Our son is very bright, but according to his teachers he lacks that inner mechanism that a three-year-old should have that helps to control his behavior. They believe that there is something wrong with him, and hinted that he should be evaluated. We do agree that he is active, but when he is with us he is tractable. They also thought that it is pertinent to mention that he still puts objects into his mouth, and that at his age this was inappropriate. What should we do? This is supposed to be the best day school in our community; yet we feel that the teachers' view of our son is not right. How should we handle this? We would hate to have him given a negative label at such a young age.
Also, it is not at all unusual for children to still put things in their mouth at age three. However, you also don't want to totally reject the information that the teachers are giving you. Presumably they are educated and experienced people, and are spending up to 15 hours a week with your son--they probably have some useful insights. I would use their concerns as an indication that your son may need some help from you to achieve better self control. He may need more consistent and firm limit setting, appropriate use of time outs for unacceptable behavior (e.g. safety issues), and a certain amount of structure and consistency in his day. You should talk with your pediatrician to make sure there are no specific medical concerns based on his history. I would then recommend setting up a plan with the teachers for handling the problem behaviors so that there is consistency between home and school. If you work together you will likely be able to alter the behaviors that your child is exhibiting, without giving him any negative labels.