My daughter, now 13, was diagnosed with ADHD (inatentive type) when she was 7. Then at age 12 diagnosed with PDD-NOS.
The poor social/ communication skills can a sign of PDD-NOS or "atypical autism". She started coming out of her shell and getting better at social skills this school year (thank God). I think as they get older they get better in this area (just my opinion) but it's as if my dd justed lagged behind in this area and is suddenly catching up.
Prozac has definately helped her with this problem and that's all she takes.
I agree with testing her for a PDD by a NeuroPsychs are the best for this as they do lots of perforance testing which other professionals don't do. As my son gets older, he can socialize better, but he isn't all that interested, except with family. He's good in soccer and on the swim team and kids do call for him sometimes, but he'd rather play alone, and that's fine with us. Definitely big PDD symptoms are not "getting it" socially, speech delays/problems and sensory issues. PDD kids tend to improve, especially with interventions. OlderMom38781.8147106481My daughter doesn't get social cues either. Since she started on Concerta, she is stil herself, but I think it slows her down and she can focus better. Before she was so busy thinking her thoughts I think she didn't pay attention to a LOT of things. Her teacher tells me the other kids are coming around, so I do feel better. I think that is how the adhd kids are, so busy thinking and taking trips in their mind, they miss out the non verbal social cues.My dd has a big lack of social skills. She does some really in-appropriate things that put people off, but if she were much weirder they would just assume she had problems and dismiss it.
Ex- She is in Girl Scouts. And we're out, in force, with our cookies. At the booth sale, she walked up to customers, as well as the other girls, and say boo with her hands up by her face doing her scary look. Then giggle, almost a strange little maniacal giggle.
I know this can't be typical ADHD behaviour, can it? (I may be posting other examples of behaviour to get your input..... it can be a new game! ) Is this the sort of behaviour that meds will have an effect on? I haven't been able to discipline this kind of thing out of her.
I had previously explained to the leader that she has issues, she's very understanding, I think. However, when the other girls give her the sneer or the strange looks, and tell her to stop so many of the 'issues' behaviours, the leader never takes notice. Never tries to take the opportunity to encourage and celebrate differences or find ways for the others to help her. I think if she had some 'deformity' she would be everybody's best friend, as it is all they seem to do is avoid her. I have her in Scouts for social experience, but it seems to be a negative one. The worst part is that dd doesn't notice the slights. If she noticed that they think she's weird, then she might conform a little. Some peer pressure can be helpful, but only if the child notices and the kids aren't allowed to be mean about it.
I can relate to this. My son makes weird faces and noises in class. Sometimes it's obvious that the kids don't like it, but not to him. He was the star for the week last week. Every kid drew a picture and wrote a sentence. About 75% of the sentences said they liked him because he was funny, or because he had lots of jokes. But to me, it's just problem behavior. He's not in sync with non-verbal social cues. I have to point them out to him.