This refers to the child’s rigidity, obsessions, perseverations, and need for structure/routine/order.
A. Rules are very important as the world is seen as black or white.
1. Takes perfectionism to an extreme — one wrong answer is not tolerable and the individual must do things perfectly
2. Has difficulty with any changes in the established routine
3. Has a set routine for how activities are to be done
4. Has rules for most activities, which must be followed (this can be extended to all involved)
B. The individual has few interests, but those present are unusual and treated as obsessions.
1. Patterns, routines, and rituals are evident and interfere with daily functioning (this is driven by the individual’s anxiety; the world is confusing for her; she is unsure what to do and how to do it; if she can impose structure, she begins to have a feeling of control)
2. Has developed narrow and specific interests; the interests tend to be atypical (this gives a feeling of competence and order; involvement with the area of special interest becomes all-consuming)
3. Displays rigid behavior:
- Has unusual fears
- Has narrow food preferences
- Carries a specific object
- Plays games or completes activities in a repetitive manner or makes own rules for them
- Insists on driving a specific route
- Arranges toys/objects/furniture in a specific way
- Is unable to accept environmental changes (must always go to the same restaurant, same vacation spot)
- Is unable to change the way she has been taught to complete a task
- Needs to be first in line, first selected, etc.
- Erases over and over to make the letters just right
- Colors with so much pressure the crayons break (in order to cover all the white)
- Only sits in one specific chair or one specific location
- Cannot extend the allotted time for an activity; activities must start and end at the times specified
- Selects play choices/interests not commonly shared by others (electricity, weather, advanced computer skills, scores of various sporting events) but not interested in the actual play (this could also be true for music, movies, and books)
- Has narrow clothing preferences
- Feels need to complete projects in one sitting, has difficulty with projects completed over time
C. Failure to follow rules and routines results in behavioral difficulties. These can include:
1. Anxiety
2. Tantrums/meltdowns (crying, aggression, property destruction, screaming)
3. Non-compliant behaviors
4. Increase in perseverative/obsessive/rigid/ritualistic behaviors or preoccupation with area of special interest, engaging in nonsense talk
5. Inability to prevent or lessen extreme behavioral reactions, inability to use coping or calming techniques
6. Emotional responses out of proportion to the situation, emotional responses that are more intense and tend to be negative (glass half-empty)
Aspergers children have very few things that really interest them, but those interests are very important and may help them alleviate anxiety. They also cope better when there are set routines in their lives. Because change causes anxiety, Aspergers children will want to live by rigid rules that they construct for themselves. They want their own rules so that they can be the “king” or “ruler” and have a difficult time understanding why society has a different set of rules.
The Aspergers Comprehensive Handbook
6 comments:
Children with Aspergers do indeed have a narrow range of interests or serial intense interests and tend to become obsessed with one topic to the exclusion of all others. The topics tend to be fact-based or concrete, such as history and science, as opposed to abstract or people-based. They tend to have a good memory for facts, and take great pleasure in accumulating either facts about the thing (baseball statistics, dinosaur species, or the makes of WWII fighter planes), or actual examples of the thing (beanie babies, action figures, baseball cards). Young boys are often described as ?a little man? because their language skills are strong, their speech and manner are rather serious and formal, and they have a large fund of knowledge, although it is usually limited to one or two specific topics.
Some children with Aspergers are overly concerned with rules, and may get very upset when other children break them, by, for example, using a swear word on the school bus. At the same time, they are often unaware of or unconcerned with unspoken social rules, like not buttoning the top button on your shirt. These issues become more of a problem as they approach middle school, when children are particularly concerned with conforming.
My daughter was diagnosed with HFA, but her interests are more people related and "fantasy" related like princesses, flying horses and such. I think this is probably part of the reason girls are overlooked is because their interests are not what are considered "typical" for Asperger's. Plus, for her it is not about schedules, but rules. Rules, rules, rules. Day to day schedules can change especially with advanced notice, but she will become upset and will not know how to deal with an unexpected situation. Social skills are lacking.
I myself am an Aspie and when I was looking at this list I knew that this is what I did as a young child and even now in 11th grade and a 17 year old girl who just loves to research my interest when I get home and that is Forensisc Science and 20th century American History.
Help! My 9 year-old is hesitant to try anything new (from new books, to new restaurants, to new activities) because of his limited interests. We have to beg or insist he branch out. Once he does, he sometimes is glad he did! How do you draw the line between accepting him for who he is and helping him overcome his rigidness so he doesn't miss out on life? :(
Dear Help! My 9 year old.....
I think one good way of extending a child's interests is connecting something new with one of their interest areas. This makes a place for the new topic within his 'world' which sometimes can spark an additional interest later on. I think one of the problems relates to how their structures are very rigid, so I just made a way for my son to still 'have control' while placing new related objects together. He has responded well because he likes patterns and symmetry and he is in charge of putting the 'new' information away in his head. Might not work for everyone.
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