Are these behaviors in a 4 year old anything to worry about?

[SoCaliMommy]

I want to know if i'm over reacting or should make him a drs appt to get a referral for a evaluation.

loves to line up cars, he sometimes will drive them around but most often when he brings out his cars he will line them up.

He loves to have other people chase him

He is quick to get upset

He will call other children when upset the following,stupidhead,dummyead, tootahead. The other day at the park he got upset with a little boy that he was sorta playing tag with and said to the boy "your a babygirl."

If sometime happens that he doesn't like he says " it's rameyhead"

He doesn't like to up to other kids to initiate play

He will tease/taunt other kids like saying nah nah you cant get me in hopes that they will start chasing him.

He will go up to his sister and for no reason hit or pinch her.

He won't ask other kids their name. If he's playing with a boy he will call them "boy"

He thinks it's hysterically funny to get in trouble for something he should know better than to do like trying to bite the dog.

If his sister says something he for some reason he doesn't like he will freak out and try and hit her.

Can be very physically mean towards the dog, he tries to bit the dog for no reason.

He can't even sit still long enough to read a short book to him.

He also will cover his ears when there is a noise or music he thinks is loud when it's not really loud at all and he will say it's hurting his ears.

He also sometimes will sniff food before eating it or items you don't and then say yummy.

[angelachristin]

hopefully someone who knows about this will chime in soon, but I have a DS who will be 4 in November and he does some of these.

When something happens he doesn't like he says it's "tippytine" instead of "rameyhead", but it is similar, something that makes no sense. I have asked him what tippytine means and he just says, "IT'S ALWAYS TIPPY TINE!"

He also will not initiate play with other kids he doesn't know, like at the playground, but I attribute that to him not being around lots of other kids. I SAH with him and he doesn't have a lot of playdates.

He doesn't care to know other kids' names, at first, either. He will call them "that red boy," "that blue girl," depending on the color of their clothes, or something like "my green friend." When he says hi to them he might say, "Hi Kid." Once it is a friend he knows, though, he does use their name correctly.

He will do the same stuff to his baby sister, pinch or hit for no reason. When I show him that this hurts her and makes her cry (she is sitting there with tears streaming down, crying and saying, "no, no, no, no") he will just try to change the subject and talk about something else. Or else put his hands over his ears.

I was just thinking this stuff was normal?

editing to add: Mine covers his ears, too, and says not-loud stuff is loud; however, if he is the one making the noise, even if it is SUPER loud, it is fine. He will come in and shut off my radio when it is at a low volume and say it's too loud, but listen to his Mickey Mouse music blaring loud and that's okey-dokey.

[marge234]

Someone with more experience will likely weigh in with something helpful. I don't think it would hurt to check into sensory integration issues and see from that whether you think an eval is necessary. I wouldn't rely solely on advice from a ped because they're not all well trained in this area. I will see if I can find a good link but think the above stickies have some references. The out of sync child is a helpful book and the author has a blog, sensory smart parent (I think) I don't have the url handy.

[Grace and Granola]

just wanted to say that my ds started many of those behaviors at age 4. The name calling, "rameyhead" type stuff, teasing, quick to get upset, pretty much all of the "social" stuff you mentioned we've been going through this year. He always does the holding his ears, it's usually when he doesn't want to hear whatever is being played/said, it really has nothing to do with volume. I think many of these things are standard 4yo behavior.

He's almost 5. Some of these things are dissipating.

[VisionaryMom]

My DS does many of those things. In particular he seems to have a real aversion to learning people's names. He says it doesn't matter, almost as if it's a waste of his time to learn others' names. I'm not sure if that's a typical behavior, but his preschool teacher said he got along with other children fine - just didn't call them by name. He would recall significant detail about them, though.

[kme]

My 6 year old has a lot of these behaviors. He has SPD, a langauge disorder and possibly ADHD. He can be mean to other kids but when you examine WHEN he is mean, it usually when another kid is too close to him. Just today in the waiting room at OT, he told another kid to "get away from me" and I was angry, but the kid was sitting really close, almost leaning on him (watching him play a game). My son cannot tolerate people getting too close. He also hates people running at him or hugging him unexpectedly.

However, his way of initiating play is like your son's - he will "tag" them and hope they chase him. The psycholgist said he is immature in his socialization, although this may not be immature for a 4 year old such as your son.

My son also thinks it's funny to do things he knows he is not supposed to do. He will come right up to me and do something right in front of me and start laughing hysterically. And keep in mind, he is 6.

Some of the stuff you mentioned sounds typical though.

[Emmeline II]

This sounds like my ds. We are on a wait list the the behavioral clinic at the hospital (needed our Dr.'s referral for that), and we just met with an occupational therapist.

[SoCaliMommy]

Thanks for the replies

Today was a rough day, he was constantly doing stuff to make his sister upset. He even went as far as pulling her her hair because she said something that he didn't like, which he got time out for. We met up with friends for lunch and when i told him we were going to see them he goes " i hate E she's stupidhead "(she's 1), then when playing at the park he kept calling her cousin who was with them who is the same age as him names like chickenhead, he got time out a total of 3 times while we were out with them, because he kept calling the little girl that was his age names for no reason. He also kept saying he'd be nice and not call her names anymore.


We just got a referral to The Learning Clinic at a hospital that deals with evaluations because of a concern about our daughter( she will be 7 next month) having ADHD Inattentive Type and some other issues ( she had a evaluation through school back in Feb/March and met the cut off for it)

[ashtree]

im interested in this topic and all the sensory talk. its new to me. im not on mothering much, and almost never post. that being said i have a very angry very high needs newly 4 year old boy. alot of the comments from the original post definitely apply to our situation but the biggest thing going on right now is my sons screaming. its a very deliberate, very high pitched scream that he uses in situations he is unhappy about and quite often. its as tho to him we dont hear his voice, but we are constantly trying to communicate in our house in a peaceful manner and keep the lines of communication open. its really weighing on everyone right now and feeling more and more out of control. im constantly losing my cool these days and i know thats not helping anything or anyone.

i do think my ds is totally brilliant. he is extremely physical, been riding a two wheeler with no training wheels for almost 6 months now, great conversationalist, funny, witty, genuinely kind hearted. just so much anger. more and more it seems. wondering if its just anger or something more????

eta:just read some internet stuff on sensory disorders and it sounds like my boy completely, especially the info on physical and verbal responses to stimuli. feeling kinda overwhelmed now and not sure where to start, going to the local library tomorrow for resources and information.

oh and he is into cars. very much so. lines them up and is meticulous about the arrangement. more into the set up than playing with them. that was the statement that got me interested in this thread.