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Self-regulation in autism

Highlights & critical information

 

Self-regulation in autism

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Children with autism have varying difficulties with many of the executive functions:

  • planning and organizing their ideas and actions

  • stopping themselves from doing some things, waiting for a better time or place

  • coping with distractions and temptations

  • remembering instructions

  • seeing connections between concepts or ideas

  • monitoring their own behavior, checking the quality and accuracy of their work or the impact of their actions

  • adapting to changes

  • figuring out different ways to do things

 

You'll notice these executive function weaknesses in the behavior of autistic children. For example, they can:

  • become over-focused on objects and thoughts. They might dash out into traffic because they see something interesting on the other side of the street. They don't even notice the cars and trucks on the road. 

  • be inflexible in how they do and think about things. They might become upset if even small changes are made in their lives.  

  • do the same actions over and over and may say the same words and phrases repeatedly. They get stuck on certain topics and ways of doing things.

 

These difficulties point to problems with self-regulation. 

 

Behaviors, like flapping hands and flicking fingers, might be related to problems controlling their level of excitement and anxiety. Also, it points to difficulty with inhibitory control (that is, stopping themselves).

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Getting 'stuck' on certain topics or areas of interest is likely connected to weak inhibitory control, self-monitoring, and cognitive flexibility. They can't stop themselves from thinking about their 'favorite' topic. Maybe they're not checking and realizing they're still talking about the same thing. Or perhaps, they can't get their brain to shift to a new idea.

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Having to stick to the same routines and rituals is linked to difficulties with all of the main executive functions - cognitive flexibility, self-monitoring, planning and organizing, inhibitory control and working memory.

Why work on self-regulation?

 

Behaviors seen in children with autism cause lots of difficulties for their families. Families with autistic children are much less likely to go to religious services and community activities and events (see Reference 1). The parents worry a lot more about their children's abilities to cope with stress and bullying than other parents. Current research shows that up to 77% of children with autism are bullied at school (see Reference 2). Bullying is often related to the behaviors described above as being connected to problems with self-regulation - repetitive movements (like hand flapping), inflexible thinking, etc.

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When we look at autistic adults, current research (see References 3 through 6)shows: 

  • few graduate from school, college or university

  • only a minority live independently

  • very few have enduring friendships

  • a small percentage are employed

  • a large percentage have ongoing mental health problems

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Three main reasons (see Reference 7) for these failures are related to:

  • difficulty dealing with the social and sensory demands of educational, vocational and employment settings

  • problems planning, organizing, and carrying out goals

  • poor self-advocacy skills - they don't know how to help themselves.

 

These all point to difficulties with self-regulation and are a call to action.

© 2020 by Dr. Heather MacKenzie

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