is it normal for a 6 year old to do this?

Mine stacks and lines things up. Random things. Pillows, blankets, books, toys. See what he can balance or see how long of a line he can make. But he's also autistic. It's how his brain conceives creativity and ingenuity

Lining and stacking stuff up is pretty typical behavior for autistic kids. My stepdaughter does it. She could also just appreciate a nice clutter-free space?

My child did this for years, and they are autistic and have ocd

Kids make games out of anything. Love how creative they are.

Could be normal, could be adhd, could be autism…and the only way to truly know which is to get an evaluation done.

You can then figure out a treatment plan if it’s not just normal behavior.

not bored. she did this after the neighbor was here. Lord of toys around

see this is what I was thinking. I'm trying to get here into a psychologist because although she has an IEP for speech they said her cognition is fine and no one mentioned autism

she had a PT, special ed and ST eval when she was 3 and no one mentioned autism to me although she did have a special ed teacher come into her pre k for a while to help her with social skills such as initiating play with other children . I am having a lot of difficulty finding a psychologist covered by our insurance to take her to . aim considering asking the school psychologist for help although currently she seems to be doing ok in school

it has to be done be a pyschiatrist or psychologist, the others can’t evaluate for that.

You can start by talking to your child’s pediatrician, sometimes even though a specialist doesn’t usually take your insurance, they will with a referral from your ped.

@Christy I would push with her pediatrician to get a referral in. And stand on the ground that autism looks different in lots of kids. It's jot a box. It's a spectrum. I'm positive my nephew has autism but because he's "not like" my son, my sister never got him tested. Just keep pushing. 😀 you got this

Thank you ! Starting school has really made things hard on her , I think it's the having to follow a schedule and not do her own things . She has been on a wait list for 6 months for a psychologist office and they aren't returning my calls now

The dr we went to for my daughters autism diagnosis was a neuropsychologist. They often have long waiting lists, and as someone mentioned, do not accept insurance.

It’s entirely possible your girl is not on the spectrum, just mentioning this because autism has come up on this thread - it’s not uncommon for girls to be diagnosed later than boys because their sensory issues express as emotional outbursts and anxiety and our society is so conditioned to write off that behavior because “girls are more sensitive” My daughter did not get diagnosed until she was 11 because of this. We thought she was just a really sensitive and emotional kid.

The GOOD NEWS is that there are a lot of adaptive skills and strategies that my daughter, my husband, and I have all learned. Once you know what you’re dealing with, it’s easier to treat!

thank you. This is something that has been in my
mind. We've been on a wait list for a psycholoogist for over six months.

ugh so tough and it’s so messed up that our society does not have a better system in place to help with issues like this. All I will say is, I had to re-learn every preconceived notion about how a child “should” be. We do live in a world that is not accommodating to people whose brains just work differently. we just do the best we can to advocate for her while also trying to prepare her to find safe places and safe strategies in a world that doesn’t always understand her.

I won’t pretend there aren’t challenges, but once you accept that her brain is just wired differently and you can’t change that, life actually becomes a lot easier. There’s nothing “wrong” with people with autism.