Lack of imaginative play Most children play 'imaginatively'. In other words, they enjoy games where they pretend to be different characters or professions, such as doctors and nurses or 'mummies and daddies'. Children with autistic spectrum disorders hardly ever play like this, preferring repetitive activities on their own. For example, they might enjoy arranging objects in lines or patterns or collect large numbers of particular objects, such as plastic bottles or Smarties tops. As they get older, such hobbies can almost appear to take over their life.
Many children collect objects, such as books on a particular topic, photographs, or maps.
Others may spend hours collecting facts about a particular topic, such as the Top Twenty, jockeys and winning horses, or bus routes and numbers. Just as children with autism often enjoy ordering and categorising objects or facts, so they also seem to need established routines in their everyday life. They are disturbed by changes in routine, like a new timetable or a fire practice. A child may refuse to follow a different route to school or create elaborate 'rituals' such as always entering the classroom in the same way, counting the chairs and sitting in the same place. Once a child is diagnosed as having autism, the next step is to decide whether special education is needed.