My twelve year old son, an Aspie, has been obscessing over Thomas since he was three. So far I see no negative with that, except that he has no one close to his age to share this with. Just wondering if anyone else out there refused to give up Thomas as they grew up.

i have friends here in the usa with a similar condition - they are in their 30s-40s and still watch sesame street. sesame street is a kiddie show on public television that helps kids with their reading, writing, math, and how to get along with other kids.

I liked the TV show a little as a kid, but I had mostly the opposite problem--as a kid, my interests were supposedly-"adult" interests, like physics or computers; I actually spent the awkward years of puberty obsessed with obstetrics, with the result that not only did I know exactly how babies were made, but exactly how a fetus developed, how birth happened, all the things that could go wrong, all the things that the doctor might do to help, all the unusual variations on human fetal development and birth...

And now that I've grown up, I realize most adults still are not interested in physics or medicine; their interests are just as foreign to me as the kids' were when I was a kid.

I enjoyed a period of brief congruence with others when my fascination with Tolkien's Middle-Earth coincided with the release of the Lord of the Rings movies. It was coincidental, and felt very odd to be in step with everyone else for a little while. Of course, I still love Tolkien and everybody else has moved on now; so that's that.

I get that. I have never liked things that are "popular"- music, whatever, and then God forbid the things I like become popular and then I have to share them with the rest of the world. no fun. and then by the time i adjust to actually having someone to talk to about it, they move on to something else.

my DH and I love sesame street, but the kids 8 and 12 won't go near it!

I still watch PBS kids programs such as Arthur and Caillou. I also like Little Bill

I still watch Arthur too sometimes, just not Caillou...

Thomas was cool. I mean, yeah I watched him until PBS stupid airing him and I mean both PBS stations. I would still watch Arthur, but I think I outgrew him. :'( I still like him though as a childhood icon. I miss my Arthur stuffie that talked. I guess my little brother is still enjoying him. ! He better or I am taking him back home to show him some love. XD!

I watched him from time to time, and wasn't obssessed with him.

I'm pretty sure I've read that Thomas The Tank Engine is very popular with ASD children ... something to do with the large smiley faces on the engine.  I might have read it in Tony Attwood's "The Complete Guide To Asperger's Syndrome".

not really an obsession per se' but back when it was known as Shining Time Station i really liked watching it when i was really young back when TV shows were fun and engaging to watch... I esp remember the thomas the tank theme song...  "They're two "They're four.. "They're six.... They're eight....  shunting cars and hauling freight.. red and green and brown and blue they're the really useful crew...   (melody gets harder to remember)

Shining Time Station... those were the days. I loved the show, was familiar with all the trains, and developed an appreciation for both Ringo Starr and George Carlin. We had a shelf filled with Thomas books, and I had a fleet of Thomas toys, which I loved to play with. By play, I generally mean lining them up, admiring them, and rolling them back and forth on the kitchen floor.

Fast forward to today. I still like the Thomas and Friends show. And a client I'm treating, who has autism, just LOVES Thomas. Well, he actually likes James the best, as did I, but he likes all the engines. It was a piece of luck that he was assigned to me, because no one else knows all the train names. I recently bought a musical Thomas book, which I'm sure he will enjoy. I also use a Thomas-themed token economy system: when he responds appropriately, he gets to stick a picture of one of the trains onto a board. When he gets five, he gets to play with some magnetic toy trains. He likes looking at the pictures of the engines at least as much as playing with the toy trains.

Really? Thanks for posting. I'm going to check that out. I have noticed my son loves any type of vechicle with a big smiley face, not just Thomas.

It's wonderful that you accept what he loves and use it in such a positive way. I use the trains to teach my son a lot of concepts, especially math, by relating it to Thomas stories.

My aspie son - and my other son were totally into it when they were younger.... lasted a few years...

I am shocked that my now 13 yr old son - did grow out if it...

it is really the only interest he did grow out of.. I got him "real" trains - so he could play with them... then he wanted people (play mobile people) then he started building villages for them, then modeling with clay and painting scenes... The electric set broke and Nintendo arrived.. now there is an obsession I could do without.... but at the time I thought - well the other kids his age talk about that - at least they will have something to talk about....

Trains are a very adult obsession - there are grown men that love them..

(What did you do when you heard that ll the thomas the tank stuff was recalled due to unsafe levels of led from CHina?)

I love/d that George Carlin was the voice on TV)

current obsessions (newest one - so happy) freshwater fish - aquarium keeping)

old ones - but lifetime
Star Wars (waning some)
Indiana Jones
Star Trek (just starting)
Metal Gear Solid (music and charecters only - not allowed to play it)
Legos (comes and goes)
Of course Drawing and making comic strips
anything nintendo Mario...
I try (and tried) to have him have more than one obsession ...