"Unusual Play" Suggests Autism - But Where Should Parents Draw the Line?

A new study from the prestigious MIND Institute in California has found what they describe as a new way to diagnose autism earlier. According to an article in Science Daily:

...infants later diagnosed with autism exhibited unusual exploration of objects long before being diagnosed. Studying a group of children at high risk for developing autism, the researchers found that those eventually diagnosed with the disorder were more likely to spin, repetitively rotate, stare at and look out of the corners of their eyes at simple objects, including a baby bottle and a rattle, as early as 12 months of age.

The article goes on to cite researcher Sally Ozonoff as saying: "The finding that the unusual use of toys is also present early in life means that this behavior could easily be added to a parent check-list or quickly assessed during a visit to a pediatrician's office."

Kristina Chew's AutismVox Blog described the research and her responses, ending with this question:

Will any hint of “strange” or “not normal” play in a young child now set a parent (already worrying about vaccines and seeking certainty) on edge?

Oh, yeah. In fact, "on edge" is a gentle term compared to the anxiety that many new parents feel. Between one thing and another, we're getting to the point where autism is on every parent's mind. Could that penchant for knocking down and stacking up blocks be a sign? He seems to like the spinning top he got for Christmas...maybe I should take it away! Should he be that interested in his spoon? I called his name and he didn't turn his head right away!

What that leads to, in my opinion, is an absolute passion for "normalcy" and "typicality," and a very real fear of the unusual. What that leads to I can't absolutely predict, but certainly it does suggest an even stronger push for children to behave like one another, think like one another, play like one another, and take part in activities that have been labeled "normal" by some authoritative source.

I remember so well how the teacher at Tom's Montessori preschool pointed out Tom's inadequacies. She showed us a bowl of colored pieces of clear plastic, and explained that Tom liked to hold them up in front of his eyes to see the world through different colors. "That's neat," I said. "No, you don't understand," she went on. "He's supposed to SORT the colored pieces of plastic by color BEFORE holding them up to his eyes to see the world through “colored glasses.”

Now, it's true that Tom did wind up with an autism diagnosis. And perhaps "normal" children sort before they experiment. But somehow the idea of being the mom "stuck" with the odd child out, who wants to see the world through different colored glasses, just doesn't break my heart!