What are stereotypic behaviors?
Stereotypic behaviors are considered a hallmark feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Commonly referred to as self-stimulatory behaviors or “stims”, they are the repetitive and often unusual actions that people with autism appear driven to do. Classic forms of self-stimulatory behavior include motor actions such as body-rocking, hand flapping, finger flicking, and spinning or lining up objects. For individuals with high functioning autism (HFA), stereotypic behaviors often include a “cognitive” component such as repetitively talking about a certain topic, memorizing information such as bus routes or zip codes, or obsessively acting out a video game as if one of the characters.
