Tyler, my oldest, has been ....we'll say "focused" ... on different things over the years. This is common in children with autism. They find an object or a "thing" and they talk about it, recreate it, draw it, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes it can be irritating (like when he's in the car talking non-stop about his....whatever). But for the most part, we just go with it. We think that it's a natural learning experience for him because he learns everything he can from the "thing".
He used to be "focused" on his train set - specifically the Geotrax set that allows you to add pieces and design your own track. Each birthday, Christmas, Easter, and other special days he would receive another set to add to his train set. Each set was either a "place" (the construction site, the timber mill, the crossroads, etc.) or it was a train engine with a small character. And of course, each set came with additional track. After a few years, we had accumulated enough places, trains, and track to build a railroad all over the house. We were running out of room for storage! Finally, he was (in our view) getting a little too old for it and we made the decision to get rid of it. Thankfully, this decision coincided with our move from Japan back to the U.S. Oops! The train set got left in Japan.....(we donated it to a local orphanage).
This was leading up to the next "thing". It started with stoplights. He wanted to know why there were different kinds of stoplights, why the different shapes &colors, why some had 2 lights, 3 lights, and once we crossed one that had 6 lights! He would draw pictures (even though he has drawing) of stoplights and post them all over the house. There was a green light on the bathroom door and a red light on our bedroom door. The stoplight "thing" led up to streets. He wanted to know what the different lines on the road meant, why some cars went one way and others went the other way, why there were 2 lanes on the roads and 4 lanes on the highway, etc, etc, etc. He drew pictures of the streets - with the stoplights - and drove his toys cars on the roads. His paper roads would be laid out throughout the house. This has led up to his current "thing", which is electric poles. He now constantly asks about the different types of poles and why some have lots of wires and some only have 1 or 2. He wants to know where the wires go and what they do. He takes scrap wood and builds electric poles in the yard. It amazes me that he will see a 'new' style electric pole while we're out driving and come home and build it after just seeing it once! He uses baling twine as his "wires" and strings them up around the yard.
Does it look a little tacky? Sure. Does it look like the electrical systems in foreign countries? Yeah, a bit. But he "works" on it whenever it's not raining. He tells me, "Mom, I have to go work" and he works continuously and intently for hours. Since I took these pictures, his electric poles have gotten more advanced and they look amazingly realistic - aside from the fact that they are made from scrap wood and baling twine. He even has different types of poles - the bigger ones with the cross-braces have "wires" that go to single poles that only have wires attached to them. He uses nails and staples to get the "wires" to stay in place.
Now all we have to do is show him a power station and maybe he'll create self-sustaining power for the farm. Maybe I should teach him about solar energy....
