It may also cut into Leah’s need to engage in social interaction with family members and friends.
A severe enough obsession could not only interfere with family plans, but even discourage healthy habits such as getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, and practicing good hygiene.
Or Leah, a budding piano player might be tempted to practice her skill to the exclusion of everything else. There also may be cases when the behavior interferes with the family’s ability to go out anywhere or to take a vacation.įor example, if Billy is interested in building model airplanes and can’t bring himself to stop to go out anywhere, that could interfere with plans the family might have to go on an outing. Allowing him to engage in fear-based web searching could be a never-ending spiral downward into more fear and paranoia.Īs mentioned earlier, if the obsession is rooted in an allergy to something, we as parents should know about that so we can take steps to protect our children’s health. Timothy’s worries over looking up information about the morality of playing video games may be based on an obsessive compulsive disorder. Some believe that autism hyperfocus is unhealthy and problematic, which could be partly true. So in the interest of protecting your child’s health, it may be a good idea to have her tested for allergies if her fixations are severe.Īre These Obsessive Interests a Good or a Bad Thing? He may be so anxious that what he loves to do might be a sin that he obsesses over trying to prove through his research that it’s okay to engage in his favorite pastime.Īutism hyperfocus has been known in some cases to be increased by an allergy to something, such as dairy. In other cases, an obsession actually helps them cope with anxiety and depression.įor others, however, allowing it to take over their lives might actually make things worse.įor example, Timothy might spend hours and hours researching websites or YouTube videos out of fear that it’s wrong to play computer games. It’s as if his brain insists on going on and on about sports even if he’s tired of thinking about it. But sometimes, even when he feels he’s had enough of that subject for one afternoon, he’s still unable to “turn off” his obsession. He enjoys thinking, talking, and reading about it. One person I know with mild autism is intensely interested in sports. Sports is a common obsession even among neurotypical people, but an autistic person's hyperfocus will be much more intense. If Suzie loves to paint beautiful pictures but won’t do anything else, this could clearly interfere with daily life for Suzie and for the whole family.īefore we explore if or how much Suzie and other children should be allowed to fixate on their interests, we should understand why they experience such intense obsessions in the first place. While this can often indicate great talent in our kids, the fact remains that such obsessions can be hard for the family to cope with from day to day. Neurotypical (non-disabled) people also have interests, but for an autistic person, the degree of enthusiasm will be much more intense. Hyperfocus is an obsessive interest on one thing almost to the exclusion of everything else. S(he) shares that trait with many others on the autism spectrum. If this describes your child, you’re not alone. If autism hyperfocus drives your child to obsession, what should you do about it, and how much should you intervene?
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Autism Hyperfocus: How to Cope and Even Help Your Child Benefit
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