Autism and Routine

I never knew I needed a routine until I didn’t have one anymore. Going to school until I was 18 years old was my routine. When I graduated in 2006, I realized that I needed something. I needed to do the same thing everyday.

Being able to do something everyday is something that a person with autism/aspergers can control. It could be the smallest thing like getting the mail from the mailbox, going to the coffee shop at the same time everyday or if someone is able to, going to work and working the same shift on the same day every week. Its their part of their life

We have the tendency to do the same thing everyday. It helps us to know what we’re doing and it gives us something to look forward to. When things change in our routine or something happens last minute, we get anxious and overwhelmed. Not only does it throw off us off, but our whole day goes off track. We have a hard time adjusting to change. It could be anything from starting our shift a half an hour earlier/later then usual too who we work with. We developed a routine with who we work with especially if its the same group of people every week. If one of these people quit or has the day off, our day and routine gets shifted or if someone new starts working and we clash with them, going to work begins to get challenging.

Every routine is different depending on where you are on the spectrum. Some people have support staff that will come in and help them with day to day stuff or someone who is high functioning like me that can hold a job, keep friendships and just put on a front and act like nothing is wrong.

I have a laid back routine. I can go with the flow, but there are times when I have something planned, I don’t do anything else that day. As much as I would love to be busy and always have something to do, having to many things going on in one day is overwhelming for me. I need to do one thing at a time and focus on that one thing, but I’ve learnt to adapt and just take it one thing at a time. Sometimes life gets busy and I’ll have to do more then one thing at time. I just have to not let it get to me and stress myself out.

Routines are important for someone on the spectrum. Its what we do and we’re good at it. We like to keep them for as long as we can. If you want us to change something, introduce it to us slowly. To many changes at once is overwhelming. We need time to adjust and have the ability to fit in it into our routine. We like to know change in advance and be able to have input in what’s happening. Don’t just throw it at us and expect us to deal with it. Its going to take time and patience for a new routine to happened.