Does anyone else's children write endless lists

[daniels-mum]

My son is eleven now and has as long as I can remember constantly written lists, most recently this has been Thomas the Tank Engine (at eleven, I know!!) but he always allocates an engine to a family member, ie

Thomas - Alex

Percy - Robert

James - Mum

Gordon, Dave

and so on.

The topic can change for example it could be dinosaurs or characters from the Simpsons but the format is always the same, character - family member.

Would you say this falls under the category of routines or repetitive behaviour, the reason I am asking is that I have asked for my son to be reassessed by CAMHS as he was not felt to meet the criteria for a diagnosis last year but I still think he is on the spectrum, as do many others including his teachers, paeditrician, ed psyc and also friends who have children on the spectrum.

He has no interest in playing with other children his own age and flatly refuses to go to any clubs, ie Scouts, Football. He just wants to sit in his room, watch his DVD's and make these lists and I feel so sad for him although he is quite content.

I have just applied for a Statutory Assesment for him as he is struggling at school despite been on SA+ and having a lot of adult support, he's probably too busy thinking who can be which engine to do minor things like schoolwork!!

 

I just wondered if anyone else's children had done this.

 

Thanks x

[mom]

My son 6 asp writes endless lists usually of numbers he can count to 20 but constantly writes from 1 to 500.... while the others are out playing he loves to copy numbers out of the phonebook!

[westie]

It sounds like it to me!!

 

My son does not do anything like that, he hates writing and does not seem to have any real desire to draw etc either. I have also posted about his poor organisation skills etc in another thread on here so this makes sense to me that he would not do similar thing to yr son.

 

I know a girl, 9, with ADHD who likes writing lists (mostly planning games/ special events/ making secret clubs and rules - and heaven forbid anyone who should not follow them or if things do not follow her plan) and she also writes list of the things in her make up box, like "4 lipsticks, 3 eye shadow etc. but hers seems like a control/ anxiety reason to write and yr son seems to be more a sort of obsessional/ ritualistic thing. As you have pointed out, even though the characters change (and ASD children can swop "obsessions") the structure of the list is always the same.

 

Does he say why he chooses particular characters for particular family members? Just wondering if he associates a personality trait/ facial expression/ action with a certain member of the family.... do you see any sort of logic/ pattern in terms of the character he has chosen for the family member? - not really a helpful question I just wondered thats all. Are the characters from cartoon programs always, or are any from real shows like a soap or a film starring real actors?

 

If so do you think that its because cartoon faces/ responses/ characters are more predictable than real life people or characters so he may just like them for that reason (another thing to support your case that he is on the spectrum??)

 

Sorry have not said anything useful here in reply to your post, but I think it is a really interesting thing you have posted about and it has set me off thinking (not good at this time of night it will keep me awake! )

Edited February 23, 2009 by westie

[chris54]

My step son for as long as I have known him, from age 9, he is now 22, has written lists, usually to do with cars. Even now he does it, total nonsense, Just lists of made up number plates, or he wish list of cars that he would like to own. Pages and pages of it.

 

By the way he has never been diagnosed with any thing but if he was I think he would be on the spectrum,

And his job, he drives double decker buses.

Edited February 24, 2009 by chris54

[ginza]

my son is also 11 years and is constantly writng list they make no sense usually he hates writing so does them on the computor prints them off and loses all interest in them and leaves them lying around the floor, he has a dx but i m just trying to get statement at the moment as thing have gone from bad to worese at school

[madme]

My son is now 13(aspergers) and still does make lists although not as much. He even used to use copying paper so that he had a duplicate in case he lost it! His other favourite was collecting useless leaflets and unfortunately that still happens- I hate those stands in shops.

Hope that you do get some answers soon.

[Tensing]

No but I write lists for everything. When I am going away I write a list of what I think I need, then I write a list of what I am packing, I then write another list of what I have unpacked.

[daniels-mum]

Thanks to all that have replied, I do appreciate it, it seems this is more common than I realised.

I have tried asking DS how he decided who is what engine is whom, he said that the engine number corresponded with how old the family member, but to be honest I think he should said the first thing that came into his head to stop me nagging him. I have kept some of his other lists and they bear no relation to engine numbers been the same as ages. I am usually a truck or something equally unglamorous in his lists. The characters in the lists vary depending on the latest obsession, the only ones that have been from a non cartoon TV programme are Doctor Who lists, he doesnt really watch soaps but likes Masterchef and Wife Swap (good family and bad family!) and things like that, although I know I shouldnt really be letting him watch that.

Its quite comical in some ways as I keep having to go in to his room when he is asleep and spiriting his lists away, I dont know why, I just keep them to show pschologists or who ever is the next appointment.

 

On a postive note I have had parents evening tonight and his teacher has said he has made a really good improvement lately in his levels but his social skills are still very lacking. She also said the progress he had made was down to all the extra support he recieves and she also said she will support my statutory assessment request in any way she could so I was doing nearly cartwheels out of there as it means alot to have school behind me. She said that at High School he will probably scrape through academicly (sorry about spelling!!) but he will struggle lots with day to day secondary school life and she thinks he will find getting from class to class difficult and things like that. With regards to the assessment request she says they need to look at the whole picture of DS and not just his grades.

 

ginza you could be talking about my son, he does all these lists then has no further interest in them. I am also trying to get a statement for D as he starts secondary in Sept but know that I am facing an uphil battle. I am considering getting DS assessed by an independent pschologist as I dont trust the LEA ones not to be biased.

 

Chris54, how great that your son has got a job in vehicles that he presumably enjoys, it really does give inspiration as wonder at some times if DS will even drive but hopefully with a good start he will be able to get a job he enjoys.

[westie]

Good luck with getting a statement, glad your teacher is in support in terms of him needing one, that is part of battle. I also agree it needs to be in place before secondary school. We are lucky in that my son has been statemented since foundation stage, and hopefully it will be maintained for his move to secondary (well it will be amended in dec this yr to reflect transition from primary to secondary education thats why I need to get things in place now even though he still only in yr5 at present. The things you mention you are worried about (moving to different classes etc) are some of the things that concern me with regards to my son's move. His behaviour has been much better over last few months, making other issues more noticeable, but I am thinking if he is not properly supported then the behaviours may resurface.I am going to visit schools and ask questions and try my best to get his statement to include all the areas he needs help with. of course thats the theory, whether it will be same in practice I can only hope XX Take care

[MelowMeldrew]

My son is eleven now and has as long as I can remember constantly written lists, most recently this has been Thomas the Tank Engine (at eleven, I know!!) but he always allocates an engine to a family member, ie

Thomas - Alex

Percy - Robert

James - Mum

Gordon, Dave

and so on.

The topic can change for example it could be dinosaurs or characters from the Simpsons but the format is always the same, character - family member.

Would you say this falls under the category of routines or repetitive behaviour, the reason I am asking is that I have asked for my son to be reassessed by CAMHS as he was not felt to meet the criteria for a diagnosis last year but I still think he is on the spectrum, as do many others including his teachers, paeditrician, ed psyc and also friends who have children on the spectrum.

He has no interest in playing with other children his own age and flatly refuses to go to any clubs, ie Scouts, Football. He just wants to sit in his room, watch his DVD's and make these lists and I feel so sad for him although he is quite content.

I have just applied for a Statutory Assesment for him as he is struggling at school despite been on SA+ and having a lot of adult support, he's probably too busy thinking who can be which engine to do minor things like schoolwork!!

 

I just wondered if anyone else's children had done this.

 

Thanks x

 

 

Mine did numbers. He'd use reams of paper just writing the numbers from 1 up to 1,000 ! then he went to 5,000, 10,000 etc, we used to buy 500 packs of A4 paper and he'd fill them up with this number counting both sides... he was very young (5/6), when he started and rarely made any mistakes either, but now hates numbers, and nobody at home can get him to hold a pencil, let alone write anything with it... at his old school they tried taping the pen to his hand ! because he would not grip it.... he seems to have totally regressed from his flying start... He was more academic at 5-8 years old, than he is now at 13. Now we are at square one again... prior to 5 in many cases...

[hedders]

yes my dd started in recpetion yr writing lists 4yrs later still does the same.

 

Its her class register that she always does.

[vicbee]

I am sorry ...but i am laughing so much reading this thread!! Isnt it funny when your child does something that you think is unique to them only to find that actually there are loads of asd kids doing exactly the same thing.

 

My daughter is a list freak! I am so sick to death of finding lists everywhere around the house, around the computer, all around her bedroom etc. Her lists are usually of her teddies names and the games she plays with them - ie vets - who has had what injection, who is staying in overnight. Then there is the endless lists of her nintendo games - these are usually repeated many times. Just before her birthday i stupidly told her to make a list of what she wants for her birthday. She spent every day writing a list of all the nintendo games in the Argos catalogue along with page number, price and catalogue number. the list changed from day to day but usually ended up being A4 size. I have now turned this obsession round to an advantage as i now use it to encourage her to do something in a particular situation or advise family to use it when she visits to distract her if they are getting into a sticky situation. If she is bored i get her to reseach flights for me on airline websites and make me a list of prices times etc - she just loves doing this. When we moved back from spain last year, i had her researching jobs, houses to rent, flights, schools and she loved making the lists. Shes my little researcher and I actively encourage her to do this as i know she is good at it - and she generally gets it spot on too!

 

Just before my daughter was diagnosed recently, i took in a huge collection of the lists to CAMHS to show them. i think it was definitely a huge help in them understanding her obsessions. They are a great tool for proving your theory about your child too.

 

Vicbee