did you engage in any dramatic play as a child?

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I'm new here, and have only been learning about AS for a few days, and am trying to determine if I have it.

I didn't engage in much dramatic play as a child. I had dollhouses that I loved arranging furniture in, but I didn't really play with the dolls. I would put them in the dollhouse sometimes sitting on a chair or lying in bed or walking up the stairs, but I can't remember ever making them talk to each other.

I had lots of toy horses (I loved horses), but you know, I only brushed their hair and made them gallop about, go in the barn, come out of the barn, put a saddle on them, etc.

I played pretend with pretend food, I played pretend with my friends, pretending to be animals running around the back yard. I played tag and duck duck goose and things like that.

I'm not sure if I was really missing something. I have scant few memories of making dolls or toy animals talk to each other. I did on occasion do a short puppet show to make my younger siblings laugh. But very very few times, and I was a bit older - pre-teen probably.

I remember as a younger child (6 or 7), some friends wanted to play out a scenario of damsel in distress, hero rescues her, with Barbies. I was like, that's stupid, let's just build a really big castle with these blocks. LOL

Lacking such is more of an autism thing than AS; people with AS usually play with toys like their peers, but they tend to obsess over one interest to an extreme amount, like horses for example.

I lacked imaginative play (pretending); I also played with toys inappropriately, I'd bite and gnaw on them, I'd open and close parts of them, and I'd only focus on a single function of them, like filling the tray of a truck up with sand over and over. This went on for the first four or so years (I'm going by what my mother told me, I have no memory of such).

I played with dolls, and i did play out certain scenes etc. The thing is, i did this fine on my own, but if other children were to join in they would have to follow my rules. I usually had a picture in my mind on how the play was supposed to act out, and if the other children stepped outside those set lines id get upset and start telling them off for not doing it right. I guess i was lucky, cause i still kept my friends even when i did things like that.

I can't remember my childhood because of anterograde amnesia. I'm told my play was 'self sufficient'. I liked mechanisms and machines and would take thing apart to see how they worked. For this reason I was alway having my toys taken away from me and were replaced with bit of string and junk. I tried taking the air conditioning apart.

I liked arranging my toys, by size, or colour, and I'd collect all the blankets and pillows in the house to build a bed for my toys, but once I'd put them in the 'right' place, I didn't do anything with them. I never liked playing with other kids because I didn't understand why they kept moving the toys and putting them in the wrong places!

I was a big fan of my blocks and lego too, I would sort them into their colours and types and build symmetrical things

'Mummy and kids' or 'shopkeeper and customer' kids games caused tantrums til I was at least 9 too - people wanted me to act like I was something I wasn't, and I took great offense. Even now I'm uncomfortable rehearsing plays etc, although somehow I'm happy with the actual performance.

its a possibility

Despite my diagnoses of 'Textbook Asperger's", I did in fact engage in imaginative play as a child. In fact, I spent many many hours constructing elaborate fantasy words. I played extensively with my younger brother, with our dinosaur figurines, Star Trek/Star Wars/Space Precinct figurines, Babaloo Birds, soft toys... Yeah, I had a lot of imaginative play. I would also take on 'personas', in which I'd slip into a role and 'become' that character, usually when playing with my brother.

My brother was really the only person I engaged with in play, though. In social groups, I was always the outsider, playing by myself.

Admittedly, I loved construction-based play too. Legos, construction sets, cardboard, scissors and sellotape... Making up the landscapes and props was maybe the most fun part of all.

But yeah, my childhood 'dramatic' play wasn't classically autistic. I had other 'play' that was, but I was a very imaginative and play-creative kid.

*Nods*

Nevertheless, my psychologist wasn't very helpful. The first letter to my school that she wrote said that because I have AS, I have "no theory of mind" and "no imagination".

I have never been so insulted in my life.

You all know that pretend play and dramatic play are different, right?

I can pretend to have a tea party and set up the table with all the little plastic cups, plates and silverware. But just sit there and stare at it and not engage in dramatic play. Dramatic play would be setting dolls or stuffed animals around the table and 'having them talk to each other' like a puppet show.

I was good at dramatic play as a child, but I was always the self-proclaimed boss, and the other children had to follow my rules.

As a child, I had a very active imagination. My favorite cartoon characters were my imaginary friends, and we'd go on all sorts of adventures together. I'd even imitate their voices sometimes. I was so immersed in my world that I'd talk to them or imitate their voices even while out in public. I also liked to pretend I was pregnant by stuffing pillows and/or stuffed animals under my shirt. Speaking of stuffed animals, each of my stuffed animals had a name, a specific voice, and a role in an ongoing sitcom-type story that my brother and I created.

So yeah, I'm definitely not lacking in the imagination department.

yes, everyday....and I still do!

I played house, school, concentration camp, etc.

I hated playing house when I was a kid... guess I didn't quite understand the roles.

I think that imaginary play took up the vast majority of my childhood. I was always imagining role plays or things with toys with my sisters - I was the oldest and hence I would organise everything (and everyone had to stick to my plans). Before my sisters were old enough I had an imaginary friend. I dont remember this, but my mother said that he was a man who lived at the end of the garden. I dont know whether I really believed in this person or not. My imaginary play continued into my teens. I was still playing with toy horses and people at the age of 12 or 13. Often though my play had a slightly violent or disturbing edge to it, involving people being killed or hurt or badly mistreated. This is almost certainly nothing to do with AS (if I have it), I think I just somehow grew up with a twisted mind despite my conventional, loving upbringing.