Autistic kids are weird but clever

[Jimjams]

Ds1 had one of his moments today when he stuns me.

He loves looking through home magazines. This week I've bought him three, we've looked through one at the dentist (where he sang happy birthday to a big chocolate cake) and about 10 days ago we flicked through about 5 at Mum and Dad's house. We've also looked though the local paper house bit together and he's been looking at his nursery manager's house details (she's moving).

Today we went back to mum and dad's- they have about 60 magazines beneath their coffee table on this storage tray thing. I picked up one at random. Ds1 immediately started shouting mmda mmda (hoover) I was flicking through looking for hoovers and the screaming was getting louder while he was trying to turn the pages. 2/3rds of the way thorugh there it was- a double page spread on hoovers. Instant smiles and 5 minutes of looking at hoovers.

How on earth did he remember there was a double page spread on hoovers in that magazine? He knew exactly what he was looking for. Dh is happy as he says it means he will be good at chess His visual memory is ridiculous.

jimjams, that is brilliant. nothing wrong with interest in cleanliness or perhaps he will be the next Mr Dyson.

out of interest, and i'm sure it's on here somewhere if I searched, but at what age was he diagnosed?

He was diagnosed at just over 3 Katierocket, but I suspected from 17 months and knew from 2 and a half (to the extent that I had joined support groups).

Interest in cleanliness? He must really hate this house

there must be something about the look of them maybe? in any case it obviously pleases him
how did you know from 2 and half? (sorry to be so nosey)

Nah its the noise- he has an obsession/fear of hoovers. He loves them along with stairs (that is visual), lights, washing machines, irons, microwaves and toilets (after looking at the hoovers for a bit he then wanted to look at toilets and stairs- some magazines he picks up he remembers particular sets of stairs and heaven forbid I find the wrong ones).

Well really I knew at 17 months. I came across the CHAT test whilst looking to see whether he should have the MMR or singles and discovered that he failed it because he didn't point. This was the only obvious thing though as he was very sociable happy and content. He did have lots of other autistic characteristics I just didn't realise it - things like he could spot a plane when it was the tineist smallest speck in the sky, and he loved counting, and taught himself the alphabet, sould sing songs perfectly in tune at 18 months after hearing them once. At just over 2 we contacted the autism research unit and we found out he had an autistic urinary profile. At this stage the "professionals" (ie the ones who don;t know their arses from their elbows) we saw were still telling us he "definitely isn't autistic". By about 2 and a half I joined some support groups- and yep my kid was exactly the same as the others. Eventually we got the diagnosis. TBH to begin with (pre support group days)I thought he sat the normal side of the NT/autism boundary, but as he grew older it became obvious that wasn't the case.

The CHAT test is a very good tool. He could have been diagnosed at 18 months and given lots of help and intervention. Ideal world and all that.

About the house Jimjams, I've got one like that!

Re the title of this thread I've got an ASD boy in one of my classes and by God that kid is smart! He out thought all the other kids in the class and asks questions that are starting to get me worried! He has a classroom assistant with him to help with the socialisation side of things but he is amazing academically. I know that this will coe across as a cliche, but he is the best student in that class by a long way. It's that ASD focus and an astonishing memory.

DS1's focus is a bit lacking on the adult directed front (pretty ridiculous if its something of his own choosing of course).

His memory does amaze me. In fact about 6 months ago we'd gone for the second visit (separated by about 8 weeks) to a higgeldy piggledy garden. I wanted to find a little house and couldn't remeber how to get there (and my memory for directions is actually very good- I'm always stunned at how bad people are at finding their way). We started by following the same route so I just let ds1 lead the way. He took us there!