AboutMichelle Fattig Expertise I can answer questions about educational testing, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, ADD/ADHD, Special Education, IEP, Learning Disabilities, Sensory Processing, Parent Advocacy, Response to Intervention, living and parenting with disabilities, parent rights in special education, school psychology, and more. I cannot provide a medical diagnosis.
Experience I am a school psychologist, medical technologist, author of the Annie Books series: Experience Aspeger's Syndrome and Attention Deficits Through the Eyes of a Child, RTI facilitator, ILCD facilitator, parent advocate, presenter, and researcher. My children and I have Asperger's, ADD/ADHD, and learning disabilities.
Organizations National Association of School Pyschologists, American Medical Technologists, Learning Disabilities Association of Nebraska
Education/Credentials Ed.S. in School Psychology, doctoral studies in SPED Law, SPED Systems Enhancement Leadership, and doctoral candidate Education Leadership. MT(AMT) and MLT(ASCP)
Expert: Michelle Fattig Date: 4/2/2008 Subject: Normal 3 yr old 'stuck' on objects/noises
Question My son is almost 3 years old and is a happy normal boy as far as I can tell. He is a late talker and still only says very limited phrases and does not seem to ask questions. He is very physical and loves to run, jump, pretend play with animals and cars, and go outside. He follows others kids’ play occasionally and laughs with them and gets silly with his 1 year old sister. He is very affectionate with us and others.
A little over a year ago he started picking up sticks outside and holding them up to his face and making crosseyes at them. He also seemed to enjoy rubbing the stick on his upper forehead. He would get stuck on this and ignore other interactions unless it was particularly distracting, and scream if the stick was taken away. Eventually as he began to say words, this stick became a 'stoplight'. He would specifically look for objects and sticks in the shape of an upside down 'L' and call them stoplights - holding them up to his face. At this point a friend who has a PhD in a field relating to the development of young children evaluated him and diagnosed him preliminarily with PDD-NOS primarily due to sensory issues and 'self-stimulation'.
Since then he has continued to improve in all areas but his 'stuckness' has expanded in scope. He is now stuck on background noises and concepts...if he hears a hissing or a fan, he will talk about it for hours or even all day. Any attempt to distract him works for a that moment but as soon as the activity is over, he goes back to talking about the noise. He still looks for 'stoplights' and often crawls under tables using the 'L' of the leg and the table edge as a stoplight and rubs his head against the top of the table. He will also use two sticks as airplanes and sometimes hold one up to his nose and another at arm's length and stare at them. Noises (very faint background noises, loud noises don’t bother him) would wake him up at night and we had to put a fan in his room - which he doesn’t mind - to drown them out so he would sleep. He is very particular about lining cars up in a row or putting objects in cups and very focused on those types of activities and can do them for an hour or more without getting bored.
We attempted to use local programs available in our area for help and have had an OT and special instructor coming once a week to help but they are primarily focusing on some eating issues, sensory, and language skills. This may help eventually, but his ‘stuck’ issue puzzles them. We just attended a re-evaluation of our son which prompted me to write this note. The evaluators were initially surprised that he was even being evaluated as his motor skills were excellent, and he passed all their color, picture matching, vocab tests. However halfway through he heard the noise of a steam heater hissing and he started saying ‘Noise, see Noise” and talked about this noise the entire rest of the time even after multiple distractions. The evaluators could not have been more puzzled. They had no explanation and were confused as to how to categorize this ‘issue’. We are concerned since the evaluation would determine our qualification status for aid.
I am writing just to get an outside opinion…we want to make sure that our son gets the help he needs if he needs help, but if he doesn’t and will just grow out of this, we don’t want to put him through something he doesn’t need. Is this something you have encountered before? Is it a facet of autism or a type of autism? Is there some sort of specific help you can suggest to attempt to alleviate this type of behavior? Thanks very much for your assistance.
Answer The getting "stuck" on things is called perseveration, and is very common in our people. We tend to fixate on subjects, activities, or thoughts for hours on end without needing interaction with others. As he gets older (or maybe even now) you may notice that he prefers to watch one movie or program over and over and over, or "fall in love" with Pokemon, Sponge Bob, YugiO, or other. Video games often fall into a perseveration mode, because the tri-stimulation is soothing to us. A website that can help explain is found at:
Children on the high end of the spectrum, sometimes diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome, have a high vocabulary and technically sound Language "scores" but fall short in the area of social pragmatic language. We do not have good "give and take" skills socially or behaviorally. We tend to want to talk about what we want to talk about to the exclusion of others. It doesn't occur to us, or even sometimes bother us, that the person "sharing" in our conversation isn't paying attention or even walking away. The best technique to help with this is in the area of teaching him creative give and take games. For information on this, try:
The following questionnaire may also be helpful in evaluating and determining services:
EARLY CHILDHOOD/PRESCHOOL PARENT QUESTIONNAIRE
Name of Child: _____________________ Date of Birth: ________ Age: _______
Name of Referrer: __________________ Relationship to Child: ______________
Parent/Guardian: ______________________________________________________
Names Address Phone
Date of Referral: ____________
Referral Concern (Please list any concerns about child’s communication, behavior, or development): _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Medical History:
Pregancy: _____________________________________________________________
Prenatal: ______________________________________________________________
Birth: _________________________________________________________________
History of Chronic Illness, Head Injury, Ear Infections, Hospitalization, or Accident: ______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Mother: ____________________________ Father: ____________________________
Siblings: _______________________________________________________________
Family History (Special Education, Developmental Delays, Learning Disabilities, Mental Health): _________________________________________________________
Who lives with the child: __________________________________________________
How does the child relate with:
Mother _________________ Father __________________ Siblings _______________
Family activities: ________________________________________________________
Does the child experience difficulty with peers, extended family, or social settings?
_______________________________________________________________________
As an infant, did the child experience difficulty with colic or soothing (stiffen or pull away when cuddled or stroked)? ___________________________________________
Communication:
1) Does he or she respond to his/her name: Never Sometimes Often Always
__________________________________________________________________
2) Does he/she express her needs or wants: Verbally Pointing Pulling Tantrums
___________________________________________________________________
3) Does he/she talk like children his/her age? ______________________________
___________________________________________________________________
4) Does he/she follow simple or complex directions? ________________________
____________________________________________________________________
5) Have you ever wondered if he/she is deaf? _______________________________
6) Does he/she seem to hear at times, but not at others? _______________________
7) Does he/she ever seem lost in own little world or stare off? _________________
_____________________________________________________________________
8) Does he/she mimic, copy, or like to immitate? ____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
9) Does he/she seem to have lost words, or say fewer words than before? _________
_____________________________________________________________________
Social Concerns:
10) Does he/she smile at family members? __________________________________
11) Does he/she smile at strangers or become overly frightened by strangers? ______
____________________________________________________________________
12) Does he/she prefer to play alone or overly dependent on parent/caregiver for entertainment (you are his favorite/only toy)? ____________________________
____________________________________________________________________
13) Does he/she get things for self? _______________________________________
14) Is he/she very independent or overly attached (extreme separation anxiety)? ____
_____________________________________________________________________
15) Has he/she met milestones early or unevenly? ____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
16) Does he/she seem to avoid eye contact or have too much eye contact (watching without mirroring or reacting like a little professor)? _______________________
_____________________________________________________________________
17) Does he/she often seem “lost in own little world”? ________________________
____________________________________________________________________
18) Does he/she seem tuned out or uninterested in other children? _______________
____________________________________________________________________
Behavioral Concerns:
19) Does he/she seem to have excessive tantrums or emotional outburst with little or
no provocation? ____________________________________________________
20) Does he/she express frustration or over react to small changes or routine? ______
_____________________________________________________________________
21) Does he/she demonstrate a lack of understanding in playing with toys (excessive mouthing, banging, lining up, sorting, focus on one part like spinning, or lack of interest)? __________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
22) Does he/she seem to get stuck on things regularly (wants to stick with one activity over any others, watch the same movie over and over, read the same book over and over, or other)? _________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
23) Does he/she have unual attachments to objects? ___________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
24) Does he/she toe walk or have unusual facial movements/grimacing? __________
_____________________________________________________________________
25) Does he/she make any unusual hand movements or spin for long periods of time?
_____________________________________________________________________
26) Does he/she seem overly sensitive to textures or sounds? ___________________
_____________________________________________________________________
If Age Appropriate:
27) Did he/she babble by 12 months? ______________________________________
28) Did he/she gesture (point, wave bye bye) by 12 months? ____________________
29) Did he/she use single words by 16 months? ______________________________
30) Does he/she seem to have an unusually advanced vocabulary? _______________
31) Does he/she seem to have an extremely good memory? ____________________
32) Does he/she demonstrate two-words spontaneously (not echo) phrases by 24 months? _________________________________________________________
33) Has he/she demonstrated any loss of language or social skills of any kind? _____
_____________________________________________________________________
(3-4 years of age)
Cognitive:
34) Show him/her a doll or stuffed toy, touch one to a box and have the other
pretend to look in the box. Ask him/her “Which one knows what’s in the box?”
Response: ____________________________________________________________
Our website offers several free downloads, interviews (down stream) Unlocking the Door to Autism and Global Talk Radio, as well as a free click book "Taming Tommy's Tantrums." www.anniebooks.com
Please let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with.
