Nobody's mentioned this yet (I don't think)--but the phobias and attachments to unusual things are associated with anxiety. The clinical kind. Have you considered that?
At the intensity level you are describing, I wouldn't just decide it's part of his personality. It sounds like something worth investigating, potentially limiting his life experience He may need to learn some coping skills that he's not picking up intuitively.
Yes eco21268, we do suspect that he will possibly/probably be diagnosed with anxiety. In fact, we've already had a child behavioural specialist work with us and him to help provide him with some good coping skills. It helped a great deal but sadly, she retired 6 months ago and we haven't found anyone else yet.
We're getting a full psychoeducational assessment done in a few weeks, and we'll definitely be sharing the anxiety concerns with the psych. At this point, the behavioural quirks are the main reasons we're having him evaluated. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she'll be a good fit and maybe she can also provide some counselling/coaching.
Though I strongly suspect that there is a strong link between his possible giftedness and everything else that is going on. And that seems to be supported by the number of responses from parents sharing their similar experiences with DC who also have/had several fears and the inability to let go of objects. Actually, I would love to know the stats. And I definitely wonder to what extent it is all tied to the OEs. I would be curious to get aeh's views on this...
Though regardless of the cause, we obviously want to help him learn some good reasoning and coping skills so that he can work through all of this and enjoy everything that life has to offer.
I loved the fetching a dried marker story. Too familiar.
The main reason I'm sharing on this forum is because I need support too! It really helps to be able to commiserate with each other.
