Jack-Jack Attack

Every child everywhere, since the beginning of time has had one of those busy box things with the flaps that pop up to reveal an animal or character when the knobs and levers are twisted, pushed and slid sideways. About a month ago, I was tickled pink when Jack plopped two of the little flaps closed, on purpose, at baby class. Why I was so surprised that he could do this is beyond me. I'll have to examine that surprise a little closer, later. Anyway...about ten days ago, I texted Beth, his OT, that Jack was slapping all the little boxes closed now in one sitting. She'd just been here an hour previously, and he wouldn't close any of them for her. Now he was systematically closing them all.

When Laurie from The Junior Blind was here Wednesday, Jack was really happy to show off this new skill for her! A thought was taking place about just exactly what is 'bugging' me about this new skill. When Anna was here Thursday, Jack showed his new talent off to her as well. Yeah, I know, kids master this skill all the time...so why am I going on and on about it? So you can all write back in the comments and tell me that I'm worried for nothing and that I'm not seeing what I think I am. The busy box phenomena is just the gel that pulled my worry together.

So here it is. When Jack had his first success at this task, he was being hand-over-handed by Beth and they closed the middle flap and then the second to middle flap, with Jack doing the actual closing. Now that he does it at home, he starts with the first flap on the left, every time. Then he closes them in order. Every time. It looks like this: he's on his hands and knees, or his belly, reaches out, closes the flap, gets flat, rolls onto his back and away, then rolls back to his belly or hands and knees, then closes another flap, in order. He repeats this whole process of close a flap, roll away, roll back, close a flap until they're all closed. If I put the toy in front of him sideways so that the other end is presented first, or even backwards with the flaps closest, he will always grab it by the handle and turn it around so it's facing him properly, then proceeds with the first flap. Always. If I hand-over-hand him to push down a different flap, he pulls his hand away and rolls off. Loses interest. Laurie and I, and then Anna and I tried to put resistance on the flap so he couldn't close it, thinking that he might move on to a different flap. Nope! He pulled his hand away and rolled off and would not be engaged with the toy again until hours later, when he could do it his way, unhindered. I am waiting for his next baby class on Wednesday to see if he plays with Beth's busy box flap toy the same way.

So why am I worried? Clearly he's got some problem solving skills at his young age if he consistently takes the toy by the handle to orient it to himself the way he prefers. Clearly he can process tasks in order. It's the have to of doing them in order that is bugging me. And the organised activity in between. Because he does it this way every single time. And I'm only bringing it up because I've noticed some similar activities where he will roll away and roll back before continuing. The constant motion between activities. The ongoing fascination with his left hand. The way he will seemingly not hear someone calling his name while sitting right next to him. The sudden aversion of most things solid food. His new 'likes' are things that are really cold from the fridge. He will tolerate a few bites of warm table foods. Nothing room temperature. Oh yeah, and the fact that we already have two children on the autistic spectrum. Research is limited regarding the co-morbidity of Down syndrome and autism because the two disorders have only recently been recognised as coexisting, but where some studies find the dual occurrence as high as 10%, most studies have autism occurring between 5-7% in the Ds population above the occurrence in the typical population. So am I just borrowing trouble where there is none? Someone? Anyone? Please?

On the one hand, any parent of a child who has Down syndrome already knows it's not a bad thing...quite the contrary, in fact! I love this little baby more than my own breath! But on the other hand, even the suggestion that he could have autism as well is...well, it's just not fair, that's what!