Aahhhh! My autistic son's new special interest is late seventies disco music.....

[WaggyTailsWetNoses]

Between the hours of 6-8 and 4-8 my house sounds like a roller disco in about 1982. I can practically smell the Brut and Babycham.

He's mercifully keeping the interest to his own room, so it's only a faint sound (so more like the sound of nipping round the back for a snog and a ciggie than hurtling round the floor in a rara skirt). But I'm a light sleeper and was this morning awoken at 6.02 by Ra Ra Rasputin.

Oh, how I yearn for the silent days when he was busy creating a complex taxonomy of Daleks.

Please send support, sympathy and ear plugs!

I properly cackled at this. Parallel universe indeed!

In my house, we listen to a lot of Pokémon soundtracks. Can I stop by yours for a while?

Oh my. I do ❤️ a special interest.

i do Deep dives on various vintage sci—fi every so often. My lovely neurodiverse nephew developed a marvellous ‘Classic Who‘ special interest. His little face when I not only knew what he was talking about, but Old Auntie Ug also knew some things he didn’t. (His TA, mum and Nan are categorically not into sci—fi, and I think he had extrapolated that no grown up ladies know anything about it, bless him. He was very confused )

He must have loved that! Classic Who has been a longstanding fascination here. Apparently Tom Baker is the Doctor of all Doctors. My mum even knitted DS the scarf!

I also work with neurodivergent kids (as a psychologist) and now and again a young person rolls up who shares one of the many special interests we have been through at home over the years. Oh, how they love it! Last week I spent a good twenty minutes discussing the relative merits of Wraithbone V Corax White as a base coat for Tesserat Glow when painting Necrons.

@Oblomov23 not even - it was 'Good Riddance', which pretty much summed what the household thought when that special interest ended.

It wasn't as bad as my special interest being teaching myself piano and then obsessively playing the snowman. It's been 25 years and it's still the only thing I can play by heart

😁😁

Love it. My DD (16) (ASD) is into metal now, especially that which features screamers. Luckily she wears earbuds so I don’t have to listen. When she DJs in the car we have an agreement that she can play heavy rock and some metal but no screamers.

She also talks at me about the periodic table at length and what all the atomic masses are for each element and how they relate. My brain almost explodes.

I love your son, that's fantastic! ❤My DS (23) with ASD went through Doctor Who, Sponge Bob, some Japanese niche computer games, The Simpsons, David Bowie, and is now obsessed with quizzes. Which is a massive subject and perfect for him. Quick recall with no explaining to do. He's been on Brain of Britain, Mastermind and Counterpoint (Radio 4 music quiz) so far. 😍

I’d love a special interest in music.

my current special interest is babies and having one. (No chance of me having one for at least 2 years and I’d be doing it by myself, so no chance of me accidentally getting pregnant) so no worrries there. I’m just so bloody obsessed. This baby thing has been here for 2 years, longest special interest ever. I’ve found my dream in life and while I’m so frustrated right now (that I can’t have a baby yet) I know I’m going to be so happy one day.

I used to be obsessed with doctor who. But I would just list the dvds you buy lol. I know super weird but yeah, that’s what I wanted to do. I always planned to buy them and watch them all but my special interest waned and I moved onto something else.

If you can’t beat them, join them

Dancing shoes on, OP, and have you thought about installing a glitterball?

Yes I enjoy it but more early 80s to late 70s

Robert Dyas sell disco ball light bulbs. We got one for the kitchen for Christmas

Honestly, it sounds more fun than trains, which is what mine is currently fixated on. I’ve spent too many cold Friday afternoons (my one free afternoon of the week!) on station platforms while he scribbles numbers down in his little notebook. I once made the mistake of mentioning that riding in Pendelinos made me feel travel sick, and now he lectures me at least once a day on the benefits of an active tilting mechanisms on high-speed trains 😬

I could do with some Sister Sledge instead!

DS (9) has a thing for buses and in particular Stagecoach buses. Checking my bed for 'sleeping' toy buses before I get in it is entirely normal. I can also discuss the differences between an Enviro 200/300/400 in great detail. Cracking skill to have.

I'll trade you, OP. I would much rather be woken up by Boney M at 6am than an overexcited child who wants to go and say hello to buses NOW.

My ASD ds 14 has started collecting fake gold jewelry..
Dh wants to start calling him Mr T.
This is his latest request..
Least we hear him coming in now...

You're highly likely to get lucky on two of the three. Donna summer I'm not so sure about...

My house is geek city. DH is all about Dr Who and prog rock. But better than the trains that use to be his delight.
DS1 only listens to film/game soundtracks.

Uni is full of people with special interests!

My 15 year old (ASD) has an obsession with serial killers currently. Apparently eyebrows were raised when she took a Ted Bundy book into school for world book day yesterday. At least she listens to music with her headphones though I suppose.

My DS13 (I mistyped DD in my earlier post) also loves a bit of amazon jewellery. He has spent a lot of pocket money on important 'lord of the rings' rings. Which sit on top of his pile of Dvds. Which he has decided to start collecting just as the rest of the world moves to exclusively steaming movies.

Oh and ds2 has a warhammer collection like you haven't seen!

Oooh, can I pop round OP? Def my era and my sort of music🕺Its such a happy sound, I play it when I’m doing my housework and when I’ve got a long drive. It also reminds me of a really happy time in my life so it’s a win-win for me!
Join in with your sons choice, I guarantee you’ll feel better after a good sing and dance along!🎶

I accidentally married someone like this. I thought it was an in joke with his friends. I didn't realise he actually did hang around train lines with his camera.

ADHD ds currently is obsessed with vintage synths I miss the Dr Who days.
I also work with dc, one teen was astonished by my knowledge of New York State rap artists, little did they know just how many hours I had spent listening to and answering quizzes on this subject.

Your son has great taste. I'll swop you 70s disco for nonstop Harry Styles

Is the prog rock Genesis?

Quite like Chic too

Also Madness and Bad Manners are great to dance to

e.g. Nightboat to Cairo

I'm enjoying the best playlist now, having asked Alexa for Doctorin' the Tardis!

I'm rather grateful that DD16 has (almost entirely) now moved on from her K-pop obsession - three years of nothing but BTS and Korean girl groups has worn me down a bit! The ridiculously expensive album collection (most of them were £30+ each) is now sat on a shelf gathering dust 😬