Restrictive Behaviour and Play

One day, Hubby and I were talking at the dining table. For a moment, we did not hear anything from J. When we went over to see what he was doing, we saw what you see here below.

These numbers are all nicely sorted out

All the numbers were nicely sorted out by colours and by order.

This is actually a board game called Rummikub®. But to see him play in this manner, we find it amusing because J must have taken great efforts and concentration to get this job done. No wonder we did not hear from him for sometime!

Numbers have been one of his motivation. J is obsessed with lifts. Through lifts, he found numbers. So he loves to put them in order or arrange numbers to lift level. And because of his love for numbers through the obsession of lifts, he learnt counting, number recognition, addition, position, even and odd numbers and recently, we learnt multiplication (groups of 2 to 10) and learning to spell numbers. Amazing, isn't it? All through the motivation of his obsession. Ha!

In the recent Diagnostic Assessment, the report indicates that J requires substantial support in his restrictive and repetitive behaviours. According to the psychologist, he has the following which could somehow impaired him:

• Obsessive attachment to objects
• Preoccupation with a narrow topic of interest
• A strong need for sameness, order and routine
• Hyper-reactive or hypo-reactive to sensory input

When the Diagnosis Report was presented to us, it somehow confirms the differences J has. The sad truth is that society views Autism as a disability. True, people in the Autism Spectrum Disorder have challenges, but this is true of everyone, whether they have a disability or not.

Autism is just a word. It is a label used by medical professionals and schools to categorize people who have a certain cluster of difficulties in specific areas.

We have learnt that a diagnosis does not indicate how a child will eventually turn out. The label does not change who they are. J is fearfully and wonderfully made, by GOD. J's weakness can be his strength too. He is still the same beautiful, amazing, loving child he was before the diagnosis.