Expert: James Michael Roan - 12/20/2008

Question
My son is in full day kindergarten. He is able to read incl. sounding out 2-3 syllable words, makes eye contact, is fully verbal with appropriate interaction, recognizes humor, using reasoning, is extremely intelligent and demonstrates an inquisitive/intuitive ability. Episodically (usually when drawing, watching television and when extremely excited) he will flap, or pill roll his hands with extending arms (almost posturing). he also displays some  difficulty with buttons, scissors . He is able to write/recognize letters numbers and writes simple sentences or phrases. I feel that in the area of fine motor tasks my wife and i didn't spend enough training time. he has just independently picked up a regular child scissors following 3-4 days of 15 minute "homework sessions" and makes both functional and physical gains with focus on a task rather quickly.
I am a PT working with the DD population, should i be concerned. Oh, his gross motor is fine (hope, climbs trees, runs , etc), although he's a little "clumsy"  

Answer
Hi Daniel;

Please describe what a "pill roll" looks like. I apologize for my ignorance.  A recent research article reports 20 percent of typically developing children show some stereotypies. Please download the M-CHAT and scoring criteria and let me know his scores on each item and elaborate where appropriate. I'm not concerned yet.

http://www.utmem.edu/pediatrics/general/clinical/m-chat.pdf
http://www.firstsigns.org/downloads/Downloads_archive/m-chat_scoring.PDF


Kind regards,
James














James Roan Bio:

James Roan (roanpsych@gmail.com) has been consulting in the areas of autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and learning difficulties in the United States and in Ireland for over ten years. James Roan has traveled to Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Clare, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and other cities and counties across Ireland assessing children and adults, and consulting with solicitors (lawyers) in defense of children with disability and with enforcement of their rights. James Roan was the consulting psychologist responsible for many of the autism and ADHD screening tools and other content for www.accessspecialneeds.com. James Roan is the past president and current board member of the autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation. James Roan consulted with the graduate department of the Waterford Institute of Technology in the development of their graduate program for the certification of private autism tutors.