Special interest

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My son does not show any special interest. He plays with toys but he has several books, toys, etc that he really likes. At ST, they were asking me what his special interest was and was surprised when I said that he really didn't seem to have any. He turned 4 last month.

Did your children ever develop a special interest? If so, when?

Maybe he has one, but you haven't figured out the "thread" which binds it together. Or perhaps he hasn't discovered something which will catch his interest yet. At four, I had a few (mild) special interests, but I'm not sure those were clear to anyone else. It wasn't until later that the things which really gripped my mind came to my attention.

My son's first big one (mythical creatures) started at about 5 or 6. My first big one (that I know of) (Archaeology) started when I was about 6-7. It may be that those ages were the first times we were really exposed to those topics, so it looks considerably later than those whose special interest is something like trains that most very small children are exposed to.

He had smaller interests in animals and animal documentaries before that, but it wasn't at the "unusual in intensity or quality(? is that right word in that phrase?) level, I do not believe, because many small children are very interested in animals. I can remember loving toy cars as a very small child, but I wasn't obsessing over what types and models they were--I more liked the ways the wheels spun and that they gave me an excuse (as in my parents would allow that, but not rolling in it for the only reason being that I liked the way it felt) to play in the dirt at the side of the driveway that had a talcum powder type texture.

momofthree,

I recall your son loves reading and he is so young! Maybe reading books is his special interest. My sons changed thru time. Not sure I would have considered when he was younger that he had special interests, but he did and its clear to me when I look back now. If that made sence. I agree that as he got older his special interests were more clear. Your son is just 4, he may have a few interests or likes, or favorite activities. which, at 4 isnt that different from other 4yos. I think its more apparent when they are older.

My daughters love of snails (and all other bugs but mostly snails) became apparent when she was 3. However snails only come out in spring and summer here in the UK, so it would seem to disappear and looks like its a phase, but she always goes back to them. Its more about the real ones in the garden, but she also likes toys/books/pictures/jewellery with snails. She has pet Giant Land snails too which we got her when she was 3. She is now obsessed with iphone games, so I think their interests can change.

My husband didnt think he had one but has realised he counts everything and plots graphs in his head of random data thats of no real benefit to anyone else but is satisfying for him. He also really likes light bulbs but neither of these things take over his life or are obvious obsessions, just "likes".

Is it possible he has a hidden special interest such as counting everything? Maybe he thinks everyone does it and that its not special

DS went through phases of interests, but they were of things that were pretty typical for kids his age: Elmo at one and two, firefighters at two and three, Buzz Lightyear and Orcas in preschool, Batman in elementary school, Halo now in Middle School. The difference was the intensity and breadth of his interest: we restrict violent video games, but a friend commented a few years ago that DS hadn't played Halo but knew more about it than anybody he knows who owns the game.

My daughters weren't really obvious till she was around 5 years old. Fortunately she tends to have more than one at a time, although there is usually one MAJOR one and a couple of standbys.

I have 2 sons with ASD. DS (5) first special interest was Charlie and Lola. As in knowing all the dialogue in the episodes, in fact most of his first speech was echoing Lola at around 3-4. He still loves them, has so many books, dolls and DVDs of them. His other special interest is carparks. Yep, he knows them all, the signs they have, types of ramps. He "draws" them, although he is not yet drawing anything that looks like anything. Builds carparks with his blocks. Talks about them all the time and asks on the weekends if we can go to such and such carpark, not such and such place... just wants to go to the carpark attached to it.
DS (14) loves The Wiggles, not age appropriate... but developmentally it is. Has loved them since he was a baby. He is the secret 5th Wiggle!

Thanks so much for your replies. Maybe he is still just young.

MMJMOM he did starting reading right after he turned 3 (but he knew words, numbers, letters etc way before that). However, he will read any book that I bring before him, whether its story books, counting books, picture books, fiction, non fiction etc. He has books he likes better than others, but they seem to be the story type of books. He will watch his older brother (6) when he goes on the computer but will only attempt to play with the computer if I say it is his turn to get a shot (but them it's HIS TURN until I say he needs to give his little sis a chance). He seems to really enjoy whatever he is doing at the time he is doing it. Meaning, if he is going for a ride in the car or school bus, he REALLY enjoys it. If he is playing with his dragons or any other toys, he is really into it. Every so often he will drop everything and run over for a hug but that's probably because he also really loves the pressure of hugs.

My son is still working on his expressive speech so asking him an open question like "what do you like to do" will result in silence. I think in his mind, he wouldn't know where to begin.

It's no big deal to me if he doesn't have a "special interest". It's just that they were trying to find something to use in ST and he seems to take whatever toy interests him at that very moment.

I would then say that reading, words, letters etc was his first special interest. Apparently he spent enough time with them that he is able to read. I know its hard to see at the moment. My son was like that too. He was VERY YOUNG...2ish, and he would play with letters, electronic toys like laptops that would say the letters and sounds and words, and he learned them that way. He would also play with any toy, and he would play appropriate wit them. But then he would go to the letters and the electronic toys. If I sat with him he would play cars, imitate me like pretend vaccuming, talking on the phone, feeding the dogs, etc. He would do loads of appropriate play, but then he would go back to his letter toys. He learned way before his peers all the letters and sounds and words, etc...he loved them, enjoyed them, and he also enjoyed other toys.

I never paid any mind to it caue he has other interests. But I can look back now and see it was a special interest. Not many 2yos care about letter sounds and words, things like our boys were interested in.

As he got older, he spent more time with one interest and lost a lot of his ability to play appropriate with many toys. Not that he cant, he can, he just preferred to spend the time with his special interest. Now that he is 7 1/2, playing has to be the way he wants it when he wants it and how he wants it. Back then, he was much more flexable, and had more variety of play and was more open to ideas.

Not sure if that is always the case, but it was for my son.

I am not sure how common this was but my son actually learned all his letters, numbers and the sounds of letters strictly from PBS. I actually didn't teach him that part. The only thing I did was read to him which jump start his interest in reading books. His older brother was also a early reader so we had lots of books around. I never liked the clutter of two much toys so there wasn't any number or ABCs books or toys for him to play with. Plus, all their toys is in one big toy box so they have to dig for the toys that they want.

Learning was strictly from watch PBS in the mornings. When I realized he could read, I was so shocked and amazed because he was speaking so fluid and clear and childlike, it was beautiful and we made a really big deal out of it. My son has significant delay in expressing himself verbally so hearing this "normal" sounding voice was huge. He loved the attention and would read on queue for other people (as long as I was there to give him encouragement). He also seemed to really like the praise. So that's basically how that whole thing played out. He still reads but it's not consistent. tonight he didn't read, but yesterday he read about 3-4 books. Some evenings he is into playing with his keyboard piano and other days he likes to draw stick people and faces. He started drawing stick faces and then stick people on his own.

As I said before, it's no big deal really. It would be nice to know if there is something they can use in ST but I ended up giving them about 10 different things he liked.

I say thats great! Also, from my experience, stick to variety! As my son got older he narrowed his interests and now he really only wants to do anything video game related. If I offer another choice and make it fun, he will do it, but he REALLY just wants to either play video games, or play with his video game plush toys and reenact the video games.

Part of me wishes when he was younger(5,6) that I didnt endulge his interests as much as I did, that I still made sure he spent time with other toys and activities. We are working on that now, he is resistant but once he starts a new activity he has fun. He will then say, "can I go back to my video games now" or "stuffed animals" as he calls them.

Our kids sure are a puzzle!

I have 3 kids, 2 on spectrum, one SPD with a lot of spectrum traits, and all 3 are different!

My oldest (boy age 10), did not really develop any special interests till he was about 4 and discovered Thomas and trains. Then around 5.5 he moved towards penguins and ice, then volcanoes. About age 7ish he got into Star Wars which he still likes, but not as intensely. That developed into an interest in space which he still has, as well as ice and volcanoes on other planets and moons, to now still into astronomy and vulcanology, but also interested in any kind of science and also likes math. He excels in both science and math at school (4th grade), and prefers science documentaries for TV, science books to read, Legos to play with, and of course computer and video games. I think it is awesome as he is teaching me all kinds of facts I never heard of before.

My middle one is a 7 year old girl in 2nd grade. Her special interests have always been things like ponies, barbie dolls, pink and purple, and all things little girly. Plus, she also lives arts and crafts...right now she tells me she is going to be an art teacher when she grows up. One thing I notice about her is that she tends to act and be interested in things more like girls younger than she is...about 2ish years younger. She is also small for her age, so between her size, interests, and actions, is constantly asked if she is in kindergarten.

My youngest is just 3, and only recently has developed special interests...mostly following whatever big sister is into at the time (mermaids, Barbies, ponies, etc.), but also has always loved animals and is interested in numbers and letters although still barely starting to learn the different ones.

What I have done, and plan to continue is to support their special interests, but also encourage them to branch out into something similar to help them have balance. Like with my son, he has a bunch of books on space and volcanoes, so we also have gotten him some on other natural disasters and branches of science. Or fiction ones where the hero is in the middle of the Mt St Helen's eruption for example. We also encourage them to try new things (like skating for him which he was never interested in, but his sisters were). With my older daughter, I have her in Girl Scouts which is awesome as it gives her specific badges to earn by doing something new, as well as a group of girls to socialize with and do fun things. My youngest so far has been happy to come along with whatever the older two are doing, but I am sure she will branch out as she gets older.

jillmamma - that's really interesting that all your children have found these interest. Especially since these interest could one day translate into a career. The only thing my son does that I could consider a special interest is stim. He get's up to an hour in the evening to do whatever he wants to do as far as stims. He will do his visual stims on and off during that time. Meaning, he will stim, go to a toy, stim, go play with his sibling, stim, etc. His stims are all visual (looking at things from different angles) so could that be a special interest? He only does it when he is relaxing or bored.

I would love for him to develop an interest in something that we could nurture into a career. I guess time will tell. His father and I both work in IT and his older 6 yo NT brother is pretty computer savvy so hopefully something will rub off. His 2 yo NT sister already shows a strong interest in anything with a touchscreen.

My son is hyperlexic (early reader, special interest in letters, numbers, shapes, logos etc) Early on it was a special interest in its own right. Later on it manifested in different ways, with interests in fonts, signs, foreign alphabets etc. He had/has other special interests, too, but I think the only reason they were apparent so early on was because he did not play normally with toys etc. The fact that your child does means that his interests are are probably more typical and don't stand out so much, especially if they are not very intense.

My first cluster of special interests started when I was about 18 months, so I'd say that special interest development, if it ever occurs, can occur at any age.