DD (7) has been reading silently since age 5 and reads at about a 6th grade level, give or take. She has never appeared entirely neurotypical and may be somewhere at the far edge of the spectrum. We used to consider her SPD, but a lot of those symptoms have improved. However, she is still a very intense kid with a bit of anxiety and some mild social delays (IMO). She also has been identified as gifted.
Recently I have noticed her lips moving and her talking under her breath while she reads. When questioned, she says she is not reading the whole text but that she "has to" say certain "strong" letters (such as p) and words to herself when she sees them. She used the "has to" language herself--I did not suggest it.
This appears to be slowing down her reading, which is still pretty fast, but used to be very fast. It also makes it look like she cannot read silently. If I ask her to stop, she will for a while, but then starts up again.
Has anyone seen anything like this in their kids? Thought I really haven't seen much from her that I could consiser OCD-ish, she did use to do a frequent throat-clearing thing that was sort of OCD/tic-like, but we weren't sure if it was allergies or what. She also used to chew her hair a lot, though this isn't really the same kind of issue. OH, and she had a weird thing where she would lick her finger and rub it on the sole of her foot a lot. (I guess both these might be sensory seeking, which was always the kind of SPD we saw.) She was a fairly rigid and ritualistic toddler (but so are many!)
I don't know if I should be concerned or not. Maybe I should just ignore it...? Would this be a spectrumy kind of behavior?
Edited by loraxc - 6/9/11 at 7:31pm
Recently I have noticed her lips moving and her talking under her breath while she reads. When questioned, she says she is not reading the whole text but that she "has to" say certain "strong" letters (such as p) and words to herself when she sees them. She used the "has to" language herself--I did not suggest it.
This appears to be slowing down her reading, which is still pretty fast, but used to be very fast. It also makes it look like she cannot read silently. If I ask her to stop, she will for a while, but then starts up again.
Has anyone seen anything like this in their kids? Thought I really haven't seen much from her that I could consiser OCD-ish, she did use to do a frequent throat-clearing thing that was sort of OCD/tic-like, but we weren't sure if it was allergies or what. She also used to chew her hair a lot, though this isn't really the same kind of issue. OH, and she had a weird thing where she would lick her finger and rub it on the sole of her foot a lot. (I guess both these might be sensory seeking, which was always the kind of SPD we saw.) She was a fairly rigid and ritualistic toddler (but so are many!)
I don't know if I should be concerned or not. Maybe I should just ignore it...? Would this be a spectrumy kind of behavior?
Edited by loraxc - 6/9/11 at 7:31pm
