Lining up and stacking

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Yep, I line up and stack things. If someone left some coins on the kitchen counter, for example, I might tack them in neat piles or line them up based on size. I'll also move objects to they align to a groove in a tabletop or something. It's almost like a stim for me, though, rather than anything with any practical purpose.

It's a kid thing that's used instead of typical play for autistic children. You might do it when older, but it's not really the same thing.

It's usually not there in what was called Asperger's.

I stand pens up on end if they have an end that's flat enough, if that counts.

There's a picture of me when I was 6, and on the table at my back there are some of my toys lined up.
When I was in elementary school and middle school I used to line up my pencils and pens and I got very angry if someone touched them and moved them.

I still line up things.

I have a friend who does the same but she's not autistic or OCD. I don't think it's only an autism thing.

I used to line all my matchbox cars up on a rug when I played with them.
Now if I'm in a cafe, I use the sachets of sugar to make houses (like playing card houses)

I do a slight variation of the "lining up" thing.

If there are multiple disparate objects lying on a table, say, or a desk, and they have straight edges, I line up the edges, either with each other or with the edge of the table.

If some of the objects can't be lined up with anything, I'll adjust them so their edges are perfectly parallel.

And I don't know if this is relevant or not, but while I was only a so-so student in math all through school, I absolutely nailed Geometry. I went from C's and struggling B's in Algebra, to having the highest grade average in my entire Sophomore class in Geometry. Surprised the hell out of everyone, including me ...

[postscript] ... was just remembering the Geometry teacher. She was the cutest little thing, barely five feet tall, with a cute little pixie cut and very nice legs, which she showed off with miniskirts. I had a huge girl crush on her, and of course she liked me cause I was her best student. Lots of other kids didn't like her, probably because she was tough, which I guess they didn't expect from a female math teacher, especially one who was good-looking. But she came down hard on them when they screwed off in class.

I still have the compulsion to line things up sometimes, if there is a stack of magazines, they have to be perfectly aligned. My keyboard, mouse and mousemat have to be perfectly aligned to each other and to the table. I have even caught myself surreptitiously organising shelves in shops before now, its like I just can't help myself My Autistic son is always organising the shelves in shops too - luckily the shop owners find it endearing

Its funny because I'm a very untidy person, my art studio is chaotic (its organised chaos though - I know where everything is) and I'm terrible at housework Fortunately most of my love of geometry goes into my art, which is less obvious to people. And that usually satisfies my organising urges enough to ignore some of the other things that bug me.

I've been giving this a lot of thought recently, and I think the lining up thing is partly because when things are lined up and geometrical, its easier for our brains to then process the information.

When I see a group of similar objects scattered all over the place, my brain jumps from one to the other trying to make sense of what I'm seeing. And I can get easily overloaded trying to take it all in. Its like your eyes can't find a place to settle so they keep jumping all over the place.

If I line things up, I can process the visual information much more efficiently, my eyes only have to follow a single path to view the objects. This is much easier on the brain, and that is sort of calming for me. if the objects are then sorted in colour order its even easier for my brain to process the information.

Another side of this is that we tend to think more logically and mathematically than NT's, and geometry is both logical and mathematical. When we can see the geometrical relationship between objects it gives us a greater sense of things having a logical sense. This again helps to keep our brains happy because it can find order in the chaos.

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Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house

I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.

I do this mostly with coins. I like to either stack them in size (physical size, not denomination) from biggest up to smallest or line them up in geometric shapes (usually diamonds).

Autistic children line things up because they are not good with pretend play. It makes more sense to line their toys up according to patterns and look at them. That's a fun and valid way of playing also.
I have done this occasionally as an adult but only out of boredom. I do like to line my paintings up on a wall in front of my bed so I can look at them.