Anonymous wrote:so i guess there are no clear answers. it could mean anything.

That's why they say: If you know one child with autism, you known one child with autism. It's a whole range of behaviors, development, etc. that makes up the diagnosis. Not just repetitive play.

so i guess there are no clear answers. it could mean anything.

I concur with PP. None of my 3 kids lined up cars and all 3 are autistic. It's really what it symbolizes, the rigidity and the dire need for things to be a "certain" way. My oldest needed me to say things in a certain tone, at a certain time, and he always wanted things to be the same way. He had little to no playskills at 3. My middle child (girl, so unlikely to line up cars anyway) was obsessed with having EVERYTHING in the house take a nap, she put "blankets" (towels, tissues etc.) on everything, including shoes, pencils, etc. My last child wants to play with everything the same way and will play with things inappropriately the same way over and over. She would feed me with a play cookie over and over, expecting me to say the same thing, the same way. Wouldn't exchange it for a different item, it HAD to be that cookie.They don't always do it, but they often do it, and trying to break this repetition always costs us. We have to do it in order to be able to get them to play with things appropriately, but many times after an ABA session my youngest won't nap because her world got disturbed and it upsets her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some examples of repetitive behavior in autism/ASD?
Can you please share? Would playing with a toy the same way for a couple of months and then moving on to something else constitute repetitive behavior?

Not really. This is part of mastery and it can be part of pretend play as well. Unless there is some kind of automatic aspect to the behavior, like picking up and swinging a toy truck aimlessly back and forth, back and forth without even looking at it, it's not repetitive behavior, or lining up trucks over and over and over and over in size order and not being able to sleep because they are not lined up. If your child just really likes playing Batman, or wants only to play with her Doc McStuffin doll in a certain way the same way every time, that's actually pretty typical childhood behavior. Children can be very, very rigid in their play for several reasons: they work things through by playing; they are conservative; they are naturally repetitious.

I think this is key. When we were going through the evaluation, I was constantly asked if my son liked to line up cars. He does. He plays traffic jam. And the minute I would say yes, people would start nodding and giving me the look that said, yes, this is a likely sign of autism. Then they would ask if would allow others to move his cars---no, he didn't want people to play with his toys. But that was it---it wasn't that he needed to have his cars lined up, it was that he didn't want you touching his stuff. Now, if you asked nicely to play, he would give you a few cars and me or another child could play with him. But if you just sat down and took one of his cars out of the traffic jam---he got mad. And we all know how likely it is that an early 3 yr old will ask another early 3 yr old politely to play with some of his toys

Anonymous wrote:What are some examples of repetitive behavior in autism/ASD?
Can you please share? Would playing with a toy the same way for a couple of months and then moving on to something else constitute repetitive behavior?

We're in the process of getting evaluated, so I can't say for sure, the the evaluator was very interested in my child's pattern of playing with one toy, and one toy only, for several months, and then moving on to another toy, again for several months. Depending on the toy, sometimes she plays with it appropriately and sometimes not. I'm interested in reading other responses.

Anonymous wrote:What are some examples of repetitive behavior in autism/ASD?
Can you please share? Would playing with a toy the same way for a couple of months and then moving on to something else constitute repetitive behavior?

Not really. This is part of mastery and it can be part of pretend play as well. Unless there is some kind of automatic aspect to the behavior, like picking up and swinging a toy truck aimlessly back and forth, back and forth without even looking at it, it's not repetitive behavior, or lining up trucks over and over and over and over in size order and not being able to sleep because they are not lined up. If your child just really likes playing Batman, or wants only to play with her Doc McStuffin doll in a certain way the same way every time, that's actually pretty typical childhood behavior. Children can be very, very rigid in their play for several reasons: they work things through by playing; they are conservative; they are naturally repetitious.

Here you go:

http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/symptoms

What are some examples of repetitive behavior in autism/ASD?
Can you please share? Would playing with a toy the same way for a couple of months and then moving on to something else constitute repetitive behavior?