Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional media and poor social skills

I agree with cricket and others, that it could be better to give the kid a foundation for communication in the form of other games. You might try Mario games -- they're universally known in kid-dom, and not violent or inappropriate. Minecraft is good too, though for that age you'd want him to play only offline -- but it's becoming a kid universal, as well, and is a good basis for conversation with other kids. It really helped DS with his social skills learning to have that basis of friendship going for him -- he was actually ahead in it, but when the other kids caught up to him in being able to play the games (learned to read, for one), and he was the guru, it was a big help.

You might also see if the school does any social skills groups or classes -- ours was terrific for that, when DS was in early elementary.

Oh, been there...

DS9 has different dx's than yours but at 6 was very similar behaviorally. Now it's a different story altogether (as in, much MUCH better).

At 6 my DS used to engage in strange activities like licking things to make the other kids laugh in an attempt to fit in. At 7 he asked a couple of older boys to write on his face with a felt pen because he was trying to get them to laugh. Etc etc. He was continuously ridiculed. He has an older sister who is very sensitive and so was not exposed to media that wasn't gentle or age appropriate.

More on what Cricket3 said... gaming was a valuable "in" for our DS. I wouldn't let him play violent or graphic stuff, but he was able to learn enough Wii and computer games to gain social relevance and have something to talk about with the other boys.

Fyi at age 6, the school was convinced he had autism. This has been ruled out via specialists in the field, and now, at age 9, he has so much social savvy and his "theory of mind" is so good that it boggles the mind that he was ever remotely spectrum-like.

So I guess the take away message is that I've been there too... I had a 6 year old who was so socially quirky that I felt like I'd failed him and didn't know what to do, but time and growth and development has worked their wonders on him. It's only been three years, but oh my...

Thanks for the input everyone.

He does connect with other classmates on other interests and DH pointed out that he isn't as sheltered as I made him out to be. He does enjoy Transformers and Justice League. I have been to classroom parties and he seems to fit in. Kids save him a seat, they cheer for him during games, and he likes school.

I think I was just freaked out last night after my kindergartener came home talking about specific models of firearms and how Kid said they can be used to rob people.

I am okay with Harry Potter and Mario but I was not prepared for Grand Theft Auto and R rated slasher films.

His normal method of learning about something is to listen, ask a ton of questions, talk about it, draw it out and incorporate it into his pretend play.

All of that is great if the topic is space travel or something but would be really frowned upon at school with the violent stuff.

I agree that there is a social glitch going on too. He gets social skills help in OT. He does part of his OT with a friend from his class.