I have an almost 23 mo. old ds who just last night did something kinda weird...dh and I were sitting outside about 10 yrds from a gate. DS walked up to the gate, opened it, closed it and then walked over to dh and gave him a hug (walking right passed me). Here's the weird thing...he KEPT DOING IT...the same exact thing OVER AND OVER AGAIN. He wasn't laughing or smiling so I know he didn't think it was a game. It was like he was on a mission and that was his only focus. He did it about 5 or 6 times in a row and then I stopped him...he was easily redirected and just started doing something else.

Hi Froggy,

Sounds like you may have a budding mechanical engineer there. It could be perfectly normal developmental behavior. Are you worried that this be a symptom of autism?

Generally one needs a constellation of symptoms to have a child dxd as autistic. Often developmental milestones are missed for speech/language and socialization.

If your child is easily redirected, enjoys nonrepetitive play activities at times, and doesn't spend an inordinate amt of time bonding with the gate, I wouldn't worry too much.

My child on the autism spectrum (very high functioning) did things like this: stacking up, building towers, with anything he could find, for hours every day, age 14 mos to 3 yrs. It was almost impossible to prevent. He'd always find something to stack. As a preschooler, he insisted on extended bedtime prayers w/"God bless tyrannosaurus, etc, naming every single dinosaur he knew, and he knew a lot, it took 10 min. to get finished ... He would also build "alien worlds" with Legos + playdough + 'found objects' that were very interesting in that they were structures/environment only, and were never inhabited by beings. When we tried to "play" in these worlds w/make believe alien characters, he would get very upset. As a kindergardener & early grade school child, he had a tape fetish. I mean, severe. Rolls & rolls of masking or duct tape per week. There was no peace without it. As an adolescent, he still uses the tape, but is now able to explain that finds the sound of the tape ripping off the roll to be very soothing, esp. when upset. He finds pulling tape more therapeutic/helpful than sessions w/various counsellors we have tried, for anxiety issues. Go figure!

It's my understanding that his play behavior had some fairly typical autism tip-offs.

My neurotypical child drew increasingly complex schematic diagrams of mayonnaise factories (???? where do these ideas come from ????) over a period of 4 yrs. In contrast to her sib, there were always 'operators' behind the mechanization.

Does that help?

I remember going through distinct stages. One of my passions was (and is) researching a certain country in depth. (Most recently it has been Greece, but I have also done extensive studies of Japan, Spain, the Ukraine, England, and Ethiopia.)

I am currently fascinated by Roger Bannister. His accomplishments in sport, and later in medicine, and the obstacles he overcame to become the person he is fascinates me.

As my screen name suggests, I am a cat lover. Siamese, tabbies, and Oriental Shorthairs are my favorite breeds. (Perhaps I'm a little biased, because I have all three.)