Son’s got a few quirks. He’s very cautious physically. He’s reluctant to try new things on the playground, and plays very tentatively on anything that isn’t rock-solid.
He’s very afraid of vacuum cleaners and hand dryers in bathrooms. Screaming, crying inconsolably, truly terrified if anyone even stands near one.
He also has aversions to certain foods and textures. He won’t go near a vegetable or most fruits, rice, soups…
And he’s stubborn. His first reaction to many requests and directives is a resounding, “No!”, even though most times he’s saying it even as he’s obeying.
So we decided to have him tested by the schools. Are these just idiosyncratic quirks, or a symptom of some type of sensory-related issue? We knew that even if there were any issues they were on the mild side, but identifying the issue(s) would allow us to get him therapy so that it (they) wouldn’t interfere with learning. The free screening tests hearing, speech, vision, language and developmental performance.
So we went through the testing. And he’s completely, disgustingly “normal”. He tested well within normal limits in every single area.
This is great news, of course. Except that now we know that his issues are, in actuality, personality quirks. Which means that I’ll just have to continue my course of first recognizing the negative quirks he inherited from Husband and then beating them out of him, one stubborn “No!” at a time.
Are You Going To Be This Way The Rest of The Time I Know You? 
March 5, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Good for you, having him tested. It’s better to know. Now if only we could figure out what normal actually means…
Though it is odd that he would have quirks, given such incredibly normal and unquirklike parents in the home. Are you *sure* who the father is? And the mother? 😉