My DS7 also prefers to play by himself at recess. He a lot of the time eats near people but not with people and doesn't really ask for play dates although is happy to have them if I initiate. And no one is really asking him for one. His teacher reports the kids like him and he participates in all the small group activities well. But His teachers want more kid interaction from him but from his perspective, and he says this, is that recess is his only "me" time to have all the stuff in his head released, as opposed to doing whatever is required by class. He spends 7 hours with them, he doesn't need anymore, according to DS. I am ok with it because he really needs the time. However, I started getting worried that he wasn't doing all the other things the other kids were, and I inadvertently drew his attention to it by asking those leading questions. He probably knew anyway but didn't really want to talk about it, so I am stumped as to how much he really cares about his admitted ambivalence towards most of the kids in his class. He liked the boys in K much better, so he sometimes sees them and plays with them at recess and he reported playing with a 2nd grader he knows. So he isn't alone all the time, just a lot of the time. Some of it is definitely him, and some is them - he says the boys in his class are interested only in video games and superheroes - which interest DS but not as much or in the same way it interest them and also he has his own worlds and pretend stuff or the books he is reading. He is in a gifted program but he is pretty far advanced of most in his class - he likes older kids, adults much much better.
So part of me worries a great deal about it - except he is happy - he likes school - and considering how little new he is actually learning on a daily basis, I consider that a small miracle. But I do get how concerning it can be.
DeHe
