Indeed, acs!
Debbie, DS4 is my child afflicted with RE (Rampant Emotionalism). He cries before he tells me what's wrong. Often it's a little nothing problem that I could have fixed immediately if he had only used his words. But once he starts blubbering, it can be hard to understand him anymore, so it takes a lot longer to fix it. Plus I'm a lot less eager to help him if he's throwing a tantrum/having a meltdown. (They're different, but he does both--regularly!)
I keep trying to make that clear to him that he should speak first and cry second, but it still hasn't sunk in. If I had a dime for every time I have said to him "Use your words," I could have hired someone to use words FOR him!
I think a lot of it has to do with personality type. Have you administered the kiddie-version of the Meyers-Briggs, Debbie? Here's the link:
http://www.personalitypage.com/cgi-local/build_pqk.cgiIt helped me make a bit more sense of my child. Some of the questions are hard to answer for kids on the younger end of the scale though. Be warned...
