My 2 year old seems to be overly concerned with order

[joanielucille]

My 2 year old seems to be overly concerned with order. He is constantly lineing things up, anything, books, nick knacks, blocks, toys, mats at his gymnastics class, cones, rocks, anything he can. While he is doing this it is as if he obsessed. He does not hear you when you are speaking to him and freaks out if you interupt his order. He has always been fasinated with the function of things, how they turn on and off, plugs in walls, light switches, toys that turn on and off. He has never really enjoyed the toys just the way that they work. Is this a sign of something? and should I be doing something to encourage or further reserch this intrigue?

[Danasel]

Have you talked to your pediatrician about it?  It sounds a little like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but I don't have any first hand experience with a child that young having it.  I would definitely talk to the doctor, though.

[msklar]

Children that young thrive on order, some more than others. I would say hes much too young to worry about any obsessive disorders, or anthing like that. I would encourage his curiosity on how things work. Perhaps he'll grow up to be an engineer?...

[joanielucille]

No I have not talked to anyone other than my mother. Nicholas is an otherwise very healthy little boy. Very cute and charming. He has a ton of character. I do not think it is compulsive disorder, although I may be wrong. But I do wonder if it is a sign of super intelegence. OK I know me and and every other Mom. But I have 4 kids and I have never seen anything like it.

[anamari]

I would say that it is a bit early to diagnose him for OCD, but stranger things have happened.
I do have a question for you, is he in a daycare?  If so, how long has he been in one?
I ask because some day cares have the children form lines(though how you get a dozen toddlers to stand still in a line, I don't know! LOL), and maybe his actions are borne from some situation/s like that.
I would say, that he sounds like a very intelligent child, in any case.  
I agree that your pediatrition would have the best answers, though.

[Onceinawhile]

My first thought was Autism.

[susanelizabeth]

Like onceinawhile, my first thought was autism as well.  I used to babysit for a little boy with it and he demonstrated some of the same behaviors.  He was mildly autistic.  Perhaps, you should try and talk to a dr. or specialist.  It may very well be nothing but it can't hurt to check it out....

[joanielucille]

No he is not in daycare, never has been.
Autism, I never thought of that, aren't Autistic children very difficult?
Nick is not difficult

[shelbert6]

My first thought, too, was autism or a related disorder called Asperger's Syndrome.  There are 2 reasons why this is my thought.  #1 is that I don't believe that a 2 yr old has the attention span to develop OCD.  The mere definition of OCD suggests to qualify you must have the ability to have a lengthy attention span, or obsession can't occur.  #2 You state that "he freaks out" when you interrupt his order.  I know an 11 yr old boy who has a very mild case of autism.  He wears a wool cap 365 days a year.  If he is asked to remove it or one of his school mates takes it off, he "freaks out."  An interruption in his routine.  He has difficulty in some of the more basic subjects in school such as reading and spelling, but I swear there isn't a miniscule fact that he doesn't know about dinosaurs.  Dinosaurs were his forte a few years ago, nowadays, it is Ancient Egypt.  Same thing.  He can tell you anything you want to know about Pharos, hyroglyphics and such, but can struggle with common information like understanding how to play checkers.  But, even though I use the term "difficulty" when describing his school subjects, he is still perfectly capable of attending school and doing well enough to graduate each year to the next grade.  And as far as being difficult to deal with as a person, quite the opposite.  He does have issues that are different that other kid's his age, but he is social, more so with adults, and shows little problem being with his peers.  So the word austism may be scary, but it doesn't translate into hopeless.  Frankly, that may not even be what is going on, but definitely worth consulting with your pediatrician about.

Regards,
Shelly  

[Onceinawhile]

Thanks for your intelligent informative posts.  I for one have very much enjoyed reading what you have to say.

[shelbert6]

Thank you, that was nice to hear (read).

Shelly

[RussellsMOm]

My 2 year old is also doing this.  I was wondering how your boy is doing now and if you found out this a normal thing?    I am curious like you he loves trains and makes trains out of everything lining them up.  He for along time loved numbers and would stop in his tracks to count numbers or say them.   He is 27 months now and has started with the letters now.  Letters are his big thing and saying what all his letters are.  We have magnets on the side of the fridge that he loves to line up the letters and the numbers.   He loves cars and he loves lining them up.   When we went for a walk he walked over to a car parked in a drive way and stooped down to check out what was underneat the car.    He talks but it's hard to hear what he is saying because it is like he mumbles but he talks much clearer when it comes to his numbers.   It all seems strange don't know what to think if it his intelligence or a problem.  I like you hope he is fine and this is normal behavior of 2 yr old.

[CRMOM]

My 2-year old does the same thing.  Lines up cars, trains etc. Yesterday it was cheese on his plate.  He also has be diagnosed with a speech delay and sometimes he zones out...not paying attention to anything in the room except what he's doing.  I don't know what to do, but to just watch his behavior and hopefully with help from our speech pathologist help him to communicate better.