Should my 2 year old get an eval?

[terra-pip]

My oldest...7 year old boy..is on the spectrum, mild PDD with some sensory and OCD issues. My youngest has been developing normally...even more normally than we thought our oldest was at his age. He's 2 and a half and makes great eye contact, talks in full sentences, plays well, eats well, uses correct pronouns, shows no hand stimming etc...But in the last two weeks he has been lining up...yep you guessed it...those Thomas trains..and getting quite upset if they get moved. He will play with them normally when I sit with him...but a lot of times they are lined up. This morning my spectrum child actually sat down and moved the trains and started playing and looked confused when my youngest got upset...funny he used to do the same thing!

He's also been quite obsessed with books lately...turning the pages and wanting me to ask him the same question each time (like a script)...something else my oldest did...

He also imitates my oldest a lot...so sometimes it's hard to figure out if he's making a "sound" or just doing what my older son is doing.

There has been some illness in our house lately...so everyone is out of sorts anyway...and there has been some antibiotic useage...

I'm just wondering how seriously I should take the lining up of the trains?

My oldest was about 2 and a half when he started showing regressive signs...so maybe I'm just on edge here!!!

[readytobedone]

well, FWIW, as far as i know my same-age child is NT and she lines up stuff all the time. i have multiple photos of elaborate lining up of objects, like aluminum cans, jars from the spice cabinet...you name it, she has lined it up. so i think it can be completely "normal" behavior in a toddler.

[APToddlerMama]

The lining up would have me on edge too. Actually I am on edge with my 21 month old doing this and also thinking about getting an eval, but there are additional things going on with him. FWIW, a friend of mine with a definitely NT child just showed me a photo of her child with several things she had lined up just perfectly, so I think it can be a normal toddler behavior too.

[terra-pip]

Thanks...yeah i have known several little kids who line up and are just fine....My oldest would do it constantly...trains, cars, books, our cassette tapes, plastic animal and dinosaur collections, stuffed animals, flash card collections and then stim when he was appreciating his work...and he never seemed to be able to pretend play normally with them without involved interaction from me...he still has a lot of trouble playing and will occasionally line up something.

This is the first time I've seen this in my youngest...and even though he gets mighty upset when they are moved..I've also noted that he doesn't line up perfectly and doesn't get too bothered when something is moved an inch...only when it's actually picked up and moved or the line is completely broken. And he drives and plays and pretend talks with the toys the majority of the time.

I'm thinking I'll watch him for some sensory issues because that seems more likely. He crashs and bangs and breaks things, throws, doesn't like being upside down...is always on the move....which is opposite of my oldest who is more low muscle tone and sensory aversive rather than sensory seeking.

It's a hard call when they are 2 and so much of their behaviour is "wacky" anyway

[sbgrace]

I actually think this is a common stage at that age for typically developing kids, especially those with linear thinking/sequential minds. My sequential thinking kid did that at this age and was really into where things went as well and directions and routine. He's not at all spectrum. His brother is on the spectrum and never lined things up but he isn't a linear/sequential thinker. He had other repetitive and stimmy stuff instead.

[Momily]

I think that most of the behavior we call "atypical" in kids on the spectrum, is behavior that is seen at some point in typical development, just not with the same persistence, frequency or intensity. Two is an age when kids get relatively into order and predictability and control, and things like scripted conversations, and play that involves ordering things surfaces for a lot of them. The difference is usually that children on the spectrum do these things to the exclusion of other kinds of play and interactions (e.g. the only thing the do with the trains is line them up, or the scripted conversations make up a significant portion of all the conversations they have), and that they do so with an intensity that's markedly greater.

You mentioned that your older son regressed significantly at 2.5. Was he doing the things that you little one is doing now (correct pronouns, pretend play etc . . . ) before that?