child with fixed smile, understanding, vagueness, no speech

[snodhutch]

at my work place I have a child of approx 3 years who appears very vague and always has a fixed smile. He understands what i say but points and makes a noise rather than speak. i have never heard him speak or laugh. he shows no emotion. he interacts a little with the other children but it is almost impossible to say if he is happy he just has a, for want of another word, gormless fixed smile. i am monitoring him till september at which point if there is no improvement i will be calling in the relevant professionals. Just wondered if anyone had any ideas

[sara3]

sounds like some variation of autism. I wouldn't wait until September before dealing with this.

[sqad617]

Is he deaf?

[snodhutch]

no he's not deaf he understands what is said to him but points to what i'm talking about instead of speaking

[marval]

Have you mentioned this to his parents? I think you should before you call in the professionals, unless there are no parents. But he definately sounds as if he needs a little help.

[snodhutch]

yes parents are fully aware

[pastafreak]

Does this help??

http://counsellingresource.com/distress/autist ic/autism-childhood.html

[moonshadow]

Children with autism exhibit a wide range of behaviours (particularly the ones you have mentioned this little boy is showing) that is why it's called Autism Spectrum Disorder. Could I suggest you have a look at www.nas.org.uk and perhaps that will help with advice for you. Early intervention is beneficial especially speech therapy, for which there is available funding for a one to one therapist. Quite a lot of parents don't want to face the fact there is something wrong with their child so you could help them through this.

[ACtheTROLL]

is gormless fixed smile a technical term?

surely it's the parents who should initiate this after consultation with your facility ...

not meaning to be abusive - you sound to be a little out of your depth - perhaps you should seek professional advice on a course of action rather than consulting a bulletin board.

[Eve]

I think a professional assessment sooner rather than later is wise.

This might be interesting...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome

[snodhutch]

In answer to ACtheTROLL i am only doing a bit of personal research to find out other peoples opinions, this has no bearing on what I will be doing as a professional practitioner. If an early years provision suspects there is a problem they discuss it with the parents and jointly they involve the professionals which is exactly what we will be doing, however, we are required to do numerous observations before we go down this road as we need evidence of the problem. I can assure you i am not out of my depth and everything will be done correctly and professionally under the guidance of our in house SENCO