Examples of behaviors involving stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech include repeating sounds, words, or phrases out of context (ranging from single words or sounds to entire scripts of movies) and repeated movements, such as hand flapping, flipping a light switch on and off, twirling objects, lining up toys, and so on.
Individuals displaying these behaviors may:
EXAMPLE
Terry will often repeat words and phrases to herself from her favorite movie when sitting at the lunch table with classmates.EXAMPLE
When asked, “Do you want to paint with red or green?” Iman replies, “Red or green."EXAMPLE
Jarrel repeatedly waves his fingers in front of his eyes and pulls grass from the yard to rub between his fingers and wave in the air.What's that?
Come on!
Liam, why don't you slide in that hole, on that thingy?
Individuals with these symptoms may display extreme distress at small changes in schedules or routines (e.g., becoming upset when classroom schedule changes), inflexibility with changes to the organization or placement of objects, difficulty with transitions, or rigid thinking patterns.
Individual exhibiting these symptoms may be:
EXAMPLE
Ben has a tantrum when his caregiver takes an alternate route home because of road construction blocking the normal route.EXAMPLE
Shantal insists on following the same route to the cafeteria every day, even when she is in a different location and another route would be shorter.EXAMPLE
Yasmine insists her family members sit in the same exact places at the dinner table.Individuals may display unreasonably strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, carry or hoard particular objects, or have excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests.
Some individuals perseverate on specific topics (e.g., an individual may turn every conversation into a discussion about mathematics).
Behaviors of these individuals may include:
EXAMPLE
Mario will repeatedly open and close the doors on toy houses and cars.EXAMPLE
Arin will gather all of the catalogs that come in the mail and hide them behind her bed so that she can look at the credit card logos.EXAMPLE
Preston spends many hours studying and memorizing all the train lines, times, and stops for the local transit system.EXAMPLE
Gabriela tries to turn every conversation that she has with others into a discussion about ocean animals.[MUSIC PLAYING] This is the sign. I haven't-- if you go that way, it would be to the end. So I have to go this way! I'm just, I'm just remembering this is the school.
He has this new infatuation with streets. First we thought it was pretty cool 'cause he was-- it was like sight words, like he was learning how to read the street signs. He starts to perseverate on the ways to go to, like, dad's work, to the ways to go to school, the ways to go to camp. And, like, but then it's to the point where if you take a different route, he gets real inflexible.
Individuals with these symptoms may display apparent indifference to pain or extreme temperatures or may overreact to differences in temperature. They may have unreasonably adverse responses to specific sounds or textures, such as throwing a tantrum whenever a family member uses the kitchen blender or crying in terror upon handling sand or uncooked rice.
Behaviors of these individuals may include:
EXAMPLE
Alessander throws a tantrum whenever a family member vacuums or uses the blender.EXAMPLE
In the housekeeping center, Margo closes her eyes and rubs the smooth pretend apple on her cheek repeatedly.EXAMPLE
Yusef will constantly spin the wheels of cars and will approach cars in parking lots to examine their wheels.They race away across the waves and hide until the coast is clear. Soon they'll set sail on their next adventure. Lily, where would you hide? Would you hide in your bed? Or in a jungle?