This was less safe. Then, overnight, Sam lost all these interests. At the same time, his language dwindled to almost nothing. That's why I miss laundrettes. At least they were something you could talk about.
Obsessive behaviour is one of the commonest traits of autism, and one of the least understood.
One man collected all available information about the addresses of juvenile courts. Trains, bus timetables, weather patterns, electrical circuits, street plans and lamp-posts are all common obsessions. In young autists an absorption in the works of the late, great Rev W Awdry is almost universal. George, my older autistic son, went through his Tank Engine phase, but failed to obsess on Thomas, James, Gordon or any of the main players. George favoured Douglas, who doesn't feature in many stories, never appears on T-shirts or in pasta shapes, and speaks in a Scottish dialect that induces lockjaw when read aloud.