Why Autists Like Repetition

In the 80s, I knew that autism mostly could be diagnosed when you noticed a child who banged their head against the wall repeatedly, rocked back and forth, or did repetitive tasks like lining up toy trains or quoting baseball facts, calendar dates, or train schedules. This did not fit me, so I knew that I was not autistic.

What I wasn’t paying attention to was the many repetitions that I loved and thought of as…