LizK Report post Posted February 1, 2008 Just asking out of interest really. It fascinates me that some of DS obsessions are utterly enduring whereas others come and go. His love of doors started as a baby when he used to repetitively bang my cupboard doors and moved on to room doors, automatic doors, automatic doors with buttons (big excitement ) and related themes like door bells or door knockers and keys and door locks. He simply adores doors and I think always will. His obsession wanes and waxes but is essentially always there. He's quite obsessed with numbers too and digital dial and clock faces but that does come and go a bit more Yet there are other obsessions that he has been utterly fixated on that pass and he has absolutely no interest in, almost like his brain has done it and it's complete, over. When he started school he adored snakes and ladders, would play it incessantly at school and home but after the first term lost interest and now refuses to play it. I remember he was particularly interested in planes but that has gone. There have been certain TV programmes he was desperate to watch but now won't entertain. Does anyone else find this? I wonder what it is that makes certain special interests so enduring whilst others are time limited? Be really interested in the thoughts of those on the spectrum themselves about this. Remember reaidng about a young adult saying that with certain interests there was a sense of completeness and once it was done there simply was no need to return to it. Makes sense! Lx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rocketgob Report post Posted February 1, 2008 Hiya Charlie is only 3 so I can't really say about them going LOL - he has a list of obsessions that seem to grow every week!! We have the door thing here too - cupboard doors, room doors, doors on toys, cardboard boxes with flaps that are made into doors! Oh and not forgetting the door to preschool that has the beeping thing on it that gets opened and closed at least 10 times while I am trying to put his shoes on. We also have clocks, digital displays, switches, lights, cars, buses and not forgetting of course Thomas the Tank Engine!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pearl Report post Posted February 1, 2008 Ooh takes me back .... doors, keys, light switches, locks .... some kind person once made us a mini door with every piece of door furniture known to humankind, & JP was in heaven! White goods - washing machines, dishwashers. Favourite day out was at Comet. Still likes to be in charge of dishwasher. Dinosaurs lasted years .... he doesnt play with them now but still has models & posters in his room. These days its more obsessive thoughts than anything. He will constantly steer the conversation round to his current obsession (at the moment, buying his own place ) to the point where I say, enough. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forbsay Report post Posted February 2, 2008 M has a total obsession about buses and he has had this for years now, His current special interest is pylons and wires. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lynden Report post Posted February 2, 2008 Logan goes through phases of being obsessed by different things on TV, and then wont have them on after a while. He's always been obsessed by spinning things. I think probably his main obsessions at the moment are Cars (the DVD and cars on the road) and circles. Lynne x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cariad Report post Posted February 2, 2008 We have had various obsessions throught the years, green pens in different shades put into the right order, Thomas the tank (a favourite with all children with ASD), mirrors, headlights on cars. Now it's just Dr Who all the way, he has loved Dr Who for a good few years now and it has never waned. The one which is strange is the Twins thing, he likes to have two of the same as they are twins, twin green calculators or two of the same Mcdonalds toys. These have to be put on his shelf in his room and not moved Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EmmaB Report post Posted February 7, 2008 Dd has always loved doors, shutting things in boxes, anything which opens and closes. Although her main obsession is animals and being one. She spents her entire life crawling around being a cat or dog and aspires to be one when she grows up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V1971 Report post Posted February 7, 2008 Oh yes, my son is obsessed with doors, dishawasher, washing machine, helicopters, airplanes, buses and motorbikes. Pearl ~ I laughed so hard at your comment about Comet, my son loves it there too! He will move on from his obessins every couple of months, just like that, it is really bizarre and will find new obsessions of course. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sueeltringham Report post Posted February 7, 2008 Church steeples, towers, masts, pylons and wires, oh, and poplar trees -all from about age 3. He knows the journey from Newcastle to Rotherham in terms of pylons! Current obsession is journeys (on trains especially), maps and Google Earth! Talking incessantly about journey's and what he's going to do in the future. There have been lots of other obsessions like toilets and pipes, but they've been done now, I think. It's strange, isn't it, as my son hates washing machines and other equipment as they cause him anxiety (the noise and unpredictability of it starting to spin?). Kind of wonder what obsession might be on it's way next? Sue Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forbsay Report post Posted February 7, 2008 Hi Sue As well as pylons, my son is obessed with church towers,masts,pipes and telephone masts. Oh and our water tank. Not had the trees yet but watch is thread! Forbsay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sueeltringham Report post Posted February 7, 2008 Hi Forbsay, Only poplar trees mind you -as they are tall and thin. Tall thin things are common obsessions, apparently! We don't have a water tank, but I'm sure if we did it would be an obsession, because it would be linked to pipes and sewers! I've just remembered that mountains, lakes and rivers are also an obsession on and off. Kind of links in with the maps. Just found Joe upstairs on Google Earth, following the M6 from ariel views. No idea how he knew it was the M6, but he was right! Where do they learn all this stuff? Sue Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxgirl Report post Posted February 7, 2008 Jay used to love hub caps! He could look at any hub cap and be able to identify the make and model of car it came from, age 3! Lego was a very long-lasting obsession, but he's finally lost interest in that. Snails are the thing at the mo. ~ Mel ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jlp Report post Posted February 7, 2008 Our first and long lasting obsession was things that go round - particularly fans, washing machines. He did have a thing for light switches and doors when little too. Briefer obsessions when little were alarm boxes on houses, satilite (sp?) dishes, light bulbs. Fans really was a biggie though, we'd drive to see wind turbines, cut pictures of fans out of the Argos catalogue, go to B&Q etc and he's be so happy! There was also a lamp shade phase where he'd always have a lamp shade in his hand and I couldn't miss the lampshade isle out in a local shop (and usually ended up buying one!) He'd get me the Argos catalogue so we could look at them too. Probably about 2 ish when he liked lampshades. Later Harold the Helicopter's propellers spawned an interest in Thomas and this was huge! I worried a bit when he got to 6 that I wouldn't be able to find Thomas clothes in teenage sizes. At 6 1/2 he got a playstation and this started a Star Wars obsession and at 8 this is still ongoing although has been refined to particularly liking the droids off Star Wars. He's also likes Captain Underpants recently but I don't think this will be a big obssession and he likes stick men! I'm not sure where this has come from but he likes the tidy man on crisp packets and cans and a game caled Hapland - anything with a stickman in / on! Fans, Thomas and Starwars have lasted years in their turn but we have fleeting things too which are all consuming for a bit but don't last as long. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sueeltringham Report post Posted February 7, 2008 Fans! I forgot about those! We were only allowed to go in shops that had fans! In Costco we'd always lose him and them find him on the aisle where they have a light fitting/air conditioning fan on display -mesmerised! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lisa35 Report post Posted February 7, 2008 fans!!!!! HAD loads, and torches, batteries, must have had 20 torches, at one time! But for ages it was fans! Lisa and the little size tags off clothes hangers in shops, used to have pockets ful! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LizK Report post Posted February 8, 2008 Thanks everyone! I enjoyed reading the replies and what the kids were into. Special interests fascinate me even if I do struggle at times to manage them! Always delighted to hear about other door-obsessed children too, such a quirkly interest but my son's passion. Trips to Comet and similar are 'interesting' with lots of excitement, spasming and hopping at the magic (automatic) doors going into the shop, having to restrain him to stop him mowing down doddery customers in his excitement then longing to fiddle with the doors on the washing machines, fridges, dishwashers before belting back off to watch the magic doors again Anyway has not inspired me to write a door related post! Lx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
