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Odd Behaviors - Understanding Why The Autistic Child Does What He Does... In this section, I will be discussing "odd behaviors" in the autistic child as they relate to issues of partiality. Physical issues, another huge area in the field of autism - those areas that include topics on diet/the digestive process and the immune system, for example, although only touched on in the materials on my site, are truly not my focus. There has been a great deal of work in these areas - work that has resulted in greatly increasing our understanding of autism. For more on these issues specifically, I encourage all parents to visit the site of the US Autism Ambassador, http://www.autismawakening.com. This site provides a wealth of information on just about any topic a parent would want to research in autism. It is truly a "one stop shop" for parents in need of information, and hence, a huge time saver! The best way to navigate this site is via the site map. The site takes a little longer to load than most due to the wealth of information behind it (can take up to 3 minutes or so to load for phone line internet access), however, in my opinion, the site is so valuable in the information it provides, that as a parent, personally, I would wait even 1/2 hour if I needed too... that is how much I truly value the information on this site. I have found no other site that even comes close to providing for parents what is available on this particular site! The little bit of extra time - those extra 2 or 3 minutes up front - will save parents, literally hundreds of hours in terms of actually surfing on the net to get at this information. The US Autism Ambassador and her team are truly to be commended for their efforts in bringing such complete information to parents in one site! UPDATE: Dec. 2005 - the above mentioned site is no longer available! END OF UPDATE There are countless odd behaviors in autistic children that parents just can't seem to explain. The key to these "odd behaviors", in my opinion, lies again in the autistic child's need for order and/or completeness and his need to understand the parts before the whole can make any sense. As with all behavior in my son, I found things got very easy to understand and control once I simply "knew the issue". I noticed how this helped explain not only the odd behaviors themselves, but what was going on "within the odd behavior". For example, the whole issue of "the interrupted task" and the constant need to "start all over" was now explained also. There are literally dozens of behaviors that are explained by my theory that the autistic child is unable to properly process "partialities" or "in betweens". Below, I provide some of these examples for all readers...but, again, there are many, many more such examples. This realization in terms of the inability to properly process partiality, I came to only a short time ago. Although Zachary still has some issues with certain behaviors, I fully expect that as I spend more time with him, working on specific problem areas, teaching him coping mechanisms and providing those all so valuable labels , that the majority, if not all these behaviors will soon become non-issues for him. The simple fact that the autistic child adapts more coping mechanisms over time, and especially so as "things are labeled" by parents, also helps explain why for some children the extent of "degree" to which many of these issues are a problem varies so greatly. Each parent, unknowingly, has provided for his/her child coping mechanisms by the simple use of labels at various times... and in various situations - thus explaining the variation we see in these children. In addition to labeling things, teaching Zachary the concept of fractions greatly helped with many of these issues. After labeling, fractions are perhaps the parent's greatest tool in helping an autistic child deal with issues of partiality since fractions help the autistic child understand that "parts" make up a whole and that once labeled, even "parts" become entities in and of themselves. For Zachary, understanding this concept provided a huge coping mechanism for a world that so often did not seem to make sense. The one thing I have noticed is that these behaviors do show up more when Zachary is idle. This is addressed in my section entitled: When Rest Is Work Too! Putting clean and dirty dishes together in the dishwasher or sink - to the autistic child, they ALL belong together... dishes are dishes. The autistic child can not understand "the difference" between the two unless the "parts" (clean verses dirty dishes) are first explained. To the autistic child, all these "things" (dishes) belong together and there is no need to separate them. Indeed, to separate them leads to the creation of "parts" that make no sense when separated from the whole. Labeling dishes as clean or dirty and actually showing the child the difference between the two makes all the difference because now, two separate "entities" or "parts" exist... clean dishes... and, dirty dishes. Clean and dirty dishes are no longer an issue for Zachary. An "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Putting my basket of clean clothes in with the basket of dirty clothes... if a basket wasn't around and there were dirty clothes in the washing machine, Zachary would take clean clothes, even taking them out of dresser drawers and put those in the washing machine too. Again, to the autistic child, clothes are clothes... and they all belong together. Again, I found the key was simply in labeling and showing the child the difference between "dirty clothes" and "clean clothes". In order to do this, I showed Zachary stains on dirty clothes and actually made him smell dirty clothes and clean clothes to help solidify the concept that they truly were "different". To stop Zachary from putting all the dishes together, clean and dirty, or all the clothes together, clean and dirty, all I had to do was label "these as dirty" and "those as clean" ... I showed him the difference in the laundry by making him smell "stinky" clothes verses clean clothes as I said: "these are clean clothes" or "these are dirty clothes". When he wanted to put in one big pile all the clean laundry I had folded, all I had to do was label the piles: "a pile of towels, a pile of socks, a pile of dishtowels" and so on. Once Zachary had a label, he could see each pile as its own separate entity as opposed to being part of "all the clothes" and he no longer had to put them all together. Clean and dirty laundry are no longer an issue for Zachary. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Taking bandages off his skin, or scratching off scabs on his skin... to the autistic child, the bandages and scabs are not "part of" the skin and as such, they don't belong there since they are not "part" of the original "whole" (the skin). Again, the key here was simply to show Zachary that these things are entities in and of themselves. Zachary still has some very minor issues with "things that don't belong on the skin", but he is much much better than before. I find he can better tolerate a bandage on his skin in particular places. Bandages on the face, for example, are less tolerated than bandages on the leg. I do believe there are still very much "sensory issues" at play with the sense of touch... although these issues have greatly improved since Zachary has been on digestive enzymes (See New Things In The Treatment Of The Autistic). Given the progress Zachary has made in the last 6 months with overall sensory issues as they relate to touch, I expect this issue to be completely gone in the near future. Another two "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Peeling labels off cans, peeling stickers off everything. Again, these were not part of the "whole"... they did not belong and as such had to be removed. Labeling these things as "labels" and "stickers" almost completely did away with this issue. Zachary no longer removes labels from cans. He does remove stickers once in a while... especially when he is bored, but then, so do normal children. :o) It used to be that ALL stickers were removed. That is no longer the case. Many behaviors in the autistic, such as the removal of stickers, are also behaviors you see in normal children... the difference is really one of "degrees" or "how much" of a particular behavior is done. Another few "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Putting all his toys in a stack, or aligning them perfectly. In the past, this was always an "all or none" activity... no toy could be left "apart" from the stack (the whole) and all had to be perfectly aligned. For items in the house, this is now barely an issue. As with other behaviors, it tends to surface more if Zachary is "idle". The perfectness once required and the intensity with which Zachary once performed these activities have also both been greatly reduced. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Putting all toys in the sandbox... or throwing them all out. One or two toys could never be set apart from the rest. Things on the lawn, such as sprinklers, the dog dish, etc., were also perceived as things that were not "part of the whole" and hence, had to be removed and "thrown away". Another few "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Filling the bucket in the sandbox... it had to be completely filled and dumped... the sand was either in or out... the bucket was either full or empty... there could never be an " in between" in terms of the fullness of the bucket. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Turning all lights either on or off ... Zachary couldn't have some off and some on at the same time. This too is much less of an issue for him compared to what it once was. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Opening or closing all doors... again, he couldn't have some open and some closed at the same time. Also, if a door was opened, it had to be opened all the way... no "partially" opened doors were allowed. Another two "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Car windows had to be all up or all down... a partially opened window, either in the house or in the car sent Zachary screaming from the top of his lungs. I have now come to realize that although "biting" seems to increase with the intake of phenolic foods (i.e., apples, bananas, tomatoes, raisins/grapes, etc.), "biting" in the autistic child is also very much a coping mechanism. This coping mechanism of biting I clearly saw in Zachary. When frustrated by my partially open living room or bedroom windows - things he could not "spin" - he simply resorted to biting to deal with the frustration of the situation. The result of this "biting" in an attempt to deal with the frustration of a partially opened window is seen in pictures provided in my section on "Biting". A few more "odd behaviors" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Putting snow chunks back onto the snow bank after the plow had passed... all chunks (parts) belonged with the whole... the snow bank. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Separating flowers from their stems... to Zachary, stems belonged together, and flowers belonged together... there could be no "mixing" of the two. When Zachary picked flowers (dandelions), he immediately proceeded to ripping off the tops and throwing both parts away. It took a very long time for me to show him the concept of a "bouquet" and to actually have him be able to take flowers home in a bunch. Yet, even once home, in no time, I found Zachary separating the flower from the stem and making a "pile of flower tops" and a "pile of stems". The "flower" (flower + stem) was not perceived as a whole until labeled as such. To call a plant: "a flower" was confusing to Zachary. He thought only that "top part" was the flower and did not see the stem as a part of the whole until I literally pointed out that "a flower" is "the flower + the stem". Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Wanting to pick ALL the dandelions while on a walk... again, he felt they "all belonged" together. This made for very slow, and very short walks in terms of distance, yet very long walks in terms of time duration. Much as was the case with "snow chunks", it could take close to an hour to make it but a few feet from our driveway. Luckily, I finally stumbled upon the concepts of "too many" and "take some" to explain to Zachary that there were "too many flowers to pick" or "too many snow chunks to put back on the snow bank". Once labeled as "too many" and encouraged to take "some", this was no longer an issue for Zachary. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. All clothes had to be either on or off... again, no "in betweens". This is true for many autistic children and why so many of them, in my opinion, hate to wear clothing... (especially when very young and clothing have perhaps not been "defined") - because clothing is not part of the whole... not part of the skin. I suspect some children have other sensory issues at play in terms of touch, but again, issues with partiality certainly explains many sensory issues also. Instead of simply "putting clothes on" Zachary, I came to label each piece as I put it on. At this point, Zachary has more issues with not having pants on... that is his big one right now. I have never really had problems with putting clothes on Zachary... I stumbled upon labeling them early on in life. Now, my problem is more that he doesn't like having his clothes off... that may be because he now has noticed that everyone wears clothes and so they are actually "supposed to be part of him"... I don't know. I'm still working this issue myself. I know that I can put shorts on him instead of pants... and that's ok... but he wouldn't want to be without something on his extremities. This is still a small one I need to work on... not a "biggy" in my book that I am overly concerned with. I learned a long time ago not to "sweat the small stuff"... and wanting to leave your clothes on is "small stuff" in my book! He's perfectly fine with tearing them all off at bath time! :o) But, again, at least in part, this too is an issue with "partials" and "completeness in everything"... for Zachary, all clothes are either on OR off... no "partial dressing" is allowed. Socks have to be both on or off. There could never be one off and one on. The same is true for shoes. To leave Zachary "partially dressed" like this creates a sense of frustration for him. This is not something that would be particularly troubling to a normal child. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Running back and forth down a hallway. Zachary always had to run all the way down the hall and all the way back... never would he stop in the "middle" (unless forced to do so by a person standing in the way... but even then, he would practically tear you down to get by and complete the motion of physically getting to the other end). It is this type of behavior so many see as "lack of discipline" or "lack of manners" in these children. I, however, now see these behaviors as simply a part of the overall problem... the inability to cope with partiality in anything. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Turning all the pages in a book very quickly until the end is reached... never stopping to read or look at the information on a particular pages. A book had to be "closed" to be perceived as an entity. Pages were parts to a whole that were not understood and as such, Zachary attempted to physically ignore them by either disregarding the information on the pages and flipping through them as quickly as he possibly physically could do so and by actually running away if I attempted to force him to look at a particular page. He did the same thing with computer programs that were set up "as books" with arrows for "turning the pages". Zachary would incessantly "click on the turn page arrow" until the end of the "book" on the program was reached. He also did this for "non book" type arrows on computer programs that "moved the user along" through to the end of a task or program. Needless to say, this made teaching and learning a very very difficult task. Labeling, again, provided a huge coping mechanism in that a book could now be seen as something with a "book cover" or "front", something that also had "a back" and something that had "pages" in the middle. Furthermore, pages were labeled as something "to read" or "look at". A few more "odd behaviors" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Constantly wanting to scroll "all the way up" or "all the way down" while on the computer... again, no "in between" or pausing "halfway" was allowed. Another "odd behavior" explained by issues with the proper processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Constantly removing the toilet paper from the holder... they did not belong "together" as a whole. Nor did the toilet paper actually belong on the roll itself. Neither did paper towels, foil wrap, etc., belong on their roll... and therefore, they too, had to be "unrolled" at the first opportunity. Another few "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Screaming from the top of his lungs if a song was interrupted or the radio was turned off "in the middle" of something. Songs on the radio had to be "completed"... they couldn't be left "partially done". What helped here was simply to tell Zachary "music off" or "radio off" to help him anticipate the fact that what he was hearing was about to end abruptly. The inability to process partiality also explains why autistic children seem to absolutely love songs. In my opinion, there is more at play here than the simple "beauty" of a song. A song has a beginning and an end that can be perceived by the child as the words and/or music end. As such, I believe this is the reason songs and/or music seem to work so well in teaching some autistic children and why for the autistic, music may be even more relaxing than it is to a normal child. Music, in an of itself provides a coping mechanism... something that provides completeness as it flows from beginning to end! Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Screaming if videos were turned off prior to full completion... especially if turned off during the captions or credits at the end of the movie. For more on "captions", see my section on Breaking The Code©. Again, the movie or the captions had to be "all done" before you could turn them off... you couldn't stop the video "in the middle", prior to its full completion! Rewinding the video with the pictures "going backwards" on the screen was extremely stressful for Zachary - resulting in screaming from the top of his lungs as he attempted to deal with the frustration this created in his world. To Zachary, normal "order" was "forward"... he knew nothing else... until the word "rewinding" came into his life. That word helped him to understand that this "going backwards" was actually called something... and that something, by the simple act of tagging a label to it, now became an entity in and of itself. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Spilling/tipping over of cups or containers only partially filled... yet, showing no interest whatsoever in cups and/or containers that were either completely full, or completely empty. Cups and containers had to be "all full" or "all empty"... no "in between" or "partial" was allowed. If I left a cup of coffee partially drank on my desk, Zachary, immediately upon perceiving this "offending object", in an almost "automatic manner", as soon as he saw the "partiality", flipped the cup quickly over, spilling the remainder of its contents. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Fascination with trains/puzzles. This too is easily explained by issues with the proper processing of partiality. Putting pieces together, puzzle pieces or train pieces, creates a whole... and does away with the partial. Trains are especially fascinating since the train provides for the creation of a whole by putting the parts (train cars) together... and gives the added benefit of wheels in motion ... the spinning... something that also makes the partial whole. Leaving one piece of the puzzle or train "out", however, sent Zachary screaming. Another 2 "odd behavior" (odd, here, primarily due to the extreme fascination and to the degree to which these activities are engaged in) very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Love of putting things together... of any "mechanical" type object... and the almost insatiable desire to try to figure out "how mechanical things work". Prior to Zachary's diagnosis, I used to joke with my husband that surely Zachary would someday be a mechanical engineer. He was always looking at "how things worked"... looking at the mechanics of most physical objects... pulleys, levers, gears, etc... all these things fascinated him. Little did I realize that the fascination was with seeing how the parts formed the whole. With physical objects, "seeing how things worked" - physically - helped Zachary make sense of his world. And, this, in my opinion, is true of the great majority of autistic children. Their fascination with the specific details of physical objects is one readily explained by their need to understand the parts to fully understand the whole. It is when "the physical" isn't as readily available in terms of how parts fit into the whole that frustration sets in and life falls apart. This is especially true for abstract concepts such as conversation, socialization, process completion, etc. (See section on Teaching Language, Socialization and Teaching A Process). But, when parts can physically and especially, visually be put together, things make more sense for the autistic child. This also explains why the autistic child attempts to always use "all parts or all pieces" before him... he is constantly trying to put the parts into a whole that makes sense. In anything where the parts can be put together to form a whole... there is enthusiasm and delight... in everything else, there is frustration and confusion. As the autistic child develops more coping mechanisms over time, as more labels and words defining quantities (See sections on Fractions, Words Defining Quantity and Words To Cope), fewer pieces are necessary to understand the whole and cope with partiality in everyday life. More "odd behaviors" (odd, here, primarily due to the extreme fascination and to the degree to which these activities are engaged in) very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Walking the white line on the side of the street when we went for walks, apparently unable to walk "off the line"... the line provided a whole - as well as an order to direction. This behavior, I now refer to as "walking the line". For more on this, see section on Safety. This is a huge issue for parents of the autistic. Another "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Fearing certain sounds and the putting of hands on ears when unexpected sounds are introduced. Again, sounds are "parts" to the "whole"... and when a "new part", such as a loud, unexpected sound was introduced, Zachary would put his hands over his ears immediately. As soon as I labeled the "new part" (i.e., it's a broken muffler, it's a P.A. system, etc.) Zachary was better able to cope with the sound... both at the time he actually heard it and also in the future, when he heard it again, unexpectedly. In the future, whenever he heard a loud truck or car, he - himself - would simply say: "broken muffler"... and he no longer had to put his hands on his ears. He now understood the sound and it no longer provided a "new part" to the information he needed to process in his environment... the label had made it such that the once "unknown" and "unexpected" sound had been incorporated into the whole... everyday sounds of life. I want to emphasize that I do think there are definitely other issues going on with auditory processing - issues that are truly sensory in nature. I do believe that certain sound frequencies may actually cause pain to the autistic. The reason I say this is due to the fact that since on enzymes, Zachary, overall, is doing much much better in the area of auditory issues. There was once a time where he would actually cry when he heard high frequencies... showing actual physical pain in his facial expressions. This is something I now see only very very rarely. Zachary is much less sensitive to noises overall and is now fine with removing his earmuffs in most stores. For more on this, see section on Auditory Issues. More "odd behavior" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Making a mess "as I was cleaning up". This was a particularly troubling and exhausting behavior for a very long time. For example, if I was picking up cards off the floor and placing them on the table - as I did that - and returned to pick more up, Zachary would throw the cards already on the table back onto the floor. To him, they could not be "separated"... they had to all be on the floor or all on the table at one time. This was true for countless objects. If "partials" existed anywhere, he quickly "resolved" the partiality by "putting things back together... in his own way"... even if that meant undoing everything I had just done. If objects were perceived as "parts" that did not belong together (see Fraction and Exercises sections), as quickly as he possibly could, Zachary physically scattered the "parts", putting as much physical distance among the objects as possible so that he could no longer physically/visually perceive these items as parts to a whole. More "odd behaviors" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Taking the pillow covers off the pillows, and at times, sheets and blankets off the bed. Pillow covers, sheets and blankets were not "parts to the whole"... they didn't belong there. More "odd behaviors" very much explained by issues with the processing of "partiality" and the need for completeness in everything. Pushing on body parts to make them "even" or "in the same position". For example, Zachary would get very upset if, as I sat on the couch, I had one leg crossed over the other. He would come up to me and try to put them both in the same position. The same would be true if I was on a bed, on my back, with one leg straight on the bed and the other positioned so that my knee was bend and my foot lay flat on the bed. Again, Zachary would "push down" on the knee that was raised until his weight forced my leg to go down flatly onto the bed... just like the other leg. The same was also true for arms. Labeling positions (i.e., I have one "bent leg") is the best way to help with this issue. This one is still somewhat difficult for Zachary at times, but he is much better about it than he used to be. A behavior I once observed in my nephew Andrew while in my home could also be explained by this... his extreme concern over the fact that he had a loose tooth... a part of the whole was about to be removed and as such, he became very distressed by it... to the point that this "loose tooth" was almost all he could think about for an entire day... it became the object of his complete focus – obsessively so! Zachary had countless other behaviors that could now be explained by this inability to properly integrate the parts to the whole. Taking all the utensils out of the utensil tray in the kitchen. Again, these things were not "part" of the tray... they weren't part of the whole. Zachary could not see "how they fit together" and as such, they had to be physically separated. The same was true as he took clothes out of dressers, clothes off hangers, pots and pans out of cupboards, soap out of soap dishes, pulled apart lamps, pulled apart countless leaves to separate the "veins" from the rest or "green part" of each leaf, pulled bark from trees, pushed countless rocks off pavement, tried to scratch off paint markings and "cracks" on the road, pulled ropes apart into individual threads, pulled wires apart (the enclosure or casing from its contents), pulled upholstery materials from inside couches, quilts, chairs - anything, tried to pull buttons off shirts, pulled a new small hole off his pants by picking at it so much that his fingers went through the hole and allowed him to then rip the pants, literally, completely apart, pulled individual threads in clothing apart, pulled carpet threads apart, emptied the trash from the trash can, tried to pull hairs, one at a time, from one's head, pulled growing plants from the garden, ruined countless videos and audio tapes as he pulled the tape from its enclosure, pulled countless CD cases apart, scratched and destroyed countless CDs on the floor or by biting them in an attempt to do away with the writing/labeling on the CD, ripped countless papers because text could not be perceived as part of the whole - the sheet of paper, emptied anything partially full - again, a huge issue in terms of possible danger for a child in terms of any toxic materials in any container and in terms of medicine. I have no doubt that if a medicine container was opened, the autistic child would not stop at one pill... the entire bottle would have to be eaten... the improper functioning of partiality in the autistic child's brain would certainly ensure that - and Zachary had, amazingly, figured out how to open child-proof containers at a very young age. Hence, I placed all medicine in a locked tool box and hid the key. This theory also explains why autistic children apparently have no fear of danger. Cars on the street are not properly perceived... they are parts (cars) to the whole (the street) and if not properly perceived, and recognized as entities in and of themselves, and identified or labeled as objects of "danger", then the autistic child has no fear of them. Cars must be identified as part of the whole. The child must be made to understand that "streets are for cars - not people", "that streets and cars go together", that "cars are very dangerous" and that "you don't go in front of or in back of cars", that "you stay away from cars". Safety issues such as these, I believe, must be repeated in multiple ways, in multiple situations to make the child understand all aspects of safety as it relates to the situation. When it comes to the autistic child, I fear issues of safety are very situation specific. It takes a long time to teach the child enough about safety in various situations to get that child to the point where danger can be more easily and readily perceived by the child. Again, this is a very serious issue for parents and society as a whole. How can one possibly teach a young child "issues of safety" when that child can't first understand the "parts" that make up the "whole"... in this case, the dangerous situation? As with everything, in my opinion, for the autistic child this is something that primarily will come over time, as the child learns more and more about his environment as he is provided with more coping mechanisms (i.e., labels) to more fully understand that environment. For the very young autistic child, this indeed is truly an issue of life and death. This inability to understand the parts to the whole when combined with a dangerous situation indeed make for a deadly combination! This explains why Zachary once ran out right in front of an oncoming car in our front yard while we were raking leaves. He was playing quietly... and before I knew it, he was off and running down a small hill, into the street and straight into the path of an oncoming car. Luckily the car saw him and was able to stop in time. This also explains why recently, while on my in-laws farm, as his father and I worked, Zachary headed straight for a bull pen... he started walking down the "shoot" and had that door been opened to the bull pen or the latch opened, without a question, he would have gone in... the "shoot" leading to the pen was part of the whole (the pen), the bull inside the pen, however, was not... and as such, Zachary did not perceive it as a part to the whole... a very dangerous part... and as such, the "danger" was not perceived. The bull itself would have had to be labeled as "a bull" and then the label of "bulls are dangerous - stay away" would need to follow. For more on this issue, please read my section on Safety - a must read for all parents of the autistic! The inability to perceive danger - another issue explained, yet again, by the inability of the autistic child to properly process the parts to a whole! Screaming when changes in direction were perceived. To Zachary, normal order was "forward"... only that made sense...he knew nothing else. People and cars go forward... that was "normal" in life. Anything else created immense frustration. We often traveled at night due to Zachary's autism. But, on one occasion, we decided to leave in the morning, after Zachary was awake. Zachary was about 2 at the time and we lived in the suburbs of Chicago. When we took an on-ramp to get onto the highway leading north to Milwaukee and Canada, Zachary noticed the change in direction and it upset him tremendously. He screamed and cried almost nonstop for 7 hours. No matter what we did, nothing could console him. We were 5 hours form home and the rest of the family could no longer bear the crying and screaming. Zachary was nonverbal at this time... his vocabulary consisting of perhaps 4 words. We decided to turn back... that we just couldn't tolerate the very likely probability of an absolutely horrible vacation. As soon as we "turned back" and Zachary perceived we had turned around, he instantly stopped screaming. At the time, we were so thankful for the quietness that we failed to see what had caused it. We kept expecting the screams and crying to start over at any time. We were exhausted and anxious to get home. There would not be a peep from Zachary all the way home - for the next 7 hours. Zachary had no idea we were "heading back home"... we had simply agreed to "turn around". All Zachary could have perceived was the "direction change". I would later come to realize what a huge issue changes in direction truly were for Zachary... so much so that it very nearly cost him his life! I encourage all parents to learn more about this very important issue by reading my section on Safety. Zachary truly had serious issues with direction changes - until directions were labeled as "left", "right", "backwards" or "sideways"... in everything... from car rides , to walks, to rewinding of videos ("going backwards"). Yet, once labeled, and identified as an "entity in and of itself", these other directions were now "ok". This issue is a little harder to understand in terms of "partials", but if you think about it, the concept of "direction" is an entity in and of itself. "Normal direction" is going forward and as such, any change in direction would be perceived as breaking from the whole... from what was previously known as an "ordered" way to go... going forward only "made sense" and was "orderly"... this was the only "part" to direction Zachary seemed to understand... it was "normal" direction. All these other directions (left, right, sideways, backwards) brought an unknown dimension or "part" to the process of direction, and as such, they were not tolerated. Although a little more "abstract" in nature, the issue of problems with changes in direction, also can be explained based on the inability to process partiality... the parts to the whole... in this case, direction. As far as "rocking" is concerned, this is a behavior I NEVER saw in Zachary although I know it is one found in many many autistic children. Having never been able to actually "observe" a rocking situation... to see what happened just before the behavior started, etc., I can only guess that perhaps this is simply another coping mechanism for the child... another way to deal with the stress of his daily life. Again, this is simply a guess on my part, but, I suspect, perhaps a good one. Even normal children find comfort and security in "rocking". :o) The one behavior still very troubling to me was that of Zachary's pushing of his forehead along the floor. I can only suspect that Zachary may have been experiencing physical pain as he did this, perhaps suffering from an intense headache. I, personally, don't believe the issue of headaches in the autistic has been given enough serious attention, although some studies do seem to suggest that headaches, such as migraines, may result from neurological stress. If this is true, this may indeed explain this particularly troublesome "odd behavior". I do believe this may be what was at play when it did occur so often... when Zachary was first diagnosed with autism. There is a chance that the issue with "forehead pushing along the carpet" may be sensory in nature, perhaps having something to do with auditory processing and the angle of the ear, but, my instincts tell me that pain, specifically in the form of a headache may better explain this one. This behavior has basically disappeared in Zachary, surfacing only very very rarely. For parents who do see this behavior in their children, I encourage you to try to determine if your child has a headache... although I know this would indeed be difficult to do, especially when the child is nonverbal... How do you make nonverbal children tell you that their head hurts? As far as "rocking" is concerned, this is a behavior I NEVER saw in Zachary although I know it is one found in many autistic children. Having never been able to actually "observe" a rocking situation... to see what happened just before the behavior started, etc., I can only guess that perhaps this is simply another coping mechanism for the child... another way to deal with the stress of his daily life. Again, this is simply a guess on my part, but, I suspect, perhaps a good one. Even normal children find comfort and security in "rocking". :o) Many of the above behaviors become “obsessive” for the autistic child. Obsessive compulsive behaviors, thus, can be explained, again, based on the autistic child’s inability to properly cope with partiality… to understand the whole without first understanding the parts that make up the whole. I once heard a young man speak of his life with obsessive compulsive disorder. The young man was approximately 17 and had no other "label"... he had not been labeled as autistic. As he talked he explained how he felt he could "catch germs everywhere" and that as such, he constantly had to wash his hands. If you think about it, much in the way that a band-aid is quickly removed by the autistic child who has not had a band-aid labeled, a child who has not learned to cope with something (the band-aid) which is not part of the whole (the skin), so too, will a person suffering from obsessive compulsive behavior attempt to "remove" something (germs) that is not part of the whole (the skin or person). Again, this is simply a theory... I have no proof of this. In closing this section on "Odd Behaviors Explained", suffice it to say that I could probably list over 100 "odd behaviors" that I can now fully explain based solely on the inability of the autistic child to properly process partiality... I've listed close to 60 issues above in barely any time at all. Time, however, necessitates I move on to "other topics". I hope that what I've listed here will be enough to show parents that partiality is truly an issue for every autistic child, and in my opinion, is at the heart of 99% of their behavioral, social, communication and emotional issues and a great many sensory issues as well. Autistic children have quite an array of "odd behaviors" and indeed, if parents start to think of "odd behaviors" in their own autistic children, I'm sure those "odd behaviors" they see also will have deep roots in the inability to properly process partiality. The key to extinguishing these "odd behaviors", in my opinion, lies in helping the autistic child understand how the parts make up the whole... and the best way to do that is through the use of labels, the concept of fractions, words of quantity, words to cope, etc. I found the best way to deal with all these issues mentioned above was simply to make use of labels. Labeling everything provides a "whole entity" for the partial... making each part a whole in and of itself. Labeling and other coping mechanisms are further addressed in other sections. In addition to the "odd behaviors" above, more on behavioral issues can be found in my section called: Other Things Explained.
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