Hi
Jayden has always been fascinated with patterns and lines..well he is becoming more aggressive with his liking of them...no matter where you are with him he finds something in a line or row that he fixates on...recently trips to the park end up with Jayden running back and forth on the ramp to watch the rail as he goes or he goes to the fence and runs back and forth looking at it from the side ...he will run right into things and just keep going....when we go outside by his house he used to run around the yard now he goes to the siding and runs back and forth....he finds the line on everything and then runs back and forth...the couch, sunlight on the floor, patterns on clothes...you name it...he will keep this up for very long periods of time...should we just let him do this or should it be stopped and if so how? It's become obsessive with him in the last week.
Thanks

Hi Debbie:

I hope you are well. I think I remember hearing about Jayden once before. I must say it sounds like Jayden is engaging in what we call visual "stimming." This is something that you might want to bring up with Jayden's pediatrician, especially if he is not doing this to get any one's attention and if it is hard to break Jayden's attention when he is engaged in this behavior. If this behavior is getting in the way of Jayden's ability to communicate with others or if he has a lack of communication to express himself, please bring this up to his pediatrician as well. Kids will be kids, but it concerns me that you are describing Jayden's behavior as "obsessive."

Thanks,

Robynne

Hi
Thanks for your response.....You are right I did bring Jayden to this forum once before about his staring...which he no longer does:smt036 Jayden is seen by an OT from Birth to 3 here and we intended on talking with her more about this ...but both his OT and ST left on maternity leave in the same week, He doesn't have any true words and a few "sounds" that may be words. He saw his new OT for the first time last week and not much was said...she was trying to get a feel for him I guess. I'm just wondering until then if we should let him do this....he doesn't get upset if you stop him ..most times he will just stop it or he will go back for a few more tries till we have stopped him enough he doesn't want to go back.....like the siding for instance ....he will play and then suddenly it dawns on him that the house has a line and run to it, it generally goes on for about 10 mins or so. You say it is visual stimming...can you elaborate on that some for me? Why does he need to do this? Is it something that should be deterred or is it ok for him to do?

Hi Debbie:

There are several forms of visual stimming. If you Google "visual stimming," you will be able to read about how other children engage in it. Obsessive is the word you used to describe Jadon's behavior, which concerned me. This is why I felt you should bring it up to his pediatrician. Anytime you have to break a child's inappropriate behavior repetitively, or it interferes with a child's ability to focus socially with peers and family, this may warrant some other problem that may need to be addressed. Perhaps Jadon needs his vision or hearing tested? I hope this helps.

Robynne