lining up objects

[Noskcaj86]

Hi,

Ive read that lining up toys or other objects can be a trait of autism... is this true?

 

My son has recently been doing a lot of lining things up, tonight he made a long line of toys, books, cars and even a nappy and sock across the living room and then stood back to admire his work. He spent a good hour and a half a few days ago lining up his cars, then re arranging them somewhere else in the room in another line!

 

Hes been referred for ASD diagnosis and i wondered if its worth taking photos or filming these lines to show his paed?

 

Thanx

[justine1]

Filming maybe but not sure if photos will help as anybody could have done it.Lining up toys/objects is not uncommon in neurotypical children of a young age(under 5's) however with ASD children its more about how they react if it is not exactly how they want it to be,so if you were to remove an object from the sequence(without him seeing) would he notice it was missing and how would he react? This is the type of scenerio the paed will be looking for.

[karmadestiny]

My son used to line up his toy cars from when he was 2 years old...This was seen as the main trait of ASD in him and recieved his diagnosis based soley on this and his deep interest in cars...There are times he can be rigid in his thinking and yet other times he will allow things to be a little different and won't mind too much...I think it just depends on which side of the spectrum he/she is on...

[Noskcaj86]

My son also has a deep interest in cars, its the only thing he plays with really, other than trains now and again. Im 99% sure hes on the spectrum, he has so many traits. But until hes diagnosed im still going to wonder if he is or isnt....

 

Age 18 months he would sit in his cot and rock back and forth for an hour at a time (didnt think much of it at the time) its only looking back on it i think why didnt we film him! He doesnt do this anymore but he has other "stimms" like clicking noise he makes comstantly with his tongue, hand flapping, and finger twiddling. Hes got language delay also and sensory perseption disorder. He is so fussy with food that he sometimes eats nothing, hes had feeding problems from the day he was born and speech therepy put this down to delayed oral motor development or something. Basically he couldnt control his tongue movments properly resulting in a lot of choking on milk and food. He wont sleep especially since we moved house. He has behaviour problems, no danger sence...the list goes on. I just want to know either way whats going on with him! Im so sick of guessing!!!

 

Ive taken photos of him lining objects up, you can see him in the photos carrying the objects and putting them in the line so i hope thats enough to show its him doing it. We have some video of him stimming in the pram, and while im trying to brush his teeth (i think this also shows sensory issues). Also at homne in his bedroom stimming with lego and brushing his fingers through it over and over which may be sensory again, there are more stimming videos too.

 

I hope i have caught enough of his bahaviours on camera for the paed to see,

Just want to know whats going on with my son,

Its driving me crazy not knowing for definate.

 

I didnt know until I left school that i was dyslexic and im sure this is the main reason I didnt do well at school, I dont want this for my son. I hope once/if hes diagnosed we can get him the help he will need to progress in school. Hes definatly intelligent, he just has these other issues that he will need help with.

 

Thanx for the replies

[Isobel]

Yeah, I used to line up playmobile people in lines, definitely ASD trait.

[Special_talent123]

yes its true, i line my dolphins up by the side of my bed

[Sa Skimrande]

Yep, I line up stuff in order of use, I have always done so and perhaps always will, as it makes sense, it is efficient and tidy. Even last night hand sawing rings for my chainmail project, I cut 2400 in the space of five hours and lined up was the coils ready for cutting and spare blades for my saw as aluminium being abrasive, blades don't last too long, but on the other side of my production line was the box for the finished rings, a tray for the aluminium saw dust, a tray for failed rings and a tray for broken saw blades ready for sorting as they may be broken, but they are still usable as I have an adjustable framed piercing saw and I keep broken blades for those times when I have run out of unbroken blades, which is often.

 

The other thing about my production line, is I can watch tv whilst I am doing it and don't have to look where things are, my hand goes automatically to what I need and I can even re-blade my saw without looking and even start a cut into a coil to make the rings all by feel.

 

 

Mind my lining up of stuff has not always been well received and it was I was criticised once by a quality assurance team for my arranging of tools used in repair, again I could select the right tool by knowing where it was in my mental map thus allowing me to keep one hundred percent attention on the job I was doing and it was intricate, a electro mechanical clockwork mechanism used in aircraft autopilot. Those that criticised my method of work said my work space was messy, yet I knew where everything was. My immediate boss told the quality assurance people to get lost as he was happy with the way I worked and especially so as I was the only one in the bay with the 'knack' for fixing those things, when they came in for repair, well suffice to say those machines were the only things left on the shelf by the time I got there as I had this thing about doing things in my own time.

[Isobel]

I can relate to that - having to have stuff out on my desk so I knew where everything was. I have a box now which I keep everything in so that helps.

[raydon]

Everything inside "my world" is ordered, anything outside can be chaotic. I can function in the chaos, but I try not to let it impinge on my inner self. If it does I can explode.