Emotional and Social Developmental Delay

[hopefawn]

My son is very bright and consumes knowledge easily about his favorite topics. He is emotionally immature for his 11 years, with immature speech. He displays socially inappropriate behavior. Even at school. While he is not trouble, or violent, his behavior is disruptive. He chirps or sings or tries to chat with others in class. He refuses to to homework, and I can get some of it done some of the time, but it is given inconsistently, and struggling with him is very draining for both of us.

I don't know what learning disability is his problem, but he does have ADHD. His penmanship is like a six year old's. His ideas and ability to make connections are just fine, if not advanced.

Does he exhibit signs of Emotional and Social Developmental Delay? And how do I help him?

[supermomma531]

I have experience in this department. I have 3 children. 1 of my children has a rare form of epilepsy and is intellectually disabled. He has also been diagnosed with ADD. He is on several medications to control his seizures but due to everything that is going on with his health, he has extremely atrocious behavior!!!  He does everything and anything to be center of attention. I have been using a reward system with him. Any time he does something good, he gets rewarded with something he likes at the end of his week. Constant reminders are needed though. What you have to do is get your children looked at by a child psychologist through the school board and have them test these children for learning disabilities. These tests will take about a few months I believe to complete. They will look at everything such as cognitive skills, learning disabilities,etc. Take your children to a pediatrician who will probably refer your children to child psychiatrists who can diagnose these children with either of these types of things such as ADD, ADHD, ODD, OCD, etc. If your communities have a regional childrens center, these places can be of huge help to you and your families. These are the places that you need to start off with and as Sandman said above, lots of reading on your part as the parent will go a long way to understand things. Arm yourselves with information and take it with you to your appointments. This can help you to help the doctors diagnose problems easier because you live with these children, they don't. Keep journals of their behaviors and how many times they get sent home from school and about how many times they refuse to do homework. What you think their strengths and weaknesses are, etc. Send me messages if u want to talk. I'M ALWAYS AROUND.

[nd1]

I just returned from a visit with my brother's family and my nephew is almost verbatim what hopefawn is describing.  He's 8.  They've never had him diagnosed and the whole family is stressed by his behavior.  They think he'll grow out of it, but he seems to be getting in more trouble, i.e. he's getting bullied at school.  I'm just wondering what the first step in treating something like this is?  The whole family needs to understand how to cope, but they need to put a name to what's going on.  I think delaying action to this point has only made things worse.

[Sandman2]

   First, start a new post and repeat what you just said.  Not a lot of people read parts of on going posts.
   It sounds like he is in full time day care (understandable).  They need to try and do what you do.  The ""I'm a bad boy" and puts him self to a corner or pinches his arm...etc."   is not something he is making up.  It is what is happening to him daily.  So you need to work with them to come up with alternate ways of dealing with the situation.  
  Finally, you have to deal with what will happen in a public school situation with a more structured environment and a lot more kids.  Its maybe a bit to early to go for a diagnosis of something like ADHD - but its not too early for you to start reading up on it and how to deal with it.  There is lots of good stuff out there, and nothing is better than talking to a good child psychologist - you mighty try, "Driven to Distraction" by Hallowell.
  Good Luck

[AlwaysAlways]

I'm new as a teacher/emotional therapist working at a pediatric housing clinic; i have a child that is 4yrs old and gets in trouble all day with "everybody" he is agressive, doesn't listen, gets attention from others with his bad behavior and he repeats all day "I'm a bad boy" and puts him self to a corner or pinches his arm...etc.
When I have him with me I always hug him and tell him he is a good boy, and if he is behaving propertly i tell him how wonderful he is and that he makes me happy, and also reward him with something; but when he goes back to his floor starts all over again...and Mondays ufff the worse...What can I do?
ALWAYS  ALWAYS

[aid821]

Is your son in a Special Education unit, or is he in a mainstream class at school? If he is in a Special Education unit, have a word to his teachers, as they generally run great programs that assist in the development of emotional and social skills. If he is in a mainstream class, again have a chat to his teacher or teacher in charge of integration and let them know of your concerns. They may be able to provide some assistance with a teacher's aide/assistant support in the classroom to work one on one with him.

[Sandman2]

He sounds very, very normal for an ADHD child.  Do you know what ADHD does to a child?  Do you know how to work with a child who has ADHD?  The way you can help him is to become an expert in ADHD and help him deal with this.