restricted interest

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-13-2008
restricted interest
18
Thu, 04-17-2008 - 5:07pm

what exactly is a restricted interest.. when the new ped asked me that mon. i really wasnt certain wether rylee had any or not.. i mean she loves to spin, is that concidered a restricted interest ?? can u give me some examples, of what your kiddos do.. ??



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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Thu, 04-17-2008 - 5:18pm

Amy,

It generally means an obsession: A lot of spectrum kids have one or a few obsessions and are often incapable of talking about or paying attention to anything outside of that subject. With Peter at that age, it was Thomas the Tank engine. My dd at that age was obsessed with cameras, but I think that qualified as an "unusual interest" as opposed to a 'restricted interest' because you could engage her on other stuff.

it's hard to figure out.

-Paula


visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-2006
Thu, 04-17-2008 - 5:29pm

Yes it is hard to figure out sometimes.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-07-2008
Fri, 04-18-2008 - 6:14am

When I've worked with special needs kids (ASD and other issues) with 'restricted interests' it has typically been one or two things or characters that they are obsessed with, to the exclusion of all else. Thomas is a very common one with ASD kids - I worked with several kids who could only talk about Thomas, or trains, and who could only cope with any social interaction if you gave them a social story involving Thomas in some way, and if there was a Thomas or Thomas-related thing in the room you hadn't a hope in hell of getting their attention.


In comparison, my 5 year old NT has 'normal' obsessions. He was fixated on spinning things, then things with wheels, then Cars for a while, then Power Rangers, then Spiderman, and at the moment it is Star Wars. (He won't eat breakfast unless he has a light sabre beside him and I call him 'Luke'). Other kids get obsessed with football teams, cartoon characters, dinosaurs, etc - but the difference is that they can talk about other stuff, they usually role play using the characters, and they move on to new obsessions. ASD 'restrictive interests' tend to get 'stuck' in theirs and cannot focus on anything else, and won't do 'role playing' unless it is echoing or mirroring things they have seen.


hth


Kirsty mum to Euan (9, Asperger's) Rohan (5, NT) and Maeve (2, NT)


"My definition of housework is to sweep the room with a glance"


Follow my blog on http://mumsnet.com/blogs/kirsteinr/


 

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-10-2006
Fri, 04-18-2008 - 11:07am

Hi!


I like to think of Nick as a perfect example of having restricted interests.

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Christine

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 04-18-2008 - 12:31pm

Tom has restricted interests too.

                                

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-13-2008
Fri, 04-18-2008 - 1:53pm

hmmm then maybe Rylee's could be scooby doo. but its hard to say if its a natural thing or a bit obsessed..


thanks for sharing!!


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-23-2004
Fri, 04-18-2008 - 2:34pm
My 10 y.o. Aspie is obsessed with professional wrestling.


Mollie Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-03-2006
Fri, 04-18-2008 - 3:12pm
Rece definitely has restricted interests! Movies in general he gets pretty stuck on and has lately been quoting them. But specifically Happy Feet. We took him to see it last February so for about 14 months it has been all Happy Feet. After we introduced him to some new movies it died down a little, but now it is right back up there. Every conversation that he has "Wanna watch Happy Feet?" gets added to the end. He and I will be talking about school and I will ask him about sharing and he will answer about one question and then go onto Happy Feet. The same with other kids. He will yell out to complete strangers "Hey" or "Hi" then when he gets their attention he says "Watch Happy Feet". He dances like Happy Feet and he is always talking about specific scenes from Happy Feet i.e. "Happy Feet was on the whale". It gets a little exhausting and sometimes I just have to ignore the comments and say "I want to talk more about school" Sometimes it works, mostly it doesn't :)


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 04-19-2008 - 1:02am

At Rylee's age cait's only interest was animals. When she went to preschool her teacher had to hide the plastic animals because that is all Cait would do. She wouldn't interact, focus on circle time, etc because all she wanted was the animals. She used to carry plastic animals around in her hands all the time.

Cait actually had an animal obsession for years and (get ready paula) it is actually fading. Now her restricted interests flex a bit. She still has a MAJOR animal thing but the topic of interest she will make you crazy about is the play she is in next. Prior to that it was the newest inteeresting activity they did in her social studies class (law day, a field trip to a civil war place, etc). The latest holiday or birthday. I don't know how to describe it but it is an activity she is involved in or was. Maybe Cait is Cait's newest obsession, lol. Though she still has a million stuffed animals, plastic animals and real animals.

At Rylee's age Mike was obsessed with Blue's Clues. He WAS Steve 24/7. He would skedo from one room to another. Everything was all about Steve and Blue for a year. For years he would obsess on one show or another and be that show, do lines from the show and exist in the show to the exclusion of all else.

He hasn't changed that much, I say his obsessions are fantasy characters/stories. Currently it is all about Shadow and Sonic the hedgehogs. He down loads music from their video games for his Ipod. He makes flash movies all about sonic and shadow, etc etc. But he will also obsess on music, and various other things.

My DH put it well. an obsession or restrict interest is basically when you cannot change the topic of conversation with these kids. It keeps going back to what they are interested in. They don't even care if you are there, they will keep going. That is my kids. If Mike gets going on a convo it doesn't matter what you say, what you do, he will continue his monologue ad nauseum. Cait does the same. The perfect one sided conversation and they cannot change the topic no matter how hard you try.

Disney08

APOV on Autism
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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-13-2008
Sat, 04-19-2008 - 9:25am
rylee doesnt have conversations so i dunno .. there are days where we have to watch super why back to back to back, or same goes for scooby does that count ??


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