catoon - Autism Spectrum Message Board

Kempsmom · 09-01-2005, 01:38 PM

My son watches the same cartoon over and over. It is Dora they can be different eposdes but it has to be Dora! I am going to go nuts if I have to watch ANOTHER Dora. My poor daughter is like mom do we HAVE to watch Dora AGAIN! The lady who babysits for me told him that dora smelt that she had to take a bath. And that works sometimes.Although sometimes when I say that to him he will go up to the tv and sniff. I know that they say autistic kids take things litaraly so I am scared I am doing a bad thing. Any advice?

jeffreys mom · 09-01-2005, 04:48 PM

Hi; My son has gone through the same thing with Elmo. His speech therapist said I should not let him watch something he is so fixated on. I eased it out until gradually there was no more Elmo. I think it caused some problems for my son as he would take on the part of Elmo with voice imitation. He needs to be redirected constantly to use a deeper voice through modeling what he has said. It is working though.

With kids on the spectrum anything that they seem to get stuck on for a long period of time should be removed so they can regain focus. It's a part of the rigidity and repetitiveness of the disorder.

I would recommend the same approach. Limit Dora and gradually ease it down to a minimum of views until it's gone. I know it's upsetting as the parent because you know he really enjoys it but it's for his benefit in the end.

Good Luck

claste · 09-02-2005, 01:03 PM

hi, my daughter used to be fixated on bear in the big blue house, she'd watch them over and over until one day i decided the t.v would be turned off for an hour, then 2 hrs etc, she gradually saw less and less of bear, her twin sis now takes over the t.v but at least the viewing is always different and i can watch the news during the day, to be honest shes not interested in the t.v much now, and if bear comes on she runs out of the room, or just takes no notice, however i do have a backup video at the moment (sesame street) so that if i need to do housework or just put my feet up, i can put it on and get an hours peace!

BetsyAnn · 09-02-2005, 06:59 PM

My Son was completely obsessed with "The Wiggles" he had two videos that he watched over and over. As soon as I took casein out of his diet he stopped watching them almost immediately. He never picked up a new show to obsess about. In fact he basically stopped watching TV altogether. The only downside is that I can no longer sit him in front of the TV for 1/2 hour and get some work done.