Spinning, stacking, sorting: Autism myths?

It is never my intention to offend anyone, as is the case in this blog. But I have been recently saddened and a little angry at how many young children (2 and 3 year old's) are being labeled Autistic due to spinning, sorting and stacking.

I belong to a great group on Facebook called Autism Mother's and it is no joke that just about every third post is about a young child being diagnosed Autistic because of the above criteria.

Short story on Jack: delays in speech, no eye contact, diagnosed Autistic at 3, re-diagnosed ADHD at 6, only to be evaluated again at 9: back to Autism. Looking back, I believe his speech delays were somewhat caused by the binkie that was in his mouth 24/7 (he had chronic ear pain till tubes, and the sucking soothed him). Could the lack of eye contact be because I literally took The Nick Jr slogan of "it's like pre-school for kids" a little too seriously and let him watch tv all the time? Why should he look me in the eye when he can look at Dora???

I will keep this brief.
Spinning: who doesn't like to spin? Remember being little and loving when your parents would grab you by the arms and spin you around? What about the Sit and Spin? Kids love that. How bout the Merry Go Round? All of these are popular because kids like to spin. Amusement parks: adult versions of spinning.

Stacking: from infancy, we teach kids how to stack blocks, round plastic donuts on a base. So why is it weird that my 3 year old would like to stack everything he can? I remember hours of Jack stacking and re-stacking my tupperware. Perhaps instead of being an oddity, this is what we are teaching our kids to do and just because they really enjoy doing it, shouldn't be frowned upon.

Sorting: again, this is something we teach our kids from a very young age. How to sort by shape, size, color, number, etc. Maybe sorting all the hot wheel cars into ones with yellow on them isn't so unusual. Perhaps that is the way Jack chose to sort this particular collection.

My point is: it seems like we are taking some normal things we are trying to teach our kids, and just because they do them to excess, doesn't mean there is anything wrong with them. Maybe, at a young age, having some control over the way things are sorted, makes them feel more in control of their worlds.

Sometimes I feel Jack's diagnosis of Autism is wrong. I think he is developmentally delayed but capable of quite a bit. We caved all the time when he was little because he was the baby and we wanted him to stop banging his head on the wall. He has known how to play us for a long time. When he was little it was a matter of keeping him safe, now it is a matter of dealing with his frustration when we tell him no. We get better at it every day and he is learning, in leaps and bounds, how to NOT get what he wants.

I am not discounting any child who is diagnosed on the above three criteria, but as parents, look at what your 3 year old likes to do and should be doing. Remember, they have only been on the planet 3 years, they are not going to know how to use scissors, or skip, or do simple math. They are three, treat them as such.

Ok, enough out of me. Sorry, that was really bugging me today!!

Cat