Obsessions

[V1971]

Apologies if this has been covered before, I am fairly new here.

 

My son is 3.5 and on the autistic spectrum. He is obsessed with drain covers, to the point that going from A to B takes ages, i.e. it took us 50 minutes to go from his nursery school to the car, which was only down the road.

 

What he does is stand on each drain cover to see if it moves and if it does he wobbles on it several times, then he wants Mommy to do the same and we take turns until he is happy and then onto the next one. It's a nightmare!

 

His OT is trying to figure out a new strategy because so far nothing as worked.

 

Does your child have quirks like that and does he/she do well when going for walks?

Edited December 3, 2006 by V1971

[dooday24]

reece is really rigid with everything and wen hes going to school he has 2 walk the same way and if anything is in his way like roadworks it is a nightmare he just wont go any other way will start screaming and getting aggressive and this can go on 4 several hrs. he wont even go on other buses if its not wat hes used to and he dosnt recognise it. and also goes 2 certain casheirs in shops! so unless you go with reece wen we r out dosnt always go 2 well!!! sorrry dont know if this helps!!!!

[MichelleW]

J was the same when we walked to school - metal plates in the path were "checkpoints" and he had to stand on every one. He was re-enacting a playstation game. Then it was lamp-post hugging. Then he started going through each gate we passed along the way, then stopping at each house to read the number. I just allowed extra time and waited for him . I also found a buggy-board helped when I was running late - but that would only work if you are pushing a pushchair. Unfortunately it broke after a short while and that caused another problem!

 

But then I started work and had to drive, dropping him off at school on the way, and now when we do walk occassionally, he isn't so bad-it doesn't upset him if he misses one! He does still tend to stand on the plates in the path, or hug lamp posts, but not so often now, and when he does- I just wait for him. Over the last few years I have become very patient - he takes ages to eat, and I dress him as it would take him hours. J is now 6 and a half, and he is no-where near as rigid as he was 2-3 years ago. I can now take different routes, either walking or in the car and J no-longer gets distressed like he used to.

[claire33]

Hi all

 

My k does that he takes forever to eat it think this is mainly because he stands waving his fork around and talking to himself, and getting him to get ready for school on a morning is a nightmare he will sit and sit and then when he does finally get them on they have to be sorted out for him.

I dont know if this is relevant but he used to be able to put his socks on himself, but now he finds it a real struggle, when i went to see the OT she asked how long he had been on his medication and thought that this may be the cause,

 

Does anyone else find things like this have happened????

Its like hes going backwards somehow!!!!

[Bullet]

Tom likes to touch cars, sometimes just running his hand over them, sometimes kissing them or grabbing onto the wing mirrors and giggling at himself in them. He likes railings and smooth painted surfaces as well. Often he'll call out the house numbers he sees on our street and climbs onto the steps leading up to each house at the same time. When we're walking up a particular street into town he'll climb onto the steps to the shops and wait a few seconds. There's a short cut into town that we take and we pass a tree, he has to walk over to the tree and stand next to it for a few seconds. Then we pass a lamppost and he likes to walk between the wall and the lamppost several times.

[V1971]

That's very interesting and I see many similarities. My son also likes to kiss lamposts or stroke railings. Thanks for your input and yes, we need to be very patient!

[loulou]

Hi,

 

Just to say, my son had similar "outdoor" obsessions when he was younger. He's now 8 and they are much less now. He used to read all the door numbers, jump on every drain cover and avoid all the cracks in the pavement. He weirdest one was having to touch all those concrete things (don't know their name!) that mark where the gas pipes etc are. He used to call them "pat pats" and he would have to touch every single one along the way. If you missed one he would scream the place down.

 

Loulou xx

[V1971]

I am glad to hear that they get over those obsessions as they get older, going for walks is horrible right now, I need to leave an hour early to go anywhere!

[Bullet]

I am glad to hear that they get over those obsessions as they get older, going for walks is horrible right now, I need to leave an hour early to go anywhere!

 

Weeelllll, I like to look at the car number plates when I'm walking and count up the numbers and go through the alphabet with the letters as I do so. And I like to count in my head as well if there aren't many parked cars, starting by counting to 100, then 99, then 98 and so forth. But at least I'm not stopping every few feet to hug the lamp posts

[Stephanie]

Yeah my son used to know every drain on the way to school, also he knows all the car number plates and road signs. The information he reads from a short journey used to astound me.

 

This was more prevalent when he was between 3 and 4, now he is coming up to 6 he has got bored of it and doesn't even mention them anymore. They are totally forgotten.

 

Sometimes the children get in a bit of rut with their obsessions and need coaxing out of them gradually before they become too much of a compulsion. I think in this instance, you might just need to give it a bit more time.

[claire33]

Hi stephanie

 

How do you coax them out scooby doo drives me insane 3 yrs now

[pingu]

Apologies if this has been covered before, I am fairly new here.

 

My son is 3.5 and on the autistic spectrum. He is obsessed with drain covers, to the point that going from A to B takes ages, i.e. it took us 50 minutes to go from his nursery school to the car, which was only down the road.

 

What he does is stand on each drain cover to see if it moves and if it does he wobbles on it several times, then he wants Mommy to do the same and we take turns until he is happy and then onto the next one. It's a nightmare!

 

His OT is trying to figure out a new strategy because so far nothing as worked.

 

Does your child have quirks like that and does he/she do well when going for walks?

 

 

Hi.

Yes Kieran does this too. I cant believe how similar this sounds to what we used to go through on a simple journey. In the end we had to ask for a pushchair for him because he would just run into the road to see the grates at the side, and it was (and still is) especially bad if it had been raining, he used to love the drains on the school playground as these would overflow and he would be facinated with them. He is 7 now and the interest is still there, although maybe not as strong as it once was.

 

No advice though im afraid, as with kieran you will probably get him off drain covers and something else will take over.

 

Take care

shaz

[loupin]

My sons latest obsession is cleaning the car windows! All the way to school (20mins) up down up downup down!!! Mum clean the back window mum clean the front window!! We have to go up very muddy lanes so the windows do get the odd splodge on them so it is a nightmare. I'm not sure how to stop this one normally they run there course and we just go with it but with this he is getting aggressive if we dont do as he insists. The sock thing some one mentioned we have had the same...

My son can dress himself and even put on his socks but when he is stressed (Most days at the moment) he cant dress himself at all. He is 6 and i am still dressing him as I cant stand the all day performance if i dont. He went beserk today because i wouldnt put his shoes on. I thought he was being akward so said no and he put them on, really struggled and then put them on the wrong feet. I feel so mean now!!