Hiding and Finding things with autism

I was talking to a friend this morning and she was talking to me about her grandson.  He’s about a year old and getting very interested in things.  She had brought some things round in a bag and set it on the floor to see what he would do.

Well, she told me, as she watched he very carefully pulled everything out and put it on the floor.  She was still watching him as he looked around, then he very carefully started putting them back.  She was told he does it when he plays with his bricks, but this was not bricks.

Now I want to let you know that when Johnathan was a baby, that would NEVER have happened.  If he wanted anything, he would wait for us to get it for him generally, but, as I said to the social worker, he wouldn’t even SEE a toy across the room he wanted, so he had no desire to do so.

But bottle and other feeding, he didn’t hold the bottle, he had no interest in a spoon or fork and didn’t feed himself until he was about 3 and a half.I believe.  If I put a spoon in his hand, he would just hold it and look at it with a confused expression, turning it over and over.

And one thing Johnathan never did for years (and even now only does so if we ask him) was open or close a drawer or a cupboard or door.  It takes a lot of coaxing, but he is getting there.  I don’t know if other autistic children do this or not.  I am aware though, that generally it is recommended that you have the clothes laid out for them every day.

If Johnathan has to look for something, he finds it a terribly taxing task.  We have shown him time and time again that you have to lift things up and move them out the way to find what you are looking for.  However,, I will admit that more times than not when either Kevin or I get there whatever he is looking for is right there in plain sight.

That doesn’t mean that he is being naughty or bad or whatever, it’s just that he doesn’t see whatever it is.  And there is no point in getting cross with him because he isn’t doing it on purpose.  He did finally start feeding himself and he did start opening things, so I think that he’ll get it, but if he doesn’t that’s not a problem.