Head down on floor when playing with cars/trains

[Barmymummy]

I read somewhere that 'this in not a good sign' and I am wondering why...

Have read lots of symptoms/traits etc but not this one. My DS lays down on the floor and puts his head down when wheeling the trains/cars/trucks along the tracks or road etc. He is chortling away with his delayed echolalia from his fave TV progs and as far as I can see he is not actually looking at the wheels solely. He has never spun wheels etc instead of playing with the toy. Should add that he does also sit upright and play so not solely lying on the floor. He does line the toy up with his eye level quite a bit iykwim especially if its a new toy.

We were at a toddler group this morning which DS looks huge at now lol but there was also another little boy (same age I reckon) who was also laying down whilst pushing the train along and it got me wondering!

Any ideas? XX

Yep, we have this too! Not so often now, maybe a few minutes a day at most. I think it's a visual sensory stimulation thing, BUT have also seen it in loads of toddlers at playgroup. Mrsturnip is quite clued up about this one if I recall.. I think it starts to become an issue if a child is incapable of also playing functionally, but could be wrong.

My DS does this, and I'm fairly convinced he's NT. DD never did it and she's the one with PDD...
Don't know what that tells you.

DS used to do this a lot, does it a lot less as his language improved (of course it's a chicken and egg question - does he do it less because his language/communication is better, or did whatever was holding back his imagination improve, resulting in language/communication and play improving)..... I've also seen it described as Kettlechip says, as a visual sensory quirk.

Unless he's spending literally hours a day doing it, I wouldn't bother redirecting or distracting him, I think we are all allowed a it of aimless downtime!

DS5 (2.11y GDD) does it ALL the time. He has quite a few ASD traits, but the Paed is fairly convinced he doesnt have Autism.

After reading Niko's link, im coming to the idea that a LOT of his quirks are because A) hes non-verbal, B) is quite delayed, c) has sensory perceptual difficulties.

as others have said, not sure if thats helpful or not either.

DS2 (ASD) used to do this for hours, it was a fixation. He doesn't do it as much now, but still does it. He done it with a Kay walker when we went to see the paed the other week

Thanks for all your replies everyone, good to see he is not the only one!

He was doing it for about 40 mins this morning (whilst pushing trains round the track over bridges etc) at toddler group as it was an unfamiliar track etc. I should take more note of how many minutes or hours he does it on average I guess to get a better gauge.

this was one of the things that the SALT noted in her long and frightening list of traits that she identified when we had our initial assessment. i had never considered his "angle of play" to be anything other than normal. however, as with many of the traits on her list, and like others' dcs, this has diminished as language has improved. still get it occasionally.

the one element of his play that does continue to be very repetitive, is that he always wants to tie a bit of string around the wheel of a toy to pull it along. he does it to the extent that if he doesn't have a bit of string, he'll lay anything longish next to the wheel (a bit of grass, a long bit of paper) so that at times it seems a little like a compulsion. sorry: off at a total tangent there.

OMG DS1 STILL has to tie string to everything!!! incidentally only today had to stop his pole-string-whip fixation again, to save many eyes in the garden! he ties string to everything, left to his devices the whole house would become a spider web.

we've had the string thing going for nigh on 12yrs so far...

heh heh! so i'm not the only perplexed parent standing in the swing park as ds painstakingly attaches bits of grass to the wheels of the train?! phew! though yours does sound like a budding bungee jumper!

yep we have this one, started from when he was v. little, and not so often now, but def there (especially with new cars). but i did notice a few of his peers (NT) doing it as well, not sure whether they still are though.

noticed his interest in wheels when soon after 12m, used to go to soft play and he spend more time in the pram park with there wheels then the soft play area!

OMG STRING YES!!

DS has a fascination with tying string around the bottom of his legs and pretends to be 'sporticus' doing a bungee jump. At first we thought how cute trying to act like his little TV hero but it did become obsessive.

His fave was a bandage (coz it looked particularly like sporticus's bungee rope) but he will do it with string, tape measures, toy snakes, skipping ropes anything long and thin that resembles it. He will come up and ask me for his bandage but I say its lost and he moves on but if sees anything like it he will play for ages like this. He will tie it round his legs and slide off the sofa pretending to bungee.

when ds was a lot more echolaic, he ALWAYS said "don't worry little red tractor" as he placed the string next to the wheel... which wasn't easy as he can't say l's or r's... "don't wowwy wittow wed twacto". hes given that up now; not sure if it's because his langauge has developed or it was just too much of a tongue twister