The little things they do.........

[Millymay]

Just wondering if anyone else is driven mad by small but annoying habits, my son, 6, dx ASD has many of these!

 

Cannot walk past plant/ bushes without picking at least one petal/leaf

 

has to walk over every wall/bench whilst out

 

Cashpoints: always has to run over and press buttons, same with disabled entrance buttons, he can't resist them! Has to be physically restrained whilst in a lift

 

Constant firing of pretend guns whilst walking down street, interspersed with "karate" moves

 

Lifting of freezer lids in Iceland, despite one falling on his head and cutting his lip, he won't stop it!

 

Endless hours of discussion about any small graze/scratch he has acquired

[fiorelli]

Louis has to run out and SHUT the gate before I can go through it.

 

He likes doing the 'karate' moves along with the 'ha - ha - ha' noises to go with it.

 

He prefers to run rather than walk (although his run isn't fast, so not too bad)

 

Makes constant 'siren' noises when we are out (and most of the time when we are in too!)

[lisa]

Sorry Millymay, did you say MY son or yours!!!! You've just described my son at 6 perfectly. Actually come to think of it, he's 11 now and quite a few of those still apply, particularly the walking past bushes and walking on every wall and bench. We always say about my son that he climbed out of my womb and hasn't stopped climbing since. He still regularly climbs on the top of my car if I don't get there quick enough. And the karate and pretend gun thing is still going on, I don't think he's capable of walking normally with his arms by his side!! He can't talk without hopping from one foot to the other either. No wonder the boy eats like a horse and never puts on any weight.

 

Lisa

[Millymay]

Glad i'm not alone Lisa, looks like i've got years of this to come though!

[sarahjane]

Hi can certainly relate to the the karate and gun thing my 6 yr old does it all the time. He also has to shout hello at any passing joggers or people on bikes for some reason. This has nearly caused several accidents

[lil_me]

Jakki Chan has a lot to answer for in my house I think, the karate kicks with noises (currently keeps kicking cars ) and the constant chants that they do on the programme, he's now banned from watching it

[Lesley]

Yup we get the karate & climbing

 

Also picking the leaves thing - he also has to pick up sticks constatntly - even if we're in the middle of a road & a car coming he will have to get that stick!

 

Buttons in lifts - yes -

- & computers - we went to my daughter's open evening in the spring & he managed to systematically go round and crash all the computers in the classroom before turning them off 'cos they didn't work properly' meaning all the computers had to be re-booted manually & checked for problems caused by the crash.....!

 

I'm not sure he'll grow out of the computer thing as hubby (self-dx AS) is a computer programmer! He hasn't grown out of it yet!

And it's not just computers with him - he has to control the TV remote & 'flick' through the channels - if we watch a whole programme uninterupted its a miracle! (is pushing buttons a stim thing?)

 

L

xxx

[lil_me]

The button thing could be, my son now uses his gameboy, its amazing how fast his fingers move

 

My son doesn't pick leaves as much now but has a serious problem with flies, if they are on anything inc a stranger he has to remove them

[Klou]

We also have most of these type of behaviours - not the gun or karate related ones. Though we do have the siren or tv programme chant, being a train and running around anything circular on route. Nearly caused chaos in the supermarket when he noticed they had put a round sticker on the floor in the fruit and veg section to advertise something. DS had to run round it. At the time pretending to be a train. He loves swinging round the bollards in the town centre which is a nightmare when it is busy as he crashes into people. Have to restrict that one to quiet times.

 

Do NT children do these things as well or is it just our ASD ones? I am wondering if I am justified in identifying these things as ASD related or just normal. The line gets distinctly blurred in places.

[lil_me]

My (so far) NT does them aswell, especialy the train/planes and spinning round posts/

[Amanda32]

Cant find the discussion about The things they say.....sorry

 

I was having a discussion with the kids the other day and asked what they would like to do when they are grown up. Well I already knew my daughter wants to be a Vet as she likes animals and not changed her mind for the last few years and now she's 12. I told her she could go on work experience when she gets to a certain age in school working in a community farm as this will all help. I then asked my son what he wanted to be when he's a grown up and he looked quite confused as at 9 they dont know what they want, he then told me mam I just want to be NORMAL......... never heard him say things like that before.

 

Take care

Amanda <'> <'>

Edited August 31, 2005 by Amanda32