Severe intellectual disability

I have no experience of this but do find it very interesting that your granddaughter gently and neatly turns everything upside down.

I thought you were going to say that she trashes the place!

She sounds lovely

It might be stimming or compulsive behaviour related to her health condition.

How interesting it’s obviously not just an upside down thing as the books are turned over and the pictures laid down so it’s about changing it to her way of seeing/ thinking’ Or what’s comfortable for her Could it be a little control feature in a world that is out of her control
You don’t say how old she is or what professional help if any she gets If she does is it worth asking them Does she do it elsewhere or just in the home ?
I think looking at how brains work is fascinating

Probably because she's in Australia.

I near,y said that kircubbin but thought it might not be appreciated ?

Not appropriate.
it is interesting that she should choose books and pictures.

Hi, no experience but I think it is fascinating thanks for posting. As she is non-verbal is she learning to sign using something like Makaton?

How fascinating. I would love to know what lies behind her actions.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Don’t go Aussiegran.

It’s a facet of perfectly normal behaviour, the need to arrange your environment. Birds do it (just watch how fussy penguins are!), animals do it and humans have taken it to a whole new level. We all do it!

In your granddaughter’s case I’d suggest that she is progressing through a schema. It’s a concept that’s fallen somewhat out of favour in the educational world but that doesn’t make it less true!

Basically as the brain develops intellectually in young children it’s necessary to explore concepts over and over.

Your granddaughter is exploring her ability to change her environment and that whether a picture is this way up or that way up it’s still the same object. This sounds obvious to us but I have seen children doing something similar in the nursery many times, changing the position or the shape of an object.

You may find she begins to turn them right side up again or she may be satisfied and move on to something else that seems equally odd to the adult brain. Like making piles of stuff or hiding things??.

You might like to Google schema. It’s a fascinating subject. In the meantime enjoy watching this stage of her development. Gosh I miss doing that now I’ve retired.

kircubbin2000 Totally inappropriate and not at all amusing. Aussiegran, I also find this fascinating that it is only books & photo's and Lathyrus has made some interesting, relevant comments.

The first time she did it maybe she got a reaction from others that she liked so keeps doing it.

Is it objects she doesn't like or not? She's quietly showing her disapproval?

Or is it that she likes things in a different order, just as we may get the urge to straighten a picture, a rug etc?

I do hope the reason you have left your thread Aussie Gran is because it was bed time in Australia. There are some very interesting, well meaning and helpful comments here.
My now adult son has always behaved in similar ways. He has a significant intellectual disability and is autistic. For him I think it is a way of having some control in sometimes stressful (to him) situations and it calms him. He gets very anxious if anyone moves anything before he is ready to do so himself.
I mention my son only because your OP specifically asks if anyone "with a severely intellectually disabled" family member had noticed such behaviour. You do not say how old your DGD is but, as Lathyrus says in her very good post, in fact all young children need to explore different concepts. My very best wishes to you.

Lathyrus
That is really interesting.

I hope you come back and read Lathyrus post AussieGran.

Really interesting and informative Lathyrus.

So many strange posts lately?

This wasn’t a strange post, and AussieGran is well known to us, but yours was disgraceful kircubbin.

Sounds like sensory processing issues.

All children learn to understand the world by sight, sound, smell, touch etc

A child who is hyposensitive, sometimes when processing things it gets muddled up on the way to the brain.

This can manifest in lots of ways... like lining up toys. Or relatively simple things like clothing feeling wrong in some way.

So this sounds like a visual issue, perhaps too many objects making it impossible to process them and turning them upside down makes it easier in some way.

Some children with autism as an example like to watch TV upside down.

Do they have a diagnosis?

Some children may seem severely behind developmentally but catch up in time and are not so much disabled as just not neurotypical and do adapt

My son who has severe learning disabilities used to like to photograph everything using the X Ray type filter on iPads. I asked him why. He is non-verbal but used to be able
To use a talker device and said ‘white black
Black white’ so I think he liked the “opposite-ness” of it. He also holds lots of objects and pictures up to mirrors and carefully compares the two - maybe looking at mirror images? He also used to love a periscope when little. Looking at things through different angles is another thing he enjoys.

He doesn’t do the upside down thing but I could see if being the sort of thing he would do.

My adult daughter had the same disability, I believe it is a form of control. With my daughter is was use by dates and it was a nightmare trying to get her to understand that something still had 8 days to go before it was out of date and that was a long time. Had no concept of time or numbers. Also refused point blank to have her heating on, how ever cold. I think in your case it is a case of it’s something she can do without supervision,

kircubbin2000

Probably because she's in Australia.

Not in the least funny, if that was what you were aiming at.
AussieGran is a known poster.
I hope you're happy that you've now driven her off, shame on you.

Kircubbin, your comment was unkind and unecessary!!! AussieGran was looking for some support not a frivolous remark.

For anyone who’s interested this is one of the best simple explanations of schema

www.flyingstart.com.uk

Probably aussiegrans granddaughter is exploring positioning schema. People often get worried about what looks to adults like obsessive behaviour but is a natural inclination to repetition in young children.

Aussie grans granddaughter may need more repetition than some other children or may be somewhat later in her intellectual development but she is following a natural path.