Intensely focused | Imamother

amother

Sat, Sep 05 2009, 5:10 pm

DS is almost three. From what I can tell, meaning I never took him to be evaluated, he has some mild sensory integration issues. I'm now noticing it's very difficult for me to get his attention. He gets into this, like, headspace, he starts playing some kind of imagination game, and once he's playing his game, there is no way to get this kid's attention without having him freak out on me.

Just saying his name...not even an option.
I've tried getting down to eye level with him, but he completely ignores me.
I've tried touching or tapping him, he ignores me.
If I turn his face (gently) to look at me and say his name, this will usually snap him out of his imagination game, but he gets very upset when I do it, so whatever it is that I want him to do gets put on hold until he calms down.

Is this sort of intense focus normal? If so, any advice on how I can better get his attention? If it's not normal, what should I do?

PS He's really smart. He's not yet three, and can identify most shapes (including pentagon and octogon), all English letters, some Hebrew letter, all the ROY G BIV colors plus pink, brown, black, white, can count to 20, has a huge vocabulary. I'm not saying this to brag (although I am proud LOL

) I just know that sometimes a high IQ can be indicative of some disorders.

Also, this isn't all the time. He's usually quite social, and easy to talk to, and get to respond. He just gets into this mode where the entire world is turned off except for what he's doing, and when you shake him out of if, no matter how gently, he gets very upset.

ShakleeMom

Sat, Sep 05 2009, 9:38 pm

It's called narrow interests. it presents with an almost obsessive manner. Kids with PDD start with sensory issues, then move on to narrow interests albeit immensely high IQ. Can't harm to have him evaluated by a pediatric psychiatrist or a neuro-developmental psychologist.