Lining up

[dolly]

As im writing this DS is lining everything he can get his hands on in perfect straight lines all arond the house.I cannot get in the lounge kitchen or the hall and he has now took himself upstairs.

If i dare move anything DS will go off on one , everything will be thrown around and he'll go into melt down

Not sure what has started this off again as he had stopped doing it for ages but is even lining up at respite but is happy to put everything back away there.

 

Has anyone else experienced this ?

[David Matthew Baker]

See my post below. Better phrased and less likely to be taken in the wrong way I hope. My choice of wording in this post was not ideal. (You can see what I mean in the post below. I can understand how people took it differently to I intended. I even checked it a few times. Mind you I still managed to send of an email once talking about a death (instead of deaf) school that I had checked a few times.)

Edited March 12, 2007 by David Matthew Baker

[Mumble]

ASD kids often line stuff up. I saw a little of it when I was at the special school. It is also mentioned in almost every book I have on the subject at some point. In fact I can't think of anything related to ASD where it hasn't been mentioned that I've seen.

 

I think you need to be careful about overgeneralising and saying that 'this is what ASD kids do'. I have AS (I'm an adult) - I used to line things up sometimes as a kid, and I still do (pens especially) if I'm particularly stressed (so in group work/participation in lectures for instance). Basically, for me, it's calming and gives me just a little bit of control over something I'm finding difficult at that particular time. BUT, it's not because of my AS that I line things up, it's because, as a result of my AS, I feel that I don't have full control and I need to find some way of regaining that control.

 

Just because a 'textbook' says ASD people do this, doesn't mean we all do - ASDs are incredibly diverse and no two people with ASDs are the same (in the same way we wouldn't say, oh that person's a NT - they must ..., or 'all people with blue eyes must ...')

 

I recently read a brilliant paper about AS in university students - basically it was arguing that, so what if someone is lining things up if it helps them - if it's not causing a problem to them or to people around them then what's the problem if they feel a need to do it? This might be some way from your situation Dolly if it is leading to meltdowns - I don't know how much your son would cope with compromise - could you say that he can line things up in certain rooms (or maybe some things in each room), so that he still has the control he needs but it doesn't interfere with the general running of the household? Sorry - I don't know how much help that is.

[David Matthew Baker]

I know not all ASD people line stuff up. I was just saying that I can't remember any of my books on ASD not mentioning that it is something fairly commonly associated with ASD. That isn't to say that all people do. I know that a lot of the students at the special school didn't. As I said in my other post I also know a small number did. I was mainly trying to convey the idea that it is fairly common and not something to worry about as been out of the ordinary. I must admit the students I saw do it were mainly the younger ones too. Thats not to say that no older people do it though. Just like NT people with Autism have their own personalities. It is a spectrum so what is true for one person won't always be the same for the next. Sorry if my original post made you think that I was saying all people with ASD exhibit this behaviour.

 

EDIT: The way they seemed to deal with this type of behaviour at the special school (where it interfered with others or caused problems) was to try and find something to distract the student with that followed the same sort of idea. Perhaps some sort of sorting game. Dominos or something along those sort of lines.

Edited March 11, 2007 by David Matthew Baker

[dolly]

Thanks mumble ,

I do think kofi uses lining up as a way of being in control when his stressed carnt work out why hes stressed at mo ,carnt ask him as he is non verbal

When he came down stairs i asked him if he could help me tidy away his things i started working along the lines and he began to help .He had also lined things up in his bedroom but as this isnt a real problem i have left well alone

 

Dolly

[pearl]

J used to do this, did grow out of it eventually. Far more disruptive was when he installed a complete cable car system on our landing from bits of string & cardboard, it got more & more elaborate till we risked garrotting ourselves when nature called in the middle of the night

Happy days...

[David Matthew Baker]

J used to do this, did grow out of it eventually. Far more disruptive was when he installed a complete cable car system on our landing from bits of string & cardboard, it got more & more elaborate till we risked garrotting ourselves when nature called in the middle of the night

Happy days...

 

That sounds cool. Was it fully functioning?

[Bambi]

T does this he lines things up where ever, i go in my bathroom and he has lined things up in there too!

 

Bambi x

[oxgirl]

My lad used to spend hours lining up his cars and bugs, even his peas, when he was younger, he used to love it. I'll never forget the time he was about four and he was happily lining up his cars all the way down the hallway. Suddenly, he walked into the front room and said to me, totally deadpan, 'can you move that dead mouse'!! 'huh??!!' was my response, until I went out to the hall and saw that he'll carried on his line all the way up the hall until it was blocked by a mouse that our cat had dropped on the carpet. He'd taken his line right up to it, car, car, car, car, dead mouse!! It was the total lack of surprise in his voice that got us, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to find a dead mouse blocking your line of cars, it still makes me laugh remembering that!!

 

~ Mel ~

Edited March 12, 2007 by oxgirl

[JenRose]

both my two line up and i myself still do and have done since a child, i tend to line up more when im stressed as it calms me down.

 

M lined up elastic bands once outside our house, he tied them all together and put one around a lampost right down the street and tied another round the lampost, he thought it was brill.

He was upset when i made him untie it as people couldnt walk down the street!!!!!!

[aawmum]

My son does it maybe to take control of a world that is a big puzzle. I started reducing the rooms where he could do it very gradually. Yes I had tantrums but I gave him a cube of chocolate if he accepted it -chocolate the great tantrum solver. He now only lines things up in his bedroom.

[krystaltps]

C does it, although not as much now as when he was younger. DS2 also does it - very much more than C! I think it's because they are both obsessed with patterns. With C it's also a control/calming thing too.

With R (not AS, but epileptic) it's definately a pattern thing, he has a very mathematical brain and is obsessed with mathematical patterns and patterns in shape. Everything must be organised - lined up, chequer-squared, arranged at right-angles (curves are bad apparently) then counted, multiplied, divided, etc. It's one his his quirks, but he does not have ASD (he is perhaps the most sociable person I know). He gets upset if things are moved, but only because he has to recount them.

C on the other hand get's upset if his things are moved (Tuesday's are BAD DAYS because the cleaner comes then and TOUCHES HIS STUFF!!! ) because he feels he's lost what little control he has over his surroundings.

I think there are all sorts of reasons behind these things, and these are personal to the individual. I do think R displays some AS traits (with his gene pool, why wouldn't he?), but I also believe C wouldn't do it if he didn't have AS.

I love the dead mouse story, Mel. . Bless him.

[dolly]

kofi lined up jelly bean all over the bed while we were on hol without thinking i ate one. Big mistake the maid was finding them every where for the rest of the week

[Noetic]

As im writing this DS is lining everything he can get his hands on in perfect straight lines all arond the house.I cannot get in the lounge kitchen or the hall and he has now took himself upstairs.

If i dare move anything DS will go off on one , everything will be thrown around and he'll go into melt down

Not sure what has started this off again as he had stopped doing it for ages but is even lining up at respite but is happy to put everything back away there.

 

Has anyone else experienced this ?

I often had a sudden strong desire to pick up habits or conforts from years back, these have included baby bottles around age 8 or 10, pacifiers years after I was weaned from them etc. I was a stacker/liner upper too (building blocks, dominoes - I didn't want them knocked down! etc.) but more of a sorter really (my Mum's washing coins sorted by date, home improvement tip cards sorted by categories, accessories from my playmobil camper van sorted by type etc.), and my Mum tended to keep a check on it, e.g. I had to ask her for the coins or for the cards and was told in advance when I would have to put them back again.

 

Since you cannot allow him to block the whole house or flat, is it possible to make a few simple rules that allow him to line up to his hearts desire within a certain limit (in his room, between certain hours etc.) but make it very clear that anything he lines up in other areas will need to be put back again after a set amount of times. My Dad also made use of this by letting me help him clean his barbershop every weekend, which always culminated in my being allowed to line up, sniff and sort his many shampoos along the large mirror

Edited March 12, 2007 by Noetic

[pearl]

J used to do this, did grow out of it eventually. Far more disruptive was when he installed a complete cable car system on our landing from bits of string & cardboard, it got more & more elaborate till we risked garrotting ourselves when nature called in the middle of the night

Happy days...

 

 

 

That sounds cool. Was it fully functioning?

 

Yup - but miniature, WE couldnt ride it or anything just playmobil peeps

[pearl]

My lad used to spend hours lining up his cars and bugs, even his peas, when he was younger, he used to love it. I'll never forget the time he was about four and he was happily lining up his cars all the way down the hallway. Suddenly, he walked into the front room and said to me, totally deadpan, 'can you move that dead mouse'!! 'huh??!!' was my response, until I went out to the hall and saw that he'll carried on his line all the way up the hall until it was blocked by a mouse that our cat had dropped on the carpet. He'd taken his line right up to it, car, car, car, car, dead mouse!! It was the total lack of surprise in his voice that got us, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to find a dead mouse blocking your line of cars, it still makes me laugh remembering that!!

 

~ Mel ~

That did make me laugh Mel <'>

[Noetic]

My lad used to spend hours lining up his cars and bugs, even his peas, when he was younger, he used to love it. I'll never forget the time he was about four and he was happily lining up his cars all the way down the hallway. Suddenly, he walked into the front room and said to me, totally deadpan, 'can you move that dead mouse'!! 'huh??!!' was my response, until I went out to the hall and saw that he'll carried on his line all the way up the hall until it was blocked by a mouse that our cat had dropped on the carpet. He'd taken his line right up to it, car, car, car, car, dead mouse!! It was the total lack of surprise in his voice that got us, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to find a dead mouse blocking your line of cars, it still makes me laugh remembering that!!

 

~ Mel ~

Hehe, well roadkill and cars go together, no?

[fairynormal]

My son lines things up too. He likes the variety packs of cereal and lines those up in a certain order. He lines other foodstuffs up in accordance to their sell by dates. He loses it big time if we move or disturbs his lining up. He also lines things up and orders stuff in shops. He spend half his time on our weekly shop lining up the shelves, particularly the fruit for some reason! He also does the canned foods, filling in any gaps and making sure the labels all face the same way! He also lines up clothes in shops too!!

 

Me thinks he's destined for a (happy) life as a shelf stacker!!