Aspie obsessions advice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps you can direct him toward special projects with his interest. I knew a kid who was obsessed with girls gymnastics and would make excel charts with all the scores of various meets. You could introduce him into journaling, or drawing maps of the subway systems, or things like that. I hate to tell you but even if talking about trains is reduced, your child may still have social difficulties. The problem is not just talking about an obsession, it is not knowing how to initiate a conversation, how to take an interest in someone else's interest, maintain reciprocal flow, make small talk, etc. Talking about a topic probably reduces anxiety. Another approach related to a recommendaiton above is to limit how many things he says, for example, say 3-5 things about trains to our dinner guests and after that, only if they ask you about trains. Or you could make it 10 to make it easier. Many adolescents clam up in adolescence and that is even more frustrating for adults to be around, so the positive side is that your son is wanting to engage with adults and that makes it easier for them to converse with him too.

My Aspie has been having pragmatic speech/social skills classes for this since he was four yrs old... And no end in sight and probably will be all through school. It's one of the main areas addressed in his IEP. It helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For my Aspie, talking about his special interests helps keep him calm. Yes, it is typically annoying. Nothing like being on a cruise ship listening to him try to explain to others why the Titanic sank (they didn't find it calming).

I try to use his special interest to practice other skills. So we go to the library so he can learn how to do research. We practice reading, which he normally hates but can tolerate if it's about ships or aircraft. We do math problems designed around the interests- if there are XXX people on the ship and each lifeboat holds 50 people, how many lifeboats do you need?

For him, it is anxiety and right now, we try whatever works. Good luck OP. Have you tried having him keep a journal of his trip plans? Maybe make a before and after scrapbook.

Not a special interest, but my kid with ASD once spent an entire 3 hour flight explaining to his uncle why and how planes crash and where the safest part of the plane is if it crashes and what the proper exit procedures are if the plane crashes. (He was a little anxious.) The preschooler and his dad in the seats in front of him were NOT entertained by this. The more he talked, the more freaked out that kid got.