Quirky 7 year old?

Question

We've had our seven year old boy, Ben, assessed and he's been found to have D.A.M.P. which is Deficient in Attention, Motor Skills & Perception - basically one step up from ADHD. He also has fine/gross motor dyspraxia and expressive and receptive speech delay. My question is: is it normal with kids with ADHD/DAMP etc to have autistic traits? Ben isn't great socially (is interested in forming relationships with peers but is not that good at sustaining them), but really that is the only major autistic hallmark that he has, he's affectionate, doesn't have obsessive tendencies, eye contact is okay, doesn't have to adhere to routine etc. He does, however, constantly ask "silly" questions or start talking about a game he's playing which is completely out of context and we say "what are you talking about Ben?" THings just seem to pop into his head and he just says them, regardless of their relevance. Is this just a symptom of the language delay or something else?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

He could have Aspergers syndrome or a thought disorder. I would just wait and discuss any concerns with his doctors.

Answer 2

Go to dyslexia.com you may find some interesting items there.
Kids with very developed imagination skills tend to have some autistic spectrum issues. BUT that could also put them in the same league with a lot of well known geniuses. At that same parent site there is a page with the 37 common traits at ...
http://www.dyslexia.com/library/symptoms.htm
It is worth looking at should you need help some time in the future. They do have a wonderful method of helping children with ADHD. Your child has a wonderful questioning brain, congratulations! Not all kids have that and not all parents notice the ones who do.

Answer 3

As far as the random questions, I can assure you that it's normal seven-year-old behavior! Isn't it funny, how a kid this age will assume that you have heard the entire inner monologue? For your son, getting into the decontextualized language of academic life will be a little more difficult. His speech seems tied to a context in him mind, and he may need help understanding that other people don't know exactly what he's talking about. Start a conversation about the "inner voice" and self talk. Research has shown that "self-talk" is really important for helping kids negotiate new tasks. What are some things that he can say to himself to help him be successful? What can he say to help others know what he's talking about?

Kids this age love hearing silly stories--ask him some random questions so that he feels the confusion that you feel. A categorizing game like 20 questions can help him to zoom in on key qualities and characteristics of objects, and can give him a positive channel for asking questions.

Answer 4

Yes, it is somewhat normal to have some of these traits. They experience trouble in retaining peer relationships because children sense something is off with them. Imagine that you are reading this right now and only half of the words register with you, then you start thinking about cheeseburgers, and then you come back to reality and see that these crazy people are wondering what you meant about the somewhat normal cheeseburger on your plate. He's maybe not separating reality from what is going on in his thoughts. We all have random thoughts, but he lets them out verbally when we would organize them or save them for use in later conversations. That can be part of language delay because he does not form concrete ideas. That is more than likely embedded in his attention problems so I would tend to want further evaluation.

Answer 5

Sounds like classic symptoms of Being a Kid.

Likes to make friends, but not skilled at "relationship building"
Asks silly questions
Wild, imaginative mental associations
Tendency to say whatever comes into his head.

Sounds like a typical boy.

I'm not there for the details, but it seems like you're worrying too much over very normal stuff...