My ASD Child

Fixated Personality -- The fixated personality type can be characterized by a preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and the need to control one’s environment (e.g., to have things in a particular order). Some of the symptoms of the fixated personality type may include: compulsion to make lists and/or schedules feelings of excessive doubt and caution obsessive need for cleanliness perfectionism (that may sometimes interfere with task-completion) preoccupation with order and organization preoccupation with remembering and paying attention to minute details and facts rigid following of rules and regulations rigidity or inflexibility of beliefs stubbornness unreasonable insistence that others submit to his way of doing things Some of the specific behavioral manifestations of the fixated personality type among ASD children and teenagers may include: repeatedly checking homework cleaning rituals counting rituals grooming rituals (e.g., hand washing, s

“Why does it seem to be the case that many (if not most) children with ASD also suffer from a significant degree of anxiety?” Kids with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger’s (AS) are indeed particularly vulnerable to anxiety. This vulnerability may be an intrinsic feature of the disorder through a breakdown in circuitry related to extinguishing fear responses, a secondary consequence of their inability to make social judgments throughout development, and specific neurotransmitter system defects. Specific reasons for experiencing high degrees of anxiety include the following: 1. Limitations in generalizing from one situation to another contribute to repeating the same social errors. 2. Limitations in their ability to grasp social cues and their highly rigid style act in concert to create repeated social gaffs as well. 3. The lack of empathy severely limits skills for autonomous social-problem solving. 4. The social-skills deficits of HFA and AS make it difficult