14 month old and objects

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I know that an unusual obsession with objects is a typical early sign of autism (we're in the process of scheduling his assessment) but I'm wondering if anyone can relate to this particular behavior that my son is exhibiting. When we go to the park, he spends the entire time completely fixated on leaves, sticks, grass, etc. that he finds on the ground. The moment he realizes that he's dropped an object, he frantically looks around for another one before he can move along. I took him up onto a piece of playground equipment, and he had dropped his stick on the ground and he started desperately looking in the cracks on the equipment until he found a tiny shred of mulch that must have come off of someone's shoe, than he was fine. Also, I noticed that when he goes down a slide, he shares the "moment" with the object that he's holding by laughing and looking at it or shaking it around. Or when he's on the swing, he'll clutch his object and look at it, or smile at it. I noticed that in almost all of the pictures I take of him, he's holding a leaf/stick/etc. and in many of them he's looking at it, even if he had just gone down a slide seconds before the shot. Even at home, he would much prefer a stick/leaf/outdoor object to any of his toys, or at the very least he'll settle for a kitchen gadget over a toy. Can anyone provide me with any insight into this behavior? Thanks.

I am certainly no expert and I don't know you or your child so take this for what it's worth. What I've observed with my 11 nieces and nephews and my younger brothers and sister (the ones young enough for me to remember) At that age they are very curious and quickly get board with their toys and toss them aside. They then go out looking for other things to look at. If you spend any time outside they will usually have fist fulls of sticks, leaves and dirt or what ever other gross thing they pick up and will some times stare at it or laugh at it. As for kitchen stuff that seems to be a favorite as well. I don't know if it's because they see us using it all the time but wooden spoons and measuring cups have always been an impromptu toy in my family.

It's certainly something you could mention at the assessment.

That sounds like normal 14 month old behavior. Where would the line be drawn for when it becomes ASD at that age? My son was the same way and now he is playing with cars now for real but he still won't interact with other kids and that is normal at his age. But yet he will want older peoples attention and he points to things and hands us stuff.

It just seems like that these days parents worry about their kids having autism when they sound okay by what they described. If you read about toddler development, it will tell you what is normal and I have noticed that even NT kids have ASD behavior except it's normal at that age so it's not ASD.