Asperger's and Obsessions

When my daughter was first diagnosed with Asperger's at 4.5 years of age, I read anything I could about the syndrome. One of the characteristics that is really apparent with Aspies is an obsessive interest in a particular area. The book or article would then detail the areas of interest. It would look something like this:

--books
--science
--dinosaurs
--bugs
--trains
--Lego
--Computers
--Pokemon
--French literature.

This list isn't based on anything I've looked at, it's just some commonly known areas. I'm sure there are other topics that I just haven't thought of yet. At the time, I remember laughing at the French literature topic. I couldn't imagine my 4 year old reading French literature. I ended up being right about that. Two weeks later, my daughter started reading a little bit of Spanish, trying to teach herself some words. Recently, she even tried to teach herself some Russian phrases. She hasn't shown much interest in French yet.

Other than that, my daughter had shown a strong interest in everything that has ever been listed. It's really weird how predictable the topics of interest will be for a child with Asperger's! The one thing she's avoided has been Pokemon.

Not anymore! My daughter is now obsessed with Pokemon. The boys in her class have been sharing their cards. It's been very big among the 7-year old crowd. I don't know where my daughter developed her interest in Pokemon, but I'm sure it came from school.

She made a giant Pikachu on poster board yesterday and has been taking Pik (as I like to call him--or is it a her?) with her around the house. She also really wanted Pokemon cards, so I treated her to a big set to celebrate the end of a successful first grade year. I don't think these cards are that popular with the girls at her school, but that's okay!

She's just working her way down the list of hobbies! I wonder what will be next!