About "lining up ones toys".

[conuly]

This is a classic part of the AS diagnosis, lining up your toys and suchlike instead of playing with them "appropriately" (whatever THAT means). But I wonder, does it count if you were organizing your toys within the context of an internal narrative? So you weren't just putting them in groups for the sake of putting them in groups, there was some reason outside of the need for neatness that they were being organized? I used to do that, organizing my crayons, or barbies, or mlps. Somebody who wasn't me might've thought I was just sorting them by color, then size, then color AND size, then hairstyle... but I had a reason for that, something that made sense to those being sorted (or did to them in my mind, which is what counts).

Comments

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

I think it's one of those things where the reason doesn't matter, only the fact that we do it does. Keep in mind that most of the current methods of diagnosing the autism spectrum involve pure behaviorism, with little-to-no awareness being shown for the reasons behind the behaviors (which is why there are so many nitwits out there that assume making us act NT will "cure" our autism).

[staircase-wit.livejournal.com]

Every autistic adult who has reflected on lining up one's toys has explained that they had valid "play" reasons for doing so.