Sorting/transfering?

[Christi in OH]

I'll explain the behavior first. Ronnie can sit and transfer things from one pile to the other over and over and over and over and over. No, really she can do it for a really long time. The object really doesn't matter, it can be books, pencils, ribbon, blocks, plastic easter eggs anything she finds that there are mulitples of circular is much better. :unsure:

So, sure it keeps her busy. When the macaroni sorting activity stops being the activity and she is pouring it from one bin to the next then migrates from the work mats to the kitchen table still pouring then stops for lunch and outside then comes in and chucks the macaroni all over the kitchen...there the problems begin. Same with the books or what ever else I find them all over the house strewn about as she finishes or sorts to a smaller pile or moves onto the uncut coupon pages. :sad: Or Ephraim snatchs things and runs doesn't really want the object so he just drops it where ever he is at.

It is maddening. Part of me says, ah, what does it hurt if she will help clean up. The macaroni is too much for her and she is gated in the kitchen waiting to begin that job. I will help her, but I get tired of it. I get tired of the mindlessness of the task she is doing. I get tired of the clean up and the stuff being roughed up - books in and out of too small baskets aren't fairing so well. She also just turns pages in phone books. :unsure: She also lines things up in rows and sometimes sorts by size and shape.

Anyone have any thougths or ideas on this? She needs lots of active engaging and the baby needs lots of supervision. :sad:

[Sarah]

Sophie had a similar behavior when she we diagnosed her with Autism. I began biomedical treatment, first putting her on the gf/cf diet and then treating yeast issues. A few couple months after we began, we realized she wasn't doing this anymore. Then we went on a trip to see a dying relative and I didn't have time to prepare so she went off the diet and within 24 hours she was sitting on the floor moving things back and forth into piles again. After we got her home and back to the diet and other treatments this went away again.

It has been a couple of years for us and we took her back off the diet months ago, after being on it of around a year and a half, and that behavior has not returned. I am not saying you should do any of this, just sharing my experience.

[Hollie in SC]

I'm not sure if you are looking for ideas or sympathy, but here is both:

Noah ADORES books. He will sit and look and look and look. Then, he gets bored and rips, and rips, and rips. :eek: I either stay with him when he reads or set a timer (since my brain won't remember) for 10 minutes or whatever time is such that he'll still be playing sweetly. I get back before the behavior goes from bad to worse. When it changes, then the book goes away.

:group:

[AshleyS]

No answers, but a big :group:

[Angy]

Wow, that sounds just like my daughter. My daughter loves cherrios and I think what a complete waste of cherrios, she doesn't eat them she just lines them up and make piles of them, and if someone happens to mess up the piles, Cherrios are all over the floor, and oh the melt down! But I like the idea of giving them a certain amount of time. With my daughter if I set the timer and said you have 20 minutes to count cherrios and then you have to put them away, and then followed through I think that she would be ok with that after a few times, as long as she knew she could return to them later. I try to keep her busy with other things, when we have major down time, I'm all about child friendly websites, like PBSKIDS.com she enjoys playing the games and she stays on the website, and it offers her learning skills. I always hope she out grows it, but as of yet she hasn't, sometimes you have to pick your battles though, and this isn't one I have chosen to pick!

[Dawn in KY]

Because rules and routines are so important, a timer can work really well in a case like this.

At first it will take her getting used to it, but once she does it will stick.

Let her know that she may do "X" actitivity for "X" minutes. Set the timer. Let her know when the timer goes off it will be time to do another activity. Don't leave it open ended though, let her know what the activity will be and I'd suggest making it a fun one she likes to do, so that when the timer goes off she has something fun to look forward to and she doesn't balk.

And because the activity she's doing might be a soothing activity that calms her and centers her, let her do it several times a day, but with a timer each time.

Also, the timer allows you to NOT be the bad guy, the timer is. "Oh, the timer went off, I'm sorry it is time to clean this up now and move onto something else." It's not just mommy saying, "OK, I want to be done with this now."

I'd be willing to bet it'll only take a day or two at most for her to get used to the timer.

:group:
Dawn