This post is making me wonder (with amusement) how many "textbook aspie" things I did as a young child. Would picking up every popsicle stick I could find on the street, washing them, and lining them up count?
If she has a story/reason behind lining up the toys then it's probably not really an "autistic" behavior so much as an unusual one. That's just my opinion.
I'm not sure about the reasoing thing. I used to line up almost anything that had multiples... mostly crayons and eventually art supplies.
I had a reason... I liked it that way. It looked pretty when you opened it. All the same and I always new where my favorite colors are. On a side note, I always got bummed out when a few colors got worn before others.
I guess it would depend more on the age? My 5YO daughter lines up her toys and talks to them and pretends with them that same way though, but she's a social butterfly if there ever was one! She definitely has her issues (namely the inability to sit for more than five seconds) but maybe I just really don't get that whole "lining up" things either, since I obviously did it without problems.
I often line up or stack things, espcially coins. When I have a bunch of coins and nothing else to do, I line them up in rows going from the newest year on the left to the oldest year on the right, and put any duplicates of years in columns below the ones in the original row. The coin from a particular year that is in the best condition goes at the top of the column, and the one in the worst condition goes at the bottom. Coins of different values are never mixed together (each have their own rows/columns).
I've been doing this since I was a little kid.
This could really turn out to be more normal of a behavior than we really think.
I often line up or stack things, espcially coins. When I have a bunch of coins and nothing else to do, I line them up in rows going from the newest year on the left to the oldest year on the right, and put any duplicates of years in columns below the ones in the original row. The coin from a particular year that is in the best condition goes at the top of the column, and the one in the worst condition goes at the bottom. Coins of different values are never mixed together (each have their own rows/columns).
I've been doing this since I was a little kid.
Holy crap! I used to do the same thing! That is way too funny! Course I don't have the extra time or change required to do these sorts of things...
But I'm beginning to agree with Ando, it can't be all that wierd, can it???
Definately.
I always think about how people might objejct to me breaking the rules -but if they are stupid fascist rules then I break them, because some rules don't deserve to exist.
Hi,
The first time anyone suggested my daughter was aspie/HFA was in a report by an Ed Psych after a nursery observation, with a report that included underlined comments about "lining up dinosaur toys in a ritualistic manner".
At the time I was rather huffy, I'd been seeing all my daughter's quirks since birth, so it all seemed "normal" to me. Yes it has turned out that she's "textbook aspie" (quote from subsequent psychologists).
However I still don't see "lining up" as merely "ritual", or that it precludes "imaginative play". The reason being, that she always attaches a narrative to her scenarios. At the moment for instance there's about 50 playmobil figures in rows on my dressing table looking at a "stage" watching a show. Sometimes they're line-dancing, waiting for the bus, at a party etc. While she's setting them out, she does different voices and enacts her own little "scripts".
That sounds like imaginative play to me. I know "lining up objects" is apparently an aspie/autism trait....but can it be viewed as purely a ritual/O.C.D when there's a creative narrative attached to it.
Be interested to hear your opinions.
well then,congratulations!
you have a child who is likely to grow up to be an intellectual,with a textbook like knowledge in an area of expertise.
i suggest that you give her easy access to media and resources,make it really easy for her to pick stuff up
oh,and dont suppress the stimming thing.it can make them anxious,nervous,or aggressive if you do.
Thanks for the input. I also polled a few NT friends on this, and most of them did a bit of "lining up" too. In fact come to think of it, I've got a thing about having "complete sets" of things....hate it if one of a set is missing.
As a teacher myself, I was interested in all this stuff about what is and (supposedly) isn't imaginative play. So I did some reading up on what the "experts" said on autism/aspergers. I got really cheesed off with it, cos there seemed to be this implication that aspie/autistic kids had no imagination.
I can't remember the term used (something to do with substitution and role-play), but an example quoted said that an autistic/aspie child could play with a toy phone, but was incapable of pretending a banana was a phone, thus being incapable of pretending/visualising a "substitute function" in play. I sadly admit to trying this out on my daughter and she (quite sensibly) said "Mum why are you talking to a banana? It's not a phone you know..."
But...she loves sword-fighting with sticks and umbrellas. So maybe the "expert" was just coming out with theories (presented as facts) based on some experiment with a bunch of kids who were sitting there thinking "This dumb banana game is really boring".
Like the "lining up" issue, it seems to be a case of making the facts fit the theory. How can you judge something like "imagination". I get this horrible vision of children playing in "laboratory" conditions", whilst viewed by "experts" holding up points cards like judges in a skating competition!
Lol! The banana thing. That's funny. I'm sure I'd have said the same thing. I never played with dolls or played "house" or games like that. But I built all sorts of structures from whatever materials I had available. There are different kinds of imagination a person can have, autistic or not. I think what can be missing or underemphasized in some aspie people is a figurative or metaphorical imagination. To this day if someone tells me they've reached a fork in the road, I still see that literal fork in my mind.
That whole thing about Aspie kids not being imaginative is just another example of some underinformed expert's opinion that may apply to some but does not apply to all Aspie kids. My four year old daughter plays both imaginatively and textbook Aspie, and I think that's fine.
But back to the topic. I've spent the last two weeks checking the shelves at the library to make sure the books are lined up exactly right. Yes, it is my autistic heaven, and my autistic mission to unveil the mysteries of shelving errors, because lining up books in exact order is important!!!
My brother used to line up matchbox cars in the morning. He is not aspie -- but I think he has some of the traits.
And I totally agree with jewellie -- just because some kid doesn't include you in their imagination does not mean that they aren't playing imaginatively. (And the whole "lack of imagination" thing -- I'm pretty sure I've said this many times -- is bullshit.)
I just got two BB pellets from my friend, and I like to line them up right next to each other and say they're kissing. My BB pellets are both guys, so they're gay. Yay! =3
My gay BB pellets are kissing right now.
Lol! The banana thing. That's funny. I'm sure I'd have said the same thing. I never played with dolls or played "house" or games like that. But I built all sorts of structures from whatever materials I had available. There are different kinds of imagination a person can have, autistic or not. I think what can be missing or underemphasized in some aspie people is a figurative or metaphorical imagination. To this day if someone tells me they've reached a fork in the road, I still see that literal fork in my mind.
The very first time I read Harry Potter 4 (when I was little)
During the Third task (the maze), Harry and Cedric started at the same spot because they were co-champions for Hogwarts.When they came to a fork in their path. I literally imagined a fork stuck in the ground at each path that it split into. When they went down the path, they took the fork out of the ground.
At least the original metaphorical meaning was retained.
When I was deep into my obsession with Jimi Hendrix (circa 1980/81 - 1983/84) I used to line up the albums against the walls of the room where the stereo sat. At the end of my interest I had some 50 albums to line up.
Oh yeah, when I was little, I used to play with little model cars. I often had them doing stuff like the train walk, and driving on the designs of my carpet like they were roads.
Sometimes, when I'm playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance in a battle I knew was simple, I'd get a little creative. Often I end up doing stuff like the following:
- Torture by poison. I disarm and immobilize an enemy (so that they can't move or act), and poison them. I have my characters surround the enemy to watch him die slowly. I don't do this if there's an enemy white mage around, of course.
- Assisted suicide. I have one of my characters get behind another character low on HP and kill them. It ALWAYS has to be from the back. I especially like using a bow, gun or sword for this.
- Assisted suicide 2. One of my characters stands on a tall ledge. Another one with an ability that will push the character back one space stands behind him and uses that ability. The first character will fall to the ground below, suffering damage. Of course, I could always hope that Critical Hit will come around on a normal attack, but it's entirely random.
- I allow my white mage to deliver the final blow. Death by staff is always hilarious.
- Battle within the team. I do this if there's one last (weak) enemy left, or the mission of the battle was to destroy easily destroyed target objects. I try my hardest with all my characters to see who wins the battle. The winner of the battle gets to kill the last enemy or destroy the object.
- Fight an entire clan with one character. It's kind of hard with everybody ganging up on you, but I've done it before.
- If there is one enemy left, especially an archer or a sword-wielder of some kind, I'll line up all my characters and let the enemy kill them all. When only one is left, the one will kill the enemy.
- Have my characters walk around the entire map in a line.