Any AS or HFA people who did imaginative play when young?

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I know I had a silly imagination based on fantasy stories, sci fi, super-heroes, and so on. Still, it was imaginative play.

Did anyone here who's diagnosed as an Aspie or as having HFA engage in imaginative play, or is that something that's just plain out of the question no matter where you are on the spectrum?

EDIT:
Please note that this "survey" is for diagnosed people. I'm trying to gather some info here, and it's got to be substantial, not "iffy". Thanks.

Last edited by Sethno on 13 Jan 2014, 11:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

my sister taught me how to play, we would make up games where it was like a TV show, we wouldnt just make up a different thing daily, it was very structured and complex playing. very imaginative. i had a lot of fun with it too. mostly with toys and other times we would pretend to be animals.

I've always had a rather vivid imagination.

I've always had a vivid imagination. In fact, when I was originally diagnosed with PDD-NOS, one of the symptoms listed was "difficulty separating fantasy from reality."

I would make up stories, action figures would become characters in a story. It was like making up a sci fi movie, in a world where gravity dies.......you get the idea. But this was all solitary and when I was older, I never just went with freeform play like woo now I'm a caterpillar flying over mars type stuff.

Yes. When I was a toddler, I was obsessed with the Beetlejuice cartoon, and would pretend to be Beetlejuice. I involved my mom in my imaginative play, and she would be Beetlejuice's friend Lydia. I even dressed up as Beetlejuice for Halloween. (wish I had a pic of it somewhere) Around that same age I also liked the Super Mario Bros. cartoon and would pretend to be Mario (my mom was Luigi, and when one of my older sisters would occasionally join us, she would be Princess Peach).

As I got older, I had imaginary friends. Most of them were Pokemon who had voices and personalities copied from other cartoon characters.

I never really outgrew my imagination; it's just that now I use my favorite characters as subjects for my artwork and sewing rather than pretending to be them or talking to them.

Every kid plays differently. I can't see why Asperger's would make such a difference on how a child plays. The NT girls in my class played horses every playtime, for about 3-4 years, without fail. It was the same thing every playtime, that I grew bored playing with them and so had to go off and play on my own. I played all sorts of different imaginative games. I was a bit dramatic when playing, though, especially when I was in the garden. I'm sure the next door neighbour used to look out and think, ''there's that little girl talking loudly to herself again''.

I played anything, with or without other children. Using my imagination, I turned my back garden into a house, a sport's field, a town, a farm, The Hundred Acre Wood, a viking village, the clouds, a jungle, a playground, a bombsight, a cave, a neighbourhood....and probably anything else you could think of. And I always pretended people were there too and I was interacting with them.

I certainly engaged in imaginative play, often using Lego or hand-crafted paper models. It tended to have a sci-fi theme, usually space opera-ish.

It's no different than how people with an ASD lack appropriate eye contact.

People with an ASD lack appropriate social imaginative play as a child.

(Naturally, most people don't know how social imaginative play is actually defined. Like with empathy.)

I had pretend play with others from the age of ca 4.

My way of playing has always been imaginative.
I used my my little ponies as steeds for my toy soldiers and pokémon (who were the soldiers' allies) and made two separate armies. Then I made them fight. I made a prison with legos and the soldiers who had lost were put in there. But The my little ponies and the pokémon who had not been captured always came back to rescue their allies and they all escaped together.
I also used to make robots with legos who fought in space and always ended up destroying each other.
So yeah I guess my way of playing was pretty imaginative.

Seems like a lot of us engaged in 'fantasy world' play... But maybe we don't do 'real world' imaginative play? For example I absolutely detested playing 'house', or 'tea', or 'dress-up', the way other kids love to do. If it was based on real-life human social situations, I wanted no part of it!

Yes. I often pretended to be a character or an animal, and I played with stuffed animals. Also, when I was in elementary school, I had an imaginary friend that was an anthropomorphic cat, though I was made fun of because of that.

I have always done imaginative play. I would do reenactments with my Barbies, play with my brother's action figures or cars, play in the sand box, draw a town in the street using chalk and ride my bike on it pretending it was a car. I used to do dress up by putting on my mom's old dresses and wearing them. I played school and house. I also built with blocks and Lincoln Logs and play with the Brio train set. I also played with my Polly Pockets and Littlest Pet Shop.

I used to run round in circles while making up stories in my head. Not sure if that counts as imaginative play! I also liked making up stories and acting them out with my brother. I liked school stories so I often made up real life type stories, my characters were often bullied but they overcame it and beat the bullies. I did have imaginary play with others, especially my cousins,but they made up the stories and I went along with them. I don't remember liking playing house or tea parties.

No problem with imaginative play.... I was a little bit literal however. I had a cupboard full to brimming with toys of every variety and I had favourites that i'd take out and line up in rank and file. I'd play battle simulations with them. I also loved building with megablocks and constructing forts. As I grew older I would take on the role of a "sk8ter boy" (Srsly) or a world famous singer with adoring fans and vocalise these roles

In fact my imaginative play never truly stopped and now that I have no real opportunity to indulge it ive found that my dperession has ramped up.