My son is 4 and was diagnosed with ADHD a few weeks ago. In the assesment report that gave us a rundown on how he matched up age wise with his development. Some I thought were pretty on target but the one that really surprised me was the social skills. They matched him up equal to someone about 2 years younger than him. At first I was shocked, that just didn't seem right. But once i had time to process things, he actually fits the bill.
It's hard watching him socially act with children his age. He cant relate to them and they cant relate to him. He is in his own world sometimes. He parallel plays quite a bit. He does great on the playground (playing tag and the like) but when it comes to structured play, he's on his own.
Today was especially hard to watch. He got invited on his first play date with a little buddy from school. After an hour or so at mcdonald we went over to the other childs house for another hour to just let them hang out. Her son wanted to play with mine so badly, but my son was just fixated on other things and not want to be bothered with playing a board game or hide and seek with his new buddy. His friend got upset with him because he wanted to play WITH him not next to him. I tried to get my son to socialize more with him but he wouldn't have it. And so goes the social issue I have with my DS. David is on planet david sometimes and cannot come back down to earth.
On another annoying note, the mother made a slightly rude and offensive comment (well I thought it was offensive). She had said that she loved how her son found a buddy that was "just like him, active". But when we got them together today she said "gosh, he's just waaaay all over the place isn't he, boy I thought my son was hyper, but yours is alot more eh??" She didn't mean it to be mean, but just SHUT UP! ugg people. Ok that was my vent for the day.
stillsane
try to have playdates with younger children. Also have a LOT of different playdates. Socila skills are taught, but matruity is not. you're going to have this unbalance for years, but the more kids your son plays with the better. The kids will know him and he'll know them, you'll ealrn who's compatable and who's not. Every playdate he'll leanr and grow.
Oh and ignore the parents.......................people are just people.............
I have had similar experiences when my son was younger. It is frustrating