Sensory and repetitive behaviors among children with autism spectrum disorder at home

TLDR

Atypical sensory and repetitive behaviors are defining features of autism spectrum disorder and are thought to be influenced by environmental factors, yet naturalistic research on their contextual triggers is scarce. The study aims to investigate how environmental contexts influence sensory and repetitive behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder at home. The authors video‑recorded 32 children with autism during home activities and used behavioral coding to link activity contexts, sensory modalities, and stimulus characteristics to specific behavior types. Hyperresponsive behaviors were most linked to activities of daily living and family‑initiated stimuli, while sensory‑seeking behaviors were tied to free play and child‑initiated stimuli, and many behaviors involved multiple simultaneous sensory modalities.

Abstract

Atypical sensory and repetitive behaviors are defining features of autism spectrum disorder and are thought to be influenced by environmental factors; however, there is a lack of naturalistic research exploring contexts surrounding these behaviors. This study involved video recording observations of 32 children with autism spectrum disorder (2-12 years of age) engaging in sensory and repetitive behaviors during home activities. Behavioral coding was used to determine what activity contexts, sensory modalities, and stimulus characteristics were associated with specific behavior types: hyperresponsive, hyporesponsive, sensory seeking, and repetitive/stereotypic. Results indicated that hyperresponsive behaviors were most associated with activities of daily living and family-initiated stimuli, whereas sensory seeking behaviors were associated with free play activities and child-initiated stimuli. Behaviors associated with multiple sensory modalities simultaneously were common, emphasizing the multi-sensory nature of children's behaviors in natural contexts. Implications for future research more explicitly considering context are discussed.