Is your child tall for their age

[llisa32]

Hi, I'm just curious really....In the Ed psychologist report I got today one of the things stated/commented on was that 'J

is a tall boy for his age'

 

I don't see the point in mentioning that unless it's in some way relevant to ASD/Aspergers

 

The Ed psch is quite certain the diagnosis should be Aspergers but we will not get an 'official' diagnosis of anything until

the final assessment is complete in mid jan.

 

Are many of your kiddies very tall/above average height for their age?

 

Thanks <'>

[Cat]

My middle son is now 6ft 4ins. He is 20 years old and my youngest is 4ft 10ins and he is 10 years old. Now given that I am only 4ft 10 he is already the same height as his Mum. Both boys have different Dads but neither are that tall. My ex is about 5ft 9ins while my youngests Dad is 5ft 7ins.

 

We have just got out of hospital with our youngest after having appendicitis and several of the staff commented that in relation to myself and his Dad our son was very probably going to out-grow both of us.

 

Cat

[Mumble]

I'm short!!

 

My brother was always tall and lanky (despite not having tall parents) and didn't grow into himself until well into adulthood.

 

I was told by an ed psych once that growth was as much to do with psychological well-being as physical well-being. Don't know if that's true or not or if there's evidence for her claim.

[Mumble]

Research seems to suggest no link, see:

 

This article

 

But also suggests higher levels of growth hormones in boys with ASD and that more research is needed. I think the oft used term is 'inconclusive evidence'!!!

[Tally]

When I lived in Brent I was the tallest kid in the class. When we moved a more affluent area, I was the shortest. I was always short when I lived in Surrey, and now in Devon people say I am tall.

[Clare63]

My lad, I think is average, I am short and DH is tall at 6ft 1"

[JsMum]

Js is hitting the 5ft mark, he constantly complains of growing pains and I put down a lot of clumsyness down to growing and he hasnt compensated the growth.

 

Js dad was 6ft 4 and I am average for a female so I am aware Js height is going to be tall.

 

J is not the tallest in his class either, some of the children are as tall as me and some are even taller so I think that children are getting taller now adays.

 

I would say that having an awareness of a child been tall can be useful because there may be higher expectations on the child if they believe they are older so it may help to understand the child especially if your going to jugde by height what age someone might be.

 

I met a seven year old who was taller than J, seven I couldnt believe it, his two year old sister in a pushchair was busting out the seems and looked around five, I turned round to expect a really tall mum and she was shorter than me, its in the genes deep down.

 

JsMum

[krystaltps]

C was... for a long time. He was usually at the 97th - 99th centile on the growth charts... until he was about 5 years old, when his growth slowed substantially. Now he's one of the little ones in comparison to his peers. He's the same size as the twinkles (who are about average for their age)... so it looks like I've got triplets!

I think it's more to do with nutrition, as C for the past few years has flatly refused to ingest any form of dairy product. He sees a dietician who helps us find ways of getting calcium into him.

[Eva]

Hi llisa32,

 

my son (AS) is one of the tallest and thinnest in his class - he's nearly 7. My other son (NT) is 4 and he's stocky and short. I'm on the short side and dh is 6 ft.

 

Ed psyches often write irrelevant-seeming comments don't they?

 

Eva

[Rhianydd]

my ds is tall for his age and he has asd

dd is 16 and 4ft 5 and not going to grow and more a couple of inches if she is lucky she has dyspraxia and was checked out at the hospital for her height where she had to have blood tests and bone xrays

[justamum]

JSMum

 

complains of growing pains and I put down a lot of clumsyness down to growing

 

Be sure this is not hypermobility syndrome...I too was told I had 'growing pains'. I am now disabled with hypermobility syndrome!

 

hypermobility syndrome

[brooke]

All my boys are very tall O is 7 and comes up to my shoulder im 5'7"!!! He is in 11yr old clothes Only problem is people expect even more of him. Their dad is 6'4" and grandad 6'7" so i know they will all be huge!!

Edit to add - When O went to a speech therapy class there were a lot of boys the same height as O which id never seen before, he normally towers over children his age.

Edited January 4, 2008 by brooke

[Karen A]

Hi.Ben is very tall and broad for his age.I think people do think he is older than he is-he is taller than many of Ds's friends-DS is 12 and Ben is 9.However people then expexct Ben to be more emotionaly mature than he is which is not always helpful.Karen.

[lynyona]

Kieran is very tall id said 6ft 1 6ft 2 ish and hes nearly 222 but then again two of his brothers are as well

 

 

lynn

[loobylou2]

my daughter's 13 and 5'6 but her father was 5'10 and so am I, but her sister is short for age but Hubby's only short too so think its more genetics than anything?

[Suze]

Gosh ..this is interesting........my son was 12 in aug and wears adult clothes, he,s in a 30 waist trouser 32 inside leg.I bought him some trainers last month and got size 8 1/2 thinking theyd be o.k as his school shoes are a 7 1/2.They were too small ....had to get a 9 1/2(must say though that I think trainers do come up small , )..........he,s very big , big shoulders , bones etc, and weighs more than me now:hypno: .He does,nt look overweight he looks like a very stocky lad who if he wanted could probably be really good at rugby.The doctor is keeping a close eye on his growth, as he is approaching puberty, and he weighs and measures him regularly, every 3mnths when he has his melatonin check.His dad is tall 6 ft 2 and his uncle are 6ft4.Me I,m a little 5ft7..........

[kellyanne]

J is tall for his age, he is 8, he is 140cms. I have no idea what thats works out at in foot and inches. when i but him clothes I have to buy for a 10yr old

[oxgirl]

We seem to be in the minority here! Jay is 14 and is very tiny for his age, always has been. He's probably the height of an average 10 year old and his weight is below the 0.2 percentile line, not even on the graph! Heightwise he's always been around the 5th percentile. It's more obvious at this age, I think, because the other kids in his class have all shot up and absolutely tower over him, he looks about five years younger than them at least! Me and hub were very small as children, we were both the smallest in our classes. Then at around 15 we both shot up and I'm quite tall now, compared to other women, whereas hub is average height. I'm expecting a serious growth spurt from Jay next year, but he certainly won't be taller than average.

 

~ Mel ~

[jo4themo]

N is tall for her age - and always has been. When born she was 75th centile but by a few months old was at 98th. Now at 9 she comes up to my nose (I am a shorty though at 5' 2") and is always having growth spurts. Over the last few months she has started complaining of growing pains in her legs and she is the tallest in her class even though some of the children are 2 years older than her. My other daughter is slightly short for her age and my son is about average. My hubby is quite tall at 6' 1" as is his granddad, so it could just be genetic from his side (my parents were both short).

She also has quite a large head - the last time it was measured it was off the centile charts!! I have had to buy her adult hats for the last 2 years and now have trouble finding ones to fit her. Again, I think this is heriditery as my head is quite large as was my dad's (my other daughter and son have "average" size heads).

[LizC]

Hi Matthew was always small for his age, well until now that is, he is 7 and seems to be catching up with is peers at last. when he was smaller he was on the 9th and 25th centile (can't remember which way round weight height wise though)

[allie]

My boy is very big - he's 6 years old and wears size 3 shoe and 9-10 clothes!!!!

[Caroline-]

Hi all, my son is really tall for his age. He's 4'7 (i'm only 5'2), has the same same shoe size as me (3) & wears clothes for 10-11 yrs!!

[dooday24]

reece is little for his age he is seven but in 5 to 6 yr old clothes

love donnaxxxx

[V1971]

My son is short for his age, he has always been in the 5th centile. I am 5'9" and DH is 6' 2". I don't know who he is taking after, everyone else is tall in our family.

[pearl]

JP is average height, but has a really large head

I have heard this is common in autism, but dont know if its true or not.

[krystaltps]

Pearl, Tony Atwood says it is. When I went to see his talk, he mentioned that increased head growth was one of the earliest indicators of ASD. I think I posted about it a few months back, because it just made perfect sense to me. Both my boys have been referred and investigated as their head circumferences were so large they couldn't even be marked on the growth charts. By the time C was two his head was bigger than mine! They're not quite so obviously large now that they are older, but we still have to buy tops that have a neck-zip so we can get clothes on them!

Edited January 6, 2008 by krystaltps

[pearl]

Ah, well if an OGB says it it must be true!

[krystaltps]

Sorry, sorry thickie-alert! OGB?

[llisa32]

Hiya - OGB = 'Official Good Guy'

 

I'm definately finding this all very interesting....J has a very large head and was one of the reasons he had a difficult birth - well...main reason actually! - Ouch!

 

I was asked about his head size during the DISCO assessment, so it does seem to be a possible 'indicator'

 

Also interesting that quite a few of the boys are above average height

[Lynden]

Everyone says Logan is tall, but in reality on the centile charts he's only between the 25th and the 50th for height. I think he just seems a little taller than he is because he is so skinny! My daughter is tall for her age though, but my hubby is 6'2 so it stands to reason that they'll be fairly tall (taller than me I hope coz I'm only 5'3)

[Mumble]

Hiya - OGB = 'Official Good Guy'

Almost Have half a star

OGB is Official Good Bloke.

 

There's lots of research on increased head size in autism. Mine was huge, but I've grown into it!!!

[krystaltps]

Does anyone know why? I asked Tony (the official good bloke) during the interval at his talk and he gave me one of those answers that takes a long time to say and generally floats over one's (rather large) head, but on reflection could be summed up as "No-one really knows". What's the research coming up with, Mumble?

[Mumble]

What's the research coming up with, Mumble?

"No one really knows"

 

Actually we do know a bit more than nothing. Autistic children (well boys anyway) have been found to have significantly higher levels of four different growth hormones: IGF-1, IGF-2, IGFBP-3 and GHBP. It is likely (although unproven) that these have some relation with increased head size.

[krystaltps]

Is it linked to testosterone, then? Seeing as it's boys who have the higher levels of these hormones. I know that testosterone is linked to the whole ring finger/index finger length thing.

[di30]

Hi all.

 

Well here I am between, 5ft 5 to 5,6, hubby just touching 6ft, Jamie is 19 and also touching 6ft, although his real dad was about 5ft 10, my youngest son Daniel (ASD) is 12 will be 13 next week is just about the same height as me, his dad is the first one mentioned above.......lol.

Daniel is also asthmatic and has steroid medication where i was told this does hold back on the height growth ????????.....so if this is true I imagine he may be taller again. .

 

 

Di.