Expert: Jene Aviram - 8/13/2009

Question
Hi Jene,
I want to thank you in advance for you insightful, sensitive & honest approach to every answer you give.  i have made a previous post regarding my 2 yr old son and i find you v.v. helpful.

My f/up question is this?  My son will look out the corner of his eye when going by the table or chairs, he will run and drop his head right when he passes the object he is focusing on, he will run sometimes with his head straight, sometimes to the side and sometimes a mixture of both, he will also stare during his speech sessions when he doesn't want to comply with the demand made of him. He will run the curb of the driveway.  Are all these visual stims?  If i look at these as individual activities they are not alot, if i look at all the activites together (w/the exception of the stare) it could be more because he runs around alot especially if he's outside.  

How do you answer the question of "does he do this alot?" if they are/not related?  

For instance the past two days i did not see any corner of the eye past the table at all but he did the running thing on the deck once or twice.

Sorry for the rambling but i was curious if you had any insight as to know if they are related to visual stims or just different quirky play activity.

Answer
Hi again Cetta,

I understand that you're very concerned about your son and this is probably making you focus more on his behaviors than need be.

If your son did not look out the corner of his eye when going by the table for the last 2 days, then I would not be concerned.  He does not seem "stuck" on anything.  You seem to be able to redirect him easily enough.

It's hard to define "A lot".  Parents say their child doesn't respond to his name.  When asked how much, if they say 80%, that's a lot because most kids respond to their name 80% of the time.  If their child lines up toys A LOT MORE than he actually plays with them, that's considered a lot.  The question is how much your son does these things in comparison to "typical" kid stuff that he does.  Do you see what I mean?

I know you said you were going to a neurologist soon.  How about taking some videos of your son while he does the things you're concerned about?  Take the video camera to your appointment and show the neurologist.  This way, the neurologist will be able to see exactly what you're referring to.

I know this is a very stressful time for you and it's hard not to worry.  Impossible actually!  However, you're soon about to get a very extensive evaluation, and that will set your mind at rest. I wish you great luck.

Jene Aviram
http://www.nlconcepts.com