Odd thing said by woman last week. What did she mean?

[StarlightMcKenzie]

We have been looking at potential houses to buy and had kids in tow. On arrival Ds talks to lady of the house obsessively about whether she has a tape measure. She indulges him both in conversation and by providing one

Upon leaving I thanked her for entertaining Ds and she responded 'my pleasure. I have a son who likes trains'.

Now Ds is still young and though I feel like I've been in the SN all my life I am actually fairly new. Is this 'code', a bit like a password to let us know she'd recognised ASD and has experience herself?

Or does it simply mean her Ds likes trains - end of!?

Well Thomas the Tank engine is on the DSM criteria list doncha know!

It could be either really, either she has a child who is interested in trains, so understands little boys who are a bit obsessional in their interests or she recognises that having an obsessional interest in tape measures is unusual, ergo she'd recognised ASD as a possibility. Could even have been a bit of both.

Either way, how lovely to meet someone who isn't at all phased by our dcs and is happy to share their interest with them without so much as batting an eyelid.

IE - ds1 has always hated Thomas, whereas ds2 and dd both blooming well love it. I was daft enough to think we'd got away with it as well.

We once went to view a house bring sold by a teacher who taught in the local school who spent a good 15 minutes extolling the virtues of the school in the next village. It was smaller and 'some' parents preferred it, apparently .

To answer your question though, was it 'you're welcome, my DS likes trains.' or 'you're welcome. My DS likes trains.

Well tape measures is an unusual perhaps it was code for "yep been there done that and still doing it with trains"

Very nice of her either way to take the time and have the patience :)

Yes Lady was lovely. Really lovely.

On reflection there was a man in the house too, who simply moved out of our way a few times as we progressed around the house without acknowledging us keeping his eyes on the screen of a small portable computer and earphones in.

I completely didn't clock him until I started this thread and suddenly recalled him. Perhaps he wasn't especially fond of interacting.

I like trains is the new things all teenagers are saying - from a YouTube video that's gone viral.

I haven't looked it up, but I presume it's mocking a child with ASD.

Anyway, all the teenagers round here say I like trains to each other :(

I thought the artist Tomska, who created the original, was on the spectrum himself.

I think she was tipping you the nod

hard to say, as there is always the possibility that her son has undiagnosed ASD/HFA or shedloads of traits, but she doesn't know/is in denial, so she may have said it inadvertently iyswim.

I'm with Lougle

Agree with Lougle. It's like a secret handshake, love it.

yup, it's like the secret masonic handshake i reckon

fwiw, DD has recently found a retractable tape measure...

My DSs love 'I like trains.' It is a child with ASD or ADHD but I don't think it's hugely negative. Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory has Aspergers, but again I don't feel he's a negative influence. My DS1 loves Big Bang Theory as well, due to the geek chic!

If the woman had said 'My son is a trainspotter,' she would have been more than tipping you the , I reckon.

PS, I bought DS1 a Big Bang Theory t shirt for his birthday, 'I am immune to your sarcasm.' Not sure if I'd put DS2 in it, though.

I think it's code. Because lots of little boys like trains, but to relate it to obsessively talking about a tape measure ... Here son probably talks about trains just like that!

I think she was letting you know she understood. Nice to meet someone who "gets" it.

What is about tape measures?

And where can I get one that doesnt nearly cut off Dd3's fingers?

Dd3 doesnt talk about tape measures though despite liking them, she talks obsessively about crisp flavours

Ds is 15 and loves Big Bang . It's been brill for getting him to see the difference between an sheldon type social response and a Nt response. But without the nag from me and without filling in a worksheet ( which has got to be a bonus). We all watch it. He has a ' bazinga' t-shirt . He likes to think he's giving the nod back to those in the know I think. He thinks its very cool. Very geek-chic

When we were looking at houses about 12 years ago with my daughter, we visited one where the Grandma was round and she sat with my daughter on her knee on a rocking chair in front of a lovely roaring fire whilst we looked round with the parents for about an hour. Their disabled son was in respite that weekend.

I think she was just trying to say she understood your son.

My dd likes tape measures and trains. I never realised the tape measure thing was ASD related until this thread.
I think it was a secret handshake code

I was looking at the Sheldon friendship algorythm tshirts the other day and was seriously tempted, then I started to worry that it might not be appropriate. Ds1 saw me looking at them, asked what it was and we read it together - he loved it and now really wants one!

I think geek-chic is a really good thing for a lot of our dcs. Dh has a totally nt mate who is really cool and totally into geek-chic. Ds1 thinks he's great and that really helps as well.

Dh reminded me earlier that ds1 had a 'pet' retractable tape measure when he was little. Dh got so fed up of looking for his tape measure in ds's toybox every time he wanted it that we ended up buying him his own. He still loves the paper tape measures you can pick up for free at IKEA. In fact IKEA is one of his favourite family trips.

I don't know - my brother liked tractors, he was completely obsessed by them from about 18mths, until he was about 4. My Mum is likely to have said 'Oh I understand, my DS loved tractors' - my friend would have said 'trains', another friend 'dinosaurs'. Most little boys (& it does seem to be more boys than girls) are a bit obsessive about something - so it could be either way really. Sorry, that's not much help is it ... and most children are obsessed with bloody tape measures - all I see is missing fingers!!

I didn't realise tape measures were 'on the list'!!...my DS has always liked playing with a tape measure...he sits and often just pulls it and releases just to get the 'click' when it retracts back in...

Don't worry, kids usually only snap their finger once or twice before getting more careful with them

a lump of blu tak is a favourite fiddle toy too...we have several of these in various parts of the house...and car ..and school...and ...everywhere actually!!

Oh dear, I have just realised that ds1 is a fan of tape measures as well. It's all coming back to me. We had a game where he pulled it back as far as it went and let go. I had to put a stop to that as I was worried about his fingers and mine

I like trains: