On saturday I purchased foam numbers for my 3 year old autistic son. They are less than a foot high. He loves them so much he is bathing and sleeping with them. He smiles when he plays with them. Takes them out of their carrying case one by one and puts them in order. Either 1 2 3.. or 10 9 8... If his brother steps on one or picks it up he throws a tantrum most of the time. If the letters get dirt on them, he cries about it. As he pulls them out of the bag he says "And number 7 and number 8 and number 9. He is the happiest kid in town. Letters and balloons have the same effect. Puzzles were another big like for him. One week it is balloons, the next numbers, letters, a movie so on and so on. He doesn't line up objects unless they are numbers or letters. He does like to keep colors together with other colors though. If there is no other patter. He also likes to watch movies in fast forward mode. Or if he sees a part that made him laugh, he will rewind it and watch it again a few times. He likes to watch the same movie for a bout a week. Is this all very common of an Autistic child? I think some of the stuff he does is pretty neat. He is also a wiz on the computer and remembers passcodes even when we change them.
Michelle

My son fell in love with a large plastic penguin lawn ornament. I mean 2ft. tall, it's the kind you can fill with sand to set it out on your lawn. He had me buy it 3 years ago when he was 4 and He had to carry it all the way home on the bus. It's been 3 years now and he still sleeps with it most nights. It is funny to see the 2 of them in his bed under the covers. He likes to sit on it to watch TV. I think kids who deal with Autism are more likly to just decided if they like doing something or a object strikes their fancy they enjoy doing it and do not have hangups about what other people think.

My son fell in love with a large plastic penguin lawn ornament. I mean 2ft. tall, it's the kind you can fill with sand to set it out on your lawn. He had me buy it 3 years ago when he was 4 and He had to carry it all the way home on the bus. It's been 3 years now and he still sleeps with it most nights. It is funny to see the 2 of them in his bed under the covers. He likes to sit on it to watch TV. I think kids who deal with Autism are more likly to just decided if they like doing something or a object strikes their fancy they enjoy doing it and do not have hangups about what other people think.


That is cute. I know to other parents it would bother them but I love everything about my child. He walks around with three balloons at times and people ask him if it's his birthday. I get the balloons from the dollar stores. They can say anything from Celebrate to You're One Today. It's kind of funny when people wonder why this little boy is walking around with balloons. It doesn't bother me. I feel like he feels secure. Just about everytime we leave the supermarket he cries cause he wants a balloon. I'm trying to only get them at the dollar store so I don't have to buy them everytime I go food shopping. When our neighbors have parties and hang balloons outside my son goes nuts. He looks out the window saying "Happy" (for a smile faced balloon). Sometimes I go to the neighbors house and ask if I can have the balloon to calm him down. Everytime I see a balloon I hope he doesn't just so I don't have to hear about it for days. Loosing one to the sky is so hard for him. He talks about the balloon in the tree and the balloon in the clouds. It's sad. I tought him to burry the balloons that break. He didn't like throwing them in the trash. So now he burries them in the dirt.


The Penguin must be breaking apart by now. Does he put anything in it? Like isn't there a place to put sand? Did he name it?

The Penguin is made of a really hard plastic and ment to be kept outside in sun and rain, so it has held up well. There is a little round cap in the bottom it reminds me of a piggy bank closer to open and put sand in ,of course we never did. I don't think he knows the plug is there. Please don't tell him he'll be stuffing it with Ham. We thought he would like to go to the aquarium to see real penguins. Big mistake he loved them and went nuts trying to climb into the tank. it took all my strength to keep him from climbing in . He can't tell me if it has a name as Paul does not talk. He does like to pat it and babble so I'm sure in his mind it has a name.

On saturday I purchased foam numbers for my 3 year old autistic son. They are less than a foot high. He loves them so much he is bathing and sleeping with them. He smiles when he plays with them. Takes them out of their carrying case one by one and puts them in order. Either 1 2 3.. or 10 9 8... If his brother steps on one or picks it up he throws a tantrum most of the time. If the letters get dirt on them, he cries about it. As he pulls them out of the bag he says "And number 7 and number 8 and number 9. He is the happiest kid in town. Letters and balloons have the same effect. Puzzles were another big like for him. One week it is balloons, the next numbers, letters, a movie so on and so on. He doesn't line up objects unless they are numbers or letters. He does like to keep colors together with other colors though. If there is no other patter. He also likes to watch movies in fast forward mode. Or if he sees a part that made him laugh, he will rewind it and watch it again a few times. He likes to watch the same movie for a bout a week. Is this all very common of an Autistic child? I think some of the stuff he does is pretty neat. He is also a wiz on the computer and remembers passcodes even when we change them.
Michelle

From everything I've read, all of those things could be present in autistic children. My almost 3 y/o loves puzzles and is a whiz at the computer as well. :)

Hehe I fell in love with a lot of stuff like that as a kid, including a plastic funnel ad a wooden stick which we had to go back to pick up because even days later (my parents had made me put it behind a shrub before getting on the bus home) I was unconsolable about having had to leave it behind.

I don't think these characteristics show autism. All kids can be obsessive about toys and movies. I would just watch out for more signs before I started worrrying. Autism is more about the communication problems. Does your child interact with other children or adults? Do they respond if someone speaks to them? Does your child have any constant habits like running around hand flapping, Making strange noises or not playing with toys in a normal way.?
I would just wait and see because doctors tend not to diagnose until they have a multitude of symptoms. I never got a diagnosis until my son turned four and his behaviours become extemely obvious.
Good luck

I don't think these characteristics show autism. All kids can be obsessive about toys and movies. I would just watch out for more signs before I started worrrying. Autism is more about the communication problems. Does your child interact with other children or adults? Do they respond if someone speaks to them? Does your child have any constant habits like running around hand flapping, Making strange noises or not playing with toys in a normal way.?
I would just wait and see because doctors tend not to diagnose until they have a multitude of symptoms. I never got a diagnosis until my son turned four and his behaviours become extemely obvious.
Good luck


He was diagnosed in March. He does have communication problems. He is getting better at it. He can talk and understand. Just not as well as I'd like him to. Like I'll tell him that I am getting him a cookie and he doesn't seem to realize that I said it. He will keep asking for a cookie until it's in his hand.

My son is the same. He can speak quite a bit but not in a conversation. He will ask for things that he wants but most of the time he doesn't respond when someone speaks to him. Unless of course they say something that he likes, eg time to go in the car, then he runs out to the car. It is very confusing as I am really not sure what he takes in and what he doesn't. Anyway his autistic pre-school teacher says that having any speech at this age gives the child better prospects for good communication in the future. We can only hope for the best.