Is this odd for an 8 year old to do?

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I'm asking this question here because I figure a parent would be able to give me a more insightful answer.


When I was about 8, during recess on the playground, as I did not play with the other children, occasionally I'd clamp my hands over my ears and march around the blacktop following the various lines and shapes painted on the ground as I hummed something to myself, because I liked the cadence my march introduced into the hum, and I liked how it sounded with my hands over my ears.

Does this stand out as unusual to you?

No, sounds like fun to me. I still like to plug my ears and make noises and following patterns are just as soothing. I follow the same grooves in my road with my car everyday. Most people call this OCD....I just call it calming.
I am a parent....and Im also an Aspie.

No, OCD is entirely different.

I mean following the grooves in my road....have to do it and when Im in the car with someone else driving I panic when they dont do it. My Psyc calls it an OCD trait but I think it just makes me feel better. There are a lot of things that I "need" to do on a daily basis but I dont find it a problem, I find it calming.

I have to say it is exactly what I did as a primary school kid.

Gee, isn't it nice to be able to write something like that and have it be considered normal and fun?
Sounds like fun to me too!
Maybe I will try it later with my son!

I think that's pretty normal stuff for kids to do, even NTs like to play with sounds and walk on lines. Now if you did it the same way every day for years, that might be a little odd. It sounds fun.

I'm not quite sure why you're asking. It might be unusual for an NT kid, but definitely not unusual for an Aspie.

This also sounds fun and calming to me. One of my 10 year old sons often does something similar at recess, he paces back and forth running his hands along the brick wall and chain link fence.

As to your question about whether or not it is unusual, not for an autistic kid, but yes, for an NT kid. NT kids usually engage with each other at recess, throw balls, jump rope, play tag etc. The part where you covered your ears is probably the part which would have appeared most unusual to the other children. However it sounds like a great way to calm yourself and get a break from the other kids to me.

I like that you covered your ears. My aspie girl usually only covers her ears when others are being too loud, but I can imagine her doing this to insulate herself from the rest of the group, and to observe the difference in both the outside noises and her internal sounds. I do imagine it being very calming.

Yesterday I took my daughter to the park for dinner, and it was really fun to watch her watching the other kids as she ate. She studied them so intently as they played boisterously at the playground. I thought of her almost as one of those people who make documentaries about wild animals...she observed them with a detached but very curious expression, not at all desiring to play with them but quite interested by them nonetheless.

It strikes me that aspie children aren't so much antisocial as they are scientists, observers, interested in things the other children don't even pay attention to. Things like the cadence of marching, and the way their humming sounds when they cover their ears.

I used to like to drag a stick along a chain link fence. The rythm of it was very soothing, and I'm not an Aspie. I am a little introverted. I like people a lot and am socially capable, but need time alone to decompress.

That's a very common thing for children to do...I know this because I used to live near a school, and across from me was a house with a picked fence. Frequently I'd see a kid drag a stick along it.


I think many AS behaviors and lines of thought are really just more persistent, amplified versions of things many NT's have done as children or at some point in their life.

For some reason, people with AS just never fully leave that zone.

I had a lot of fun, doing that as a kid. I don't think that it's unusual.

Sounds normal to me for an Aspie, like a very calming activity, possibly making the rest of the school day manageable.

When I was a child I sat alone and "studied" the other kids. I can clearly recall having no desire to join them, but found their activities fascinating to watch.