Repetitive Behaviors

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Can you give me an example of repetitive behaviors associated with Autism? When I think about the man who likes his cup of coffee every morning , this is a repetitive behavior, but nothing I'd consider spectrum-like. Is repetitive behavior more common in childhood?

What would be an example of a repetitive behavior attributed to being on the spectrum?

I think of a repetitive behaviour as say… want to clean the kitchen over and over and making sure everything is in its right place.
Lining objects up. Experiencing stress when things aren’t where they should be in my mind.

Repetitive behaviours can also be patterns of behaviours that are hard to break. For example, having only one reaction to stressful situations (becoming argumentative, let’s say) rather than being less reactive and considering multiple options to communicate one’s feelings.

I’m not sure I’m explaining myself very well but this is how I understand it.

I appreciate the response. Some repetitive behaviors sound commonplace, more like routine behaviors. Someone works a 9-5 job, comes homes tired , eats dinner, watches television, repeat day after day...This wouldn't seem too devious from normal behavior to constitute "repetitive behavior" in my opinion; though it is, by definition, repetitive.

Examples on the Internet are of children playing with the same building blocks over and over again. But that's a childhood example.

What you describe actually sounds more like OCD. "I must obsessively clean the kitchen, every day, or else..." It's an obsession and a compulsion.

I hear "repetitive behavior" bandied about a lot, without a clear-cut definition. Other examples may include things like hand flapping or quiet humming...a compulsive need that we'd otherwise call a stim.

What is a good example of spectrum-related repetitive behavior?

Stimming for sure then.

In my case I make noises, move or shake my hands, tap my feet or bounce my legs when stationary. Hand rubbing. These are repetitive behaviours if stimming falls in that category.

I do think though, that OCD involves repetitive behaviours.

Many of these terms are not either/or in nature, and can be in more than one category. Something can be a stim AND a repetitive behavior, or an OCD AND a repetitive behavior, or even all 3. Stims give comfort. Compulsions remove anxiety. Repetitions occur uncharacteristically frequently.

Think of it this way.

A kid stacks cups when something makes them anxious. If they're not anxious, they're not as interested in the cups. The anxiety was the main prompt for the cup stacking - that's more a stim.

A kid NEEDS to stack cup that are unstacked, leaving the cups unstacked causes anxiety by itself, without any external cause - this is more a compulsion.

A kid simply prefers to stack cups to any other game, and given a choice, will happily play it more than anything else (whereas other kids' interests may be more diverse), but in the absence of cups, will still find a suitable alternative. Stress neither makes them stack more, nor does not being able to stack them cause anxiety - this is more a repetitive behavior.

A kid likes to stack cups all the time in general, and stress makes them more likely to engage in stacking - repetitive AND stim.

A kid enjoys stacking cups as a preference in general, and can engage with other toys, but has to stack and unstack them a certain number of times, or leave them stacked when done - repetitive and compulsion.

A kid has a strong preference to stacking cups, has to leave them stacked or has to stack them a certain number of times, and does it more when confronted with an external stressor - repetitive compulsion and stim.

Hope that makes sense.

Another example, if it helps. I'll sometimes listen to the same song for an hour at a time, or even a 20-30 second segment of the song. I don't mean having it on in the background, or even on loop. I mean listening to that segment is the only thing I'm doing, and when it's done I manually click to restart it. It's not motivated by anxiety, and I'm not compelled to do it - I can stop and do something else at any time. I just enjoy doing it.

Repetitive behaviours have been divided into 2 classes:
1. Repetitive "stimming" movements such as hand-flapping
2. Routines, rituals, intense interests and a preference for things to be the same.

I suppose all those things do involve repetition of some kind. They're by no means unique to autism, and I'm sure there's quite a lot of repetition in everybody's life. So I guess it's a question of degree.

I'm not sure intense interests are necessarily all that repetitive. Certainly there's some change going on in mine or I'd get bored. Even collecting things has an element of change as the collection grows and the focus of what to collect alters over time. I guess there's an element of constancy in an intense interest though, even if it's only its name or the general subject matter.
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/repet ... explained/

I would say probably, the repetitive behaviors I have myself and other people who have Asperger's are different than normal, repetitive behaviors by normal people. When you enjoy taking the same route, eat the same thing every day, and other things like that, its not necessarily caused by the fact you have Asperger's. Normal people have repetitive behaviors too, but the difference is, theirs is mostly considered normal and nothing unusual.
But if for example you or I put things up in the same way, wear clothes the same way, take a shower the same way, eat the same way, in a way that in usual and we insist on doing it that way - then it could be a symptom of Asperger's.
Why? Because insisting on that and feeling stressful if its not that way, is an indication of the symptom itself.
However, when I grew up and in recent years, I honestly started to feel more comfortable with changes in my behaviors, the only problem is it takes me a longer time to get used to it.

^Give me a hypothetical example. That is, a repetitive behavior deemed unusual that an Aspie might do.

There are also RBFB, meaning Repetitive Body-Focussed Behaviours which become self-injurious.

RBFB are related to poor impulse control. They can include things like Dermatillomania (Hair picking, pulling, biting, eating), Dermatophagia (Skin biting or nibbling), Nail Biting or eating, Nail Picking or tearing, Nose Picking, etc. These behaviours can become obsessive over time.

They're distinguished from stims which are more sensory-based, and generally not self-injurious.

Head banging, body rocking, etc can be considered as a stim or possibly RBFB if they lead to self-harm.

Then of course there are ritualistic behaviours more related to stereotypes of OCD, such as being inflexible or wanting daily tasks and routines done the same way. Some of that has been proven to be sensory, and some of it is to assuage anxiety (difficulties with change).