Repetitive patterns of behaviour in aspies

Post Reply New Topic

Could anyone tell me what this means to them. I often see this listed as an aspie trait.

A clinical psychologist has suggested I could be on the autistic spectrum, this is not the first time autism has been mentioned to me but I have never been formally assessed .. although my daughter is going through that process.

I don't see myself as having repetitive patterns of behaviour ... I suppose I eat the same food a lot and have a very restricted diet and my life is very limited and restricted but am not sure if that's the same thing.

Thanks.

When I am stressed, or even when I am just talking with others, my repetitive stereotypical behaviors include wiping away imaginary (and sometimes real) dust on the desk or table in front of me. It is almost incessant, though it doesn't appear to raise to many flags for others. I also rearrange things in front of me to parallel or perpendicular positions. I even repackage my to-go cups of coffee by repositioning the lids and heat sleeves to align with the seam of the cups. Hehe. Strange, huh? I also have similar behaviors when I drive or work on my computer.

For example, when I'm stressed out, I tend to take my car for a ride and circle the same routes until I get tired or am low on gas. I used to try to convince myself that it's not abnormal because I have 3-4 routes that I take!! Except at the end of the day, all of these routes connect to each other and I usually drive them all multiple times in the same drive so... This doesn't sound like atypical behavior on the surface, but when you take into account the fact that I do this at least 3 times a week and up to every day in a week, it's a little strange.