Martin lines up things. I walked into my bedroom on Saturday only to find over one hundred Lincoln Log pieces saluting me from the baseboard. Yesterday I found crayons organized in the shape of a house. Beside it stood a tree made entirely of cards from a Crazy Eights deck.
Martin has been lining up things since he was one year old. It's one of the signs that a kid might be on the spectrum. (At the time, we didn't know the signs and simply thought that Martin was incredibly organized.)
I wonder if Martin will always line up things? Maybe he'll be obsessed with alphabetical order on bookshelves? Or having spools of thread organized by color? Or maybe he'll come up with an order all his own?
Does your child have an obsession with lining things up?
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Yes my Patty is now 22 and she still lines things up. They loved her in high school when she went out to stores for daily job coaching, the stores never looked better after she lined up everything on the shelves. The items that she uses now are books by her bed, videos that she owns. It is usually the same items every day. Sometimes it can be a total mess and I have her clean up with me, which she hates because we are ruining her setup! Life is deffinately better as she very independent, dressing, picking out her clothes, and reminding me that she needs deodorant. We have learned the hard way that we have to accept the negative with the positive.
Very informational and educational as usual. Thanks for a wonderful post.
When youngest had his first Christmas, he saw boxes of the previous year's ornaments taken out, laid on the floor, as ornaments would be hung on the tree. He got frustrated, as he felt that the items had to be sorted by color, material, and size and returned to the boxes - so it was a battle getting the ornaments to stay put on the tree until the boxes were finally taken out of sight.
It was funny/cute but it was a bit disconcerting for all parties involved, nonetheless - and it was our first indicator that he was autistic.
Today he is sixteen, has his pens and pencils lined up "just so", his clothing placed in a specific order that I can not, for the life of me, decipher - but he needs the items to be right where they are. His collectible action figures are lined up in order of size, then rank, then accessory. His clothing rotation is exacting, and not just the hygiene products but their brands have to be exacting.
That aside, he's also an honors student at his high school and is the first to note when things are going awry as far as organization and schedules. He also has encyclopedic knowledge on music bands, cars, and other minor topics.
Mind you now, there are a few touchy moments when things aren't exactly *right* - but there are also touching moments.
One point that comes to mind was a time when I was going through stress, when he was a bit younger. His stepfather was out of town at the time, and I was with Eldest and
Youngest and with a head full of worry about unrelated items.
Youngest did something of a visual assessment, then systematically brought me my cup of coffee, measuring each part to it carefully, brought me this half-blanket I had a habit of putting either over my shoulders or on my lap, brought the entertainment system's remote to me, and brought over other items his stepfather would normally be getting for me - which was new to me seeing him do.
Youngest's actions had somewhat taken me by surprise.
I looked at him, and he said [more addressing the air in front of him than me] that whenever I "needed to remember I was loved" [his words], his stepfather would get these things in this precise order and would sit down so I could talk with him.
He then sat down where his stepfather usually sits, and said, "...and this is where I say", and said - in exact tone, facial expression, and mannerism to his stepfather's, "You look like hell. Talk to me."
I laughed aloud at that point, and thanked him.
@the_kcar - Your story just made my night. Utterly adorable. And now my dog thinks we should go for a walk (because if I'm laughing, then something as exciting as a walk MUST be happening!). Kids are so observant, and you never really notice until they do something like this.
I can only hope my little one will develop into the beautiful person his other mommy is.
If yours is given every chance to be Whoever the little one wishes to be, you'll be surprised how your little one will open to you.
He may not be able to directly express the range of emotions he feels in ways that are understood by neurotypicals, but your little one will certainly let you know what you mean to him, and things will fall into place, I'm sure.
An update: he's now at the end of high school, moving forward to university soon. It's an amazing thing.