Worried by 4.8 year old's repetitive behavior

[CaroleOfTheBells]

My DS is nearly 5. He is wonderful. But I'm concerned about his repetitive behavior. He is OBSESSED with numbers. He's very friendly and will walk up and introduce himself to other kids, and then ask how old they are, how many letters they have in their name, what number their house is. He does this a lot, and he will also ask me and his dad over and over again what our favourite number is.

I don't have many other concerns though our HV did query ASD when he was 3. It ultimately wasn't really progressed as his behavior (at the time, pushing other kids etc) hugely calmed down. Nursery and school also haven't raised any concerns about his social behavior or behavior generally.

Is his just a quirky numbers obsessed dude or is there possibly something more here?

It is common for children to be interested in numbers - for how long has this obsession been going on? all young children will be prone to obsessions (or phases), but they tend to come and go. However, an obsession and a strong interest are two very different things, be careful to not mix the two. It is odd (and slightly ridiculous) that an HV would query ASD because because of him pushing other kids - autism is not a behavioral disorder, it is a social communication disorder.

He's always been very interested in numbers. He used to get us to write them out for him all the time. It's not his only interest - he's also very interested in music. He's also hyper competitive and literally turns everything into a competition which makes me wonder if this isn't coming from a place of anxiety.

I guess it's not the interest that worries me but the way he uses it socially. He asks the same questions and will return to the topic each time.

It wasn't just pushing - sorry if I made it sound that way. His behavior had been pretty bad but it had been a big change he'd undergone recently. He was having social issues - he was just pushing children and couldn't interact. The HV was also trying to get him to engage with her and he wouldn't reciprocate (though tbh I was a bit shocked by her suggestion as this was quite unusual behavior for him - he's had no issues or unusualness at all with joint attention etc)