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DS 6 year old currently in a pull out half day gifted program. His problem is recess. When he gets into an unstructured environment he tends to get overwhelmed and easily irritated. Apparently when someone is "annoying" him he's started to lash out with his hands and hit. He's been diagnosed ADHD and has very poor impulse control. He also has some OCD tendencies that make anything outside his "rules" upsetting to him. The teachers are great and have been addressing each incident carefully and keeping in good contact with me.

So now the gifted coordinator would like to think up some alternate activities to occupy him during recess to avoid any future issues. We're hitting the library this weekend to pick up some good science books that he can poor over and I'm going to see if there is a good creative (educational if possible) game for his DS. He doesn't like to color and I don't want to send him to school with a mini-dvd player & movies. Thought & suggestions?

Oh and the gifted coordinator is also the head of the full day gifted program he starts next year. I'm anxious that he'll lose his spot due to behavioral issues.

I would think that an ADHD kid needs more gross motor activity during recess time, not less. Maybe they need to be organizing Capture the Flag games at recess or something, for all the kids, not just him.

Our school has an organized "walking club" sponsored by the PTA. They track mileage for each kid (and give out little plastic prizes when the kids reach milestone numbers of miles). It would be some work to set up, but it was really key for my DS9 (2E Asperger's) who had similar issues of not being able to occupy himself at recess in earlier grades.

He still likes the walking club; it appeals to his number sense and he likes to rack up the miles.

DeeDee

See this article.

http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/9346.html

Note the first comment after the article.

How about a balance board?

Has he been thoroughly evaluated for Apserger's? As a parent of an AS child, problems with regulating attention, getting overwhelmed and irritated easily, poor fine motor/coloring skills, and having rigid expectations for rules that can result in emotional outbursts when those expectations are violated sure sounds a lot like it bears close investigation to me.

A lot of times, symptoms of Asperger's in gifted kids are written off as "gifted quirks" instead of being recogized for what they are.

"Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults" is a good resource for clinicians and parents that helps clarify the differences between signs of giftedness and signs of ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, OCD, etc., and also describes what these disorders look like and how they manifest when they occur in gifted people.

[quote=aculady]Has he been thoroughly evaluated for Apserger's? As a parent of an AS child, problems with regulating attention, getting overwhelmed and irritated easily, poor fine motor/coloring skills, and having rigid expectations for rules that can result in emotional outbursts when those expectations are violated sure sounds a lot like it bears close investigation to me.

A lot of times, symptoms of Asperger's in gifted kids are written off as "gifted quirks" instead of being recogized for what they are.

"Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults" is a good resource for clinicians and parents that helps clarify the differences between signs of giftedness and signs of ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, OCD, etc., and also describes what these disorders look like and how they manifest when they occur in gifted people. [/quote

I've asked about the Asperger's myself and was told it wasn't a perfect fit since he was too capable of social/emotional interaction. Though sometimes I think he's just very good at learning what behaviors are expected but doesn't really seem to get it himself. He's just very out of sync with social cues.

Hmmm, I'll look for one at the toy store this weekend. Thanks for the suggestion. I'd really rather find a way to keep him doing something physical.

That 1st quote is EXACTLY the problem. He cannot take normal childhood teasing at all. He's very literal and just doesn't get it. His incidents almost always start with "well they said...."

Irishmaggie, a couple of things:

--I agree with Aculady. Asperger's is a distinct possibility. The literalness, the inability to be flexible about rules, the tendency to escalate... it's very familiar. Gifted kids with AS are often missed because they can be very verbal, and even sociable (my DS is quite extroverted, actually, just lacks the skills to be socially successful). If you can revisit this and get testing through a qualified doctor, I'd say do it.

--Does your DS have an IEP? Because if not, you should start the process to get one. (See the book From Emotions to Advocacy, or the Wrightslaw website). You may be able to get additional help for him with social skills, and even possibly support at recess. He needs to learn these skills.

DeeDee

This really sounds very much like how Asperger's presents in a gifted child. I would press for an evaluation from someone familiar with kids who are both gifted and Asperger's.

Here is a link to a good basic article on the intersection of Asperger's and giftedness.

Wow Aculady, That sounds a lot like my DS. Especially the sense of humor part. Its very hard watching him try to understand humor and always seems to laugh at the oddest things. He actually has a dual dx of ADHD/ODD but the description of the arguing with parents seems more in line then some of the descriptions of ODD kids. The lack of empathy also seemed very familiar. Once you explain it to him he can see it (well sorta) but he never sees it on his own.

I saw your post yesterday, then realized aculady and DeeDee had beaten me to the mark.

+1 everything they are saying. Your son is in the same place mine was in last year. Unstructured time at recess with no adult backup to help him negotiate conflicts was just too much for him. Things are slightly better this year, with closely supervised lunch in a small group setting with a facilitator, which he has been able to carry on to the playground for the following recess.

Whatever his label your son clearly needs some social skills training, and an adult to facilitate recess activities. Some schools in our areas have the SLP work on pragmatic language during recess with an "informal", open to all activity (legos, puzzles, games) to attract and mix special needs and NT kids. Should be in his IEP...

We have another IEP sched for this month. This one will include the teachers in his new full day gifted program he starts next year. Based on everyone's posts I emailed the school psychologist about the possibility of Aspergers. I'd brought it up before but never really was able to get a clear idea of why/why not that dx. He is in a social skills class as part of the special school district in our area. I think its very helpful but I'm going to keep researching classroom & recess strategies for him.

Thank you all so much for your responses. Finding this forum for 2E children has been such a relief just to know I'm not alone.

Irishmaggie, if you can, I'd recommend pursuing an outside evaluation in parallel with the eval through the school. Some school psychologists are not well enough trained about autism to be able to recognize it in a gifted child, who may have very subtle language/communication impairments and present in unusual ways. A specialist is likely to give you much better information.

At the same time, you want the school to evaluate so that you can get the services.

It's a lot of work to do both, but worth gathering enough information that you have a really good picture of skills and challenges.

DeeDee

Just in case you have not heard about SENG. Below is a link for an upcoming webinar about ASD and gifted.


SENGinar

oops

http://www.sengifted.org/programs/senginars/upcoming-senginar

Well I got an email back from the school psychologist and she had already planned to evaluate his ability to interact socially in the next 2 weeks. She said that they were going to do a full autism spectrum test to see where he falls.

Fingers crossed this gives us some better direction on how to help him at school!

Excellent news. Hopefully the psychologist at the school is familiar with gifted kids on the spectrum.

Good! I hope you get what you need.

DeeDee

Just wanted to post a quick thank you before I head to work! He made it through recess without incident!!!! After the Aspergers idea came up I checked out a book at the library and used some of the suggestions on how to communicate social skills to a child with Aspergers. He had a picture of himself with his hands in his pockets labeled "I keep my hands to myself and not on my friends" that he took to school. We also picked up a children's book on anger management and talked about taking a time out if he was overwhelmed. I had multiple activities in his backpack to distract/deflect his attention if he became agitated.

THANK YOU for ALL of your suggestions. It may be a small victory but I couldn't be happier.

Great teaching, Irishmaggie!

DeeDee