Expert: James Michael Roan - 10/6/2008

Question
Hi, My 3 year old son was diagnosed with Autism last October. He is very high functioning and I think he probably has Aspergers Syndrome. He gets very obsessive about stuff, like right now it is gears. He has a show that has to do with a clock and gears that we have recorded. It is only 15 minutes and every time it comes on all he talks about is "there's the gears" "the gears are moving" "the gears aren't working" etc. He wants me to rewind it over and over and over, all day if I let him, then when I turn it off he has a fit. Everything else revolves around gears, whether he is drawing them, or something else it is always about gears, it drives me crazy! I feel bad because he gets so excited but I wish he could think of and talk about something else, my question is can I try to get him to stop doing this and how? I don't want him to do this when he is older as I know it will keep him from having friends. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Jasmine;

This is typical of Asperger's syndrome. It will turn into something else in its own time. It gives him pleasure and calms him. I believe it would be a big mistake to attempt to change this. His interests will become more socially acceptable as time goes on. You can work on having him restrict his discussion and gear activities to home and not at school or at friends' homes.

Kind regards,
James