Sensory seeking ASD DS - WWYD?
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Anonymous
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Our 5 year-old DS has an ASD-1 diagnosis. He is currently very (VERY) interested in air conditioners - as in the AC units outside homes.
He talks about ours constantly (Mom, do you think it’s on? Will it go off? Can I see it?) We do not let him go perseverate while staring at the fan inside the air conditioner, but if we did, I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed there watching and stimming for 30+ mins or longer. It’s started to become more of an issue as it seems like he’s feeling compelled to see it and telling me things like, “my brain is saying I want to go look at it right now,” and he is acting out when I tell him he can’t go outside to see it. How would you handle this? Have you recieved professional guidance for how to approach this type of behavior? What’s the conventional wisdom? |
Anonymous
Anonymous
| Let him. He’s very young. It will lessen over time. Have patience. |
Anonymous
| We had this with ceiling fans, so I wasn’t in the position you’re in of having DC want to go outside to watch the AC unit. The fan obsession has definitely waned with time. I didn’t police it. DC has other items of interest (fidgets, Lego, puzzles, intricate coloring books, etc.) at the ready for diversion. At that age I kept a pattern recognition puzzles around, which DC’s brain loved. If the issue is that you don’t want DS alone in the yard near the AC unit, give him diversions. If you’re worried it’s too quirky to like the AC machine, it’s not. He is okay. And so are you. |
Anonymous
| When do you currently let him see it? How often? For how long? How many times per day? Why- because he asks or because you feel like it? |
Anonymous
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What do you want him to be doing instead? My kid is older and has different special interests, but I let her perseverate when she wants/needs to as long as it doesn't keep her from doing the other things she needs to do.
Also, get him books about air conditioning! |
Anonymous
Great advice! |
Anonymous
| If this is a weird suggestion, please ignore it. I work in a school with a tinkering lab. If I had a student like this, I'd look for a donated window AC unit and bring it in. And then I'd offer tools to take the unit apart. Would that be something cool for you and he to do together? I understand your concerns (I think I do) but wondering if diving into it might be a way to go. Good luck to you! |
Anonymous
| Youtube videos. My DD with ASD looks up her current interest on Youtube during her screen time. She seems to always find some posted by ASD folks. |
Anonymous
| Could you set up a web cam in your yard that shows the a/c in real time? Then he can check on it whenever the clock ends in :00. |
Anonymous
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This too shall pass. My son had an air conditioning phase. Then a titanic phase. Now he’s always showing me pistons on toy cars. It’s just how their brains work. It’s different than ours, so it’s hard to relate to.
We bought him lots of books about how houses were built. He definitely spent time outside with grandparents examining their air conditioning units when we went for visits. Medication has also helped a little bit - my son’s perseveration isn’t limited to to his interests; it also manifests as obsessions over “what if” scenarios - would take hours to fall asleep in the summer because he was obsessing over thunderstorms, or if he saw a spider at school would completely unravel and derail focus. My son is on an SSRI to help the anxiety/obsessiveness as well as a low dose of clonidine and methylphenidate for adhd. |
Anonymous
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OP here. I should have also explained. If I didn’t regulate how often and for how long DS can go watch the air conditioner, he would likely watch it for multiple hours a day… maybe all day? When he watches it, he stims so excitedly that he is sweating (how’s that for irony).
I know that the guidance of multiple of his OTs, SPED supports, and other providers over the years have counseled against letting him perseverate/stim re: (for example) fans, turning light switches on and off, watching the front-loading washing machine, turning an electric train in its side to watch the wheel spin, etc, etc, etc. He would do these activities exclusively if I let him. Today we were at the beach and he was getting anxious and rushing us to get home. He said he did not want to go to the beach today, he just wanted to drive home right away. He was acting out and threw a mini tantrum when he learned we would go to the beach before leaving for home. Then he kept asking if we would be home before sunset and only calmed down when I confirmed that we would. Which of course all occurred because he wants to see his air conditioner. Last week, he refused to go over to a friend’s house to swim (which he’d been excited about) and said he just wanted to “stay home” which I knew was code for - stare at the AC. I support my guy and his unique interests! We have watched videos about AC units and read books about them. We’ve talked about how there is an important job some people do fixing and maintaining air conditioners, and that maybe that is something he can do when he is a grown up. But it doesn’t feel like the right thing to do for him is to let him go to town on this AC ad nauseam. |
Anonymous
| The interest wanes over time. It does. |
Anonymous
I think someone has given you bad advice re not letting him pursue his special interests. Was that advice from ABA? I would help him dive into it — let him watch the a/c, find an ac repair person who will let your son watch his work, get books, get a unit he can take apart, if that’s safe. Obviously you will need to make Him stop watching the ac long enough to eat and come inside to sleep, so you’ll have to set some Limits, but I’d dive in. |
Anonymous
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And it’s completely ok if he stims so hard
That he sweats! That wouldn’t worry me. |