Prevention of absenteeism and school failure in students with ASD: Improving the transition from primary to secondary school

Motor stereotypes are purposeless patterns of movement that are continuously repeated in a certain period of time, in the same form and in different circumstances. They can occur in the form of simple body movements (e.g. body rocking, repetitive jumping, hand flapping, and finger-wiggling, whirling ...) or in the form of complex autistic mannerisms. Among the most significant factors influencing the occurrence of motor stereotypes in people with autism are: age (younger children have more motor stereotypes than older children), intellectual disability and severity of autism (Melo et al., 2020). Children with autism often use objects in a stereotypical way. They usually arrange objects in a precisely determined order, rotate, touch or tap objects, although in some cases more complex forms of repetitive use of objects are manifested. Stereotypes can also be manifested in speech, most often in the form of current and delayed echolalia, the use of idiosyncratic phrases (i.e. expressions specific to that person), repetitive questioning, verbal perseverations, etc.