Starting this week, Yang Qingyu will bring you a whole series of articles on autism (also known as autism, the same below) early childhood signal series, through these manifestations and characteristics that occur in autistic children, to help parents find out the possible autistic children in the family in time, prevent possible autism risks and so on.
In the last issue, we talked about the performance of "language disorders" in children with autism, knowing that this problem is divided into two categories: speech communication disorders and nonverbal communication disorders. It is also known that language problems in children with autism can affect a child's life.
In this issue, Yang Qingyu tells you about the third typical feature of early childhood signals of autism: the repetitive stereotyping of behavior.
What are behavioral stereotypes?
Many autistic families should have heard of the term "behavioral stereotypes", and it is clear that this is a common feature of many children with autism.
In fact, behavioral stereotypes are literally understood to mean that the behavior of autistic children, such as climbing, walking, communicating, etc., may have a certain degree of repetitive behavior. The simple understanding is that the child's head is "one tendon" and will only do the same thing repeatedly, and other things will not be done.
The medical community believes that the behavioral stereotypes of children with autism have three manifestations:
1. Repeat frequent simple actions, such as constantly fiddling with your fingers, constantly slapping your head, constantly shaking your body, etc.;
2. Stubborn thinking patterns or rules, such as many autistic children will continue to put the building blocks into a long dragon, watercolor pens must also be put into the box in a fixed order;
3. There is a stress response after being interrupted, and when stereotypical behavior is forced to stop or interrupt, it will trigger a strong emotional conflict in the child, such as they may lie on the ground and cry, or push and push their parents to vent their dissatisfaction.
The stereotyping of behavior is one of the typical characteristics of autistic children, and when the average family has clearly observed this feature, it actually means the fact that autism is already affecting every aspect of the child.
Stereotypical ways common in life for children with autism
In order to facilitate everyone to observe whether the child has autism tendency, Yang Qingyu shares with you a few manifestations of the stereotypical behavior of autistic children here, hoping to help everyone.
Often do things or play with toys in the same way;
Require items in the home to be placed in a fixed position;
You have to take the same route or you have to walk in a straight line along the side of the road;
Eat only a few foods for a long time;
Repeated bouncing and jumping, no external force to stop it;
Place your hands in front of your eyes to stare, flutter or swing your hands irregularly;
It is common to walk on tiptoes outside.
The above seven stereotypical behaviors are often reflected in children with autism, and parents can compare these behaviors to determine whether their children have autistic tendencies. Of course, the best way is to take the child to the hospital for examination and confirm the child's problem through a professional evaluation system.
The influence of stereotyped behavior is reflected in the level of intelligence in children
In children on the autism spectrum, according to the level of intelligence from low to high, their stereotyped behavior is manifested in turn as: stereotyped actions, stereotyped thinking, stereotyped language, stereotyped rules, etc.
However, due to the peculiarity of Azberg syndrome in the autism spectrum, people with Azberg syndrome have no problems with their intellectual development, and most of the time there is no difference with ordinary children.
But there are also some children with autism whose intelligence level cannot match their current age due to the influence of stereotyped behavior, in other words, many four- and five-year-old children with autism may still have mental strength stuck at about one year old.
In addition, stereotyped behavior will vary according to different ages and stages, and the stereotypical behavior of children over two years old may be more reflected in the action, but after a while it may be reflected in language or other aspects.
In addition, stereotypical behaviors at this stage may disappear after intervention, but this does not mean that other stereotyped behaviors will not occur in children. Therefore, it is difficult to completely get rid of stereotypical behavior, and parents need to make detailed evaluation and planning.
Next issue: Narrow interests
In this issue, we will talk about the third kind of early childhood signals of autism, that is, behavioral stereotypes, also known as stereotyped behaviors, then in the next issue we will tell you about the fourth early signals of autism: narrow interest.