had 3 imaginery friends who he would blame if he was naughty and that he would have a rant to on his own when he was overstimulated or angry
• he had sensory issues especially around anyone touching his head which made going to the hairdressers very difficult
• he showed difficulty empathising with others 

At the playgroup parents night, the Playgroup Manager again expressed her concerns about T1's Development and I let her know that as far as I was aware, he had been referred to the Child Development Team.