Distractable 3.5 year old. Normal or..?

[superfrizbee]

My little man is 3.5. He is a lovely, cheeky, happy and complex little boy, with additional physical needs. He is very strong and active all the same, very outdoorsie. He can and will sit and concentrate well on activities, books etc, but sometimes he is just away with the fairies. Walking along he is looking behind him at whoever is there, when eating (or not eating as the case may be) he is facing the other way on his chair, barely acknowledges his food, mind somewhere else. He really doesn't listen to me at all. I would say he's cheeky rather than badly behaved. He doesn't really cry unless he's hurt, he doesn't tantrum and has a lovely nature. It's just so hard sometimes getting him to do anything. I don't feel like im describing the situation well. Just rest assured therapy, feeding (especially self feeding) and other complex additional needs/chronic illnesses are making life very hard and very stressful. I'm so tired and when he doesn't listen to me or focus on what we need to get done frustration bubbles over. Has anyone had a similar sounding child? Im not sure he'll ever get his head out of the clouds.

 

[Teri7489]

Yip, my son.

He's younger than yours (will be 3 in August) but similar in what you have described. He's a great little guy but his mind is always somewhere else and with limited speech I have no idea where. He's a very affectionate little boy and loves kisses and cuddles, can sit to play with cars, and things he likes. Trying to dress him, to walk anywhere, is a very stressful thing. I'm sure he has OCD of some kind, has to have things in each hand, and is always focused on something else other than what I'm doing but can't tell me. He's been ill with severe asthma since around 10 months and had many many admissions, currently he takes lots of medication for it and is easily distressed. I try to avoid tantrums as it can trigger an attack and we end up back at square one. Not explaining or helping very well but I think we are in a similar boat!

 

[kellyc1987]

My 3yo son is also very distractable.

His speech and understanding are great, he's very good if playing or watching something on tv but he has little to no interest in drawing.. he isn't too bad when eating but will fidget in his chair instead of sitting still.

Walking down the street is a nightmare, he can get distracted by the smallest of things like a lorry going by.

Also he is very fidgety in general which I sometime get concerned about and wonder if it's normal