What is a routine in autism?

Post Reply New Topic

I hear this a lot, but I'm not sure what it is or if it exists in my life.

A routine in autism is the same as a routine as an NT.

It's just things you do in the same order, or the same things you do, every day or on a certain occasion.

Did I understand your question, or did I take it too literally?

Could you give examples?

For example, if someone can tolerate/enjoy travel, then would they be said to be following the kinds of routines that tend to exist in autism?

That makes sense. I haven't thought much about my own routines, though I undoubtedly have them. They don't seem to follow a strict 24hour schedule, though.

Not sure if this counts as a routine, but in most stores that I go into fairly regularly, especially book stores, I often develop one path that I follow through the store that takes me to each section that I'm interested in. If someone's in the way, I'll just back off a few feet and wait for them to move instead of going around and down another aisle.

I'm also interested in this question because while I understand that routine means "always doing things in a specific order" I don't understand in terms of actual life examples. Previous to doing any research into autism I thought it meant having to do things in a fixed and specific series of steps (like having to perform certain behaviours in a certain order before going to bed, for example) but now I have the impression that it has a wider definition, only I don't know how wide.

For example, I always take the same routes to get to places, but then I do that mostly because I am easily confused and lost, so I don't know if that counts as a routine. I dislike it when people want me to spontaneously do things, but I don't know if that counts as "interruption of a routine" as I don't really have a particular daily routine or order of events during the day. I usually eat the same kinds of foods, but at the same time I also eat whatever I feel like eating and there is no order to it, so I don't know if that counts as a routine. Semantically speaking, "routine" is not really the right word to define any of these things, but it seems that the word has a wider definition when discussing autism, which is why I am confused (maybe I'm just doing that thing of being too literal?).

I would be happy to hear more examples of "routines" others have as well, since this is one thing I have come away a bit puzzled about after reading a couple of books about ASDs.

Example of autistic routines (mine):

1. Get up
2. Put coffee machine on
3. Get dressed
4. Make bed
5. Tidy bedroom
6. Sweep bedroom
7. Tidy kitchen
8. Sweep kitchen
etc

If the bedroom doesn't need sweeping, it still has to be swept because not following the routine is beyond stressful. If time is limited and the kitchen needs tidying more than the bedroom, tough, it still has to be done in the exact same order.

Then there are the routines within the routines. EG the bed has to be made in a very precise, routine way. If my husband gets there first and does it, I have to do it again because he won't have done it properly. Or I can't tidy the kitchen table before the sink counter , never, no way. It all has to be done in the correct order.

Everyone has routines. But it's how it affects you when you can't follow them I think. For instance, I get my coffee at the same place everyday. They see me coming and they have it ready. If circumstance made it impossible to go there one day most people would just go somewhere else. Some people would have a melt down. I'm kind of in the middle where I'm pretty upset about it but I'll go somewhere else and get my coffee and try not to let it get me too upset.

i feel easy when everything i expect to happen happens, and i get upset or more accurately "displaced" when things go out of kilter.

a very simple example is this:

i always go to bed at 3 am because i always feel like i am finished with being awake at that time. after 8 hours of sleep, i awaken at 11.00 am and i always switch on the bedroom TV and watch the 11 am news (with one eye open). i start to become hungry by 11.40 (when i open my other eye) and i always like the idea of boiled eggs (soft) with toast strips dipped into it, so i get up at 11:59 am and prepare 2 eggs and toast and i watch "the midday report" on channel 2 while cooking and eating breakfast.

if i go to bed at (eg) 1 am, i wake up too early (9.00am) and i can not adjust to the time of day, and the lighting of the outside world seems alien to me, and i feel no hunger and i then forget to watch the news and i walk around in circles wondering what i should do because i do not instinctively want to do anything in that time cycle, and i find it very alienating, and the best i can do is to make sure that i am in bed and asleep at 3am and not at 2am or 4 am the next night, or else it is like a chain that comes off the sprocket on a bicycle, and i pedal in vain not getting anywhere.

The diagnostic criterion is that there is eggsessive adherence to routines. Eberryone has routines, but autistic people adhere to them much moar than others do, because it bothers autistic people much moar to not adhere to them. If you have a routine, and it doesn't bother you when the routine is broken, so it doesn't make you feel particularly bad, then that is the kind of routine that eberryone has. If the breaking of your routine screws you up a lot to shut down your brain, and you just need to follow the routine for your brain to continue working for the rest of the day, then that is an autistic routine.