ASD DS clinging to book for dear life

[Laurajay84]

To cut a long story short, we are expecting an ASD diagnosis for our DS, 2 years 10 months, within the next few weeks. Last year he went through a period of a couple of months where he would insist on always carrying a book with him. He loves books so I compared it to him carrying around a teddy bear or other comfort object and was fairly relaxed about it - subsequently this behaviour stopped after a couple of months.

Over the past couple of days this has started again but with DH's (rather large and heavy) books. It wouldn't bother me so much, but this time around he seems to be unable to function properly. Getting him in the bath resulted in screams and tears because the book wasn't allowed to go with him, he can't eat his meals properly because he's always got one hand on his book, etc. DH thinks he is so clingy to these books because he knows if we take them then he will never see them again - which is probably true. He isn't like this with his children's books - although he loves them dearly too.

Am at a bit of a loss at what to do. I went into a bit of a crisis mode this morning (after it took him an hour to eat one piece of toast!), and successfully swapped him his book for the tablet. Even though I don't like him having it for more than a couple of hours a day, I thought that maybe it would break the book clinging cycle?

Any words of advice would be much appreciated....

[Laurajay84]

Polter, thanks for the suggestions. I honestly don't think it's anything to do with the weight or anything else - just that my DH's books are all new to him. Unfortunately they are not very easy for him to carry or suitable reading material for a 2 year old - accounting books, aircraft books, you get the picture .

I suppose I'm just asking if I should be trying to stop the behaviour - i.e. distract him with something else for a day or two, so he forgets about it? He's currently playing on the Cbeebies app of the tablet and has forgotten about said book already. He was a little panicked when I asked him to swap the book for the tablet but it was quite minor and easily done.

[Laurajay84]

Fortunately with DS, it is very much a case of out of sight, out of mind. I'm wondering if I keep my DH's office door closed for a few days, he may just move on with his life

[Laurajay84]

It is cute, Polter, and his love of books is something we all love about him. A new book is DS's eyes is like heaven

He is non-verbal btw but books are a fantastic way to interact with him, as he loves us to read them to him.

It is just these particular books that we are worried about as the clinging to them gets in the way of daily activities, such as eating, bathing, getting dressed, etc.