Wondefalls, I think you put it correctly. This is exactly the case here.

My daughter has had these sensory issues forever. She screamed at the vacuum cleaner the first time she heard it as a baby and still runs away from it any time I run it. Last year at school, they were deliberately trying to get the kids rowdy over an upcoming fundraiser, and when I picked her up that day, she told me she felt sick from the noise. A very few of her behariors have improved (most noteably, unexplained school meltdowns in which she would refuse to use words and that would go one for 30 minutes or longer), but not many of them. She really needs occupational therapy, but we can't afford it, and my husband doesn't seem to think anything is wrong with her so wouldn't want to do it anyway. She's had delayed motor skills a long time. She didn't even learn how to jump until she was 3 1/2 years old (which is very old for a child to only just start jumping on their own). She always walked downstairs in a very weird fashion (I can't even describe it) until it got markedly better only when she turned 10. Her 2 year old cousin could climb downstairs better than she could (though my daughter never had trouble with going upstairs). She can't tie a bow, and what's more, she doesn't even want to learn how. She is very stubborn, and no on can teach her something if she doesn't want to learn it. She is so skittish about falling and hurting herself that she won't rollerskate or ride a bike. She needed to start shaving her underarms this spring, and the razor was such a dramatic ordeal, I finally went out and got Nair.

I suspect that while she is not on the autism spectrum, she is very, very close to being on it (especially as I think my own father is on the spectrum with Aspergers). When she was in kindergarten and first grade, she did do some stimming type behavior (hand flapping and a weird thing with her neck) when I'd tell her it was time to do homework in a subject she didn't like (usually spelling because she already knew how to spell the words and didn't see the point in having spelling homework every day of the week), though that did stop.

Every thing is made harder by the fact that she is very, very smart. Two years in a row, she has scored 100% on the math state assessment test (STAAR) and only missed one question in reading (and this year, I looked at the question she missed, and it was very poorly written and confusing). She's going into 5th grade but reads English at over a 12th grade level and Spanish around a 4th grade level. She is in a dual language program in her school. Being that we are Anglo and speak no Spanish at all at home, it's pretty impressive.

But there were a lot of things with her being my only child and not having other children or babies to compare her to that she did that were not normal that I didn't realize until years later, such as sitting still and letting me read her unabridged copies of Dr. Seuss books at 3 months old or the time we went to a pediatrician's visit and she had 4 or 5 times the vocabulary expected at her age. She figured out multiplication on her own and then proceeded to learn the times tables like nothing (I remember my mom holding up flashcards many night helping me with this), but it was like, she figured out multiplication, and 2 weeks later, she knew all the basic times tables.

The pediatrician says the pickiness with eating comes with the sensory issues, but I feel I can hardly get angry at her because all the foods she likes to eat are healthy and good for her; they just all have to be separated and certain textures she dislikes (won't eat cooked carrots but will eat them raw). She won't eat hamburgers or pizza, but then again, it's a little stupid to complain about that. (I know I have eating disorder issues, but I don't show or talk about any of that in front of her - and I've always eaten mixed foods- except after she once accidentally saw an old picture of me near my worst while I was at college, and I told her I had a problem with not eating enough in college, and she was like, "Why would anyone do that?" as if it baffled her. Though I did use it as a moment to re-iterate what inappropriate touching is.) So I have a child with eating issues if foods are mixed, but she loves all fruits and vegetables, pretty much, except cooked carrots and bananas. Loves wheat bread, whole grains, cheeses, yogurt, fish, shrimp, nuts (as long as they are unsalted), chicken, turkey, etc. It's hard to complain except she won't eat any of these things except each by itself and with absolutely no seasoning.

The pediatrician said she is too high-functioning to get a 504 label (my husband would fight that anyway), but I'm thinking, OMG, what is she going to do next year when she starts 6th grade and has to wear shorts (she will only wear dresses) as part of a gym uniform and shower after P.E.? I try to tell her I'm only wanting her to do these things on her own so she can keep up with her friends, but she doesn't want to hear it.

Any time I try to explain myself to her or why I want her to try to do something on her own, she'll cover her ears and not listen, maybe cry or hum loudly, or go running off.

I know all kids come with challenges, and I am grateful it appears my daughter will likely never struggle in academics, but with life skills...that is a different story all together.