My 7 year old DS has PDD. He is very affectionate, even with people he just met. For example we went to a birthday party and he was hugging a couple of people we just met yesterday. He will hug our day care provider a lot and the kids at day care and school too. At school they encourage him to do high fives instead, but that doesn't always work. In our home, we are affectionate with each other, so maybe that is why he does what he does. I don't know. I don't want him to think being affectionate is wrong, but how can I discourage it with non-family members and try to get through to him to be affectionate at the proper times.
Re: Very Affectionate DS w/PDD Question
Thanks for this, auntie. We run into the same issue with DD1.
The past two days we've been having a garage sale, and she'll just walk up to random people, put her hands on them, and start chatting. Our neighbors were out yesterday as well, and she spent a lot of time climbing all over the DH, patting his facial hair, etc. He was fine with it and played with her (they know about the dx, as well) but it was more cuddly than I think she should be with casual acquaintances, particularly without her asking whether it's okay for her to do any of that -- which she almost never does.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
Mine too...I had no idea it was common among children with PDD. Thanks for the info!