Why does my child line up his toys?

Have you noticed that your child often lines up his / her toys? Rather than playing with trains or dinosaurs in a pretend way, he / she may spend lots of time meticulously placing them in a long line. Have you ever wondered why?

Lining up toys is a common feature of young autistic children. But why do they do this and how should we respond?

One of the features of autistic people is a tendency towards a more rigid thinking style. They often have a strong preference for order and predictability. Tasks or situations that require flexible thinking can be a challenge.

It is therefore understandable that young autistic children will show this thinking style in their play. Lining up toys is a way of bringing order and predictability to the immediate environment.

The key is not to stop your child from lining up their toys. Doing so may lead to distress or a tantrum because the perceived “chaos” will cause an increase in anxiety. It’s more helpful to use this information to learn about the needs of your child.

When you are familiar with your child’s play, you will be able to tell when there is a change in their behaviour. This is very useful because your child may not have the emotional vocabulary or range of facial expressions to let you know how they are feeling.

An increase in lining up toys or other objects is important information. It may well indicate that your child is feeling uncomfortable. Lining things up may be an attempt to restore order. They are attempting to control the immediate environment as a way of managing the discomfort they are experiencing. If there is an increase in lining up, try to observe what is going on at the time or where your child has just been. Is there noise in the background? Are there lots of people around? Are there strong cooking smells?  

When we leave for the airport to go away on holiday or a business trip, we often check to see if we have our passports, air ticket and currency. Then we check again to make sure we have it all in our bag. And then just to be sure, we may check again. This “repetitive” behaviour happens because we are feeling an increase in anxiety. We are on the alert because we are doing something that differs from our normal routine. Autistic children often show this behaviour in response to everyday life events. That’s because seemingly small changes or stimuli can be distressing to someone who’s brain loves order and predictability.  

Although the need for order and predictability can make managing life far more difficult, there is an upside. This thinking style often means that autistic people perform particularly well on tasks that require high levels of order. It’s not a coincidence that certain occupations attract higher numbers of autistic individuals. Some companies, such as SAP (the technology giant) have even set up programmes to provide work for autistic employees. They recognise the significant benefits that this group bring to their company.

And finally, whilst we do not recommend disrupting your child’s propensity for lining up toys, we do recommend that you become a play partner with your child. This will give you opportunities to show your child more creative ways of playing when they are ready.

To your parenting journey!