Stereotyped and Ritualized Behavior
under construction!!
The word "stereotyped" comes from one of the DSM diagnostic criteria B.1, "Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypes, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases)", which describes stimming generally. But this Neo-criterion encompasses the entirety of B.1 and B.2 DSM criteria.
Warning! Brain-dump below
Stereotyped and Ritualized Behavior encompasses all routine-seeking behavior and looks like a greater need for control. This manifests as your many classic autistic behaviors, particularly those defined in criterion B.2 in the DSM diagnostic criteria for ASD.
"Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat same food every day)."
Criterion B.1 is looped into this Neo-criterion because functionally, stimming serves the same purpose as the adherence to routines, the only difference being the time-frame. This type of behavior serves to provide comfort via control. For example, many autistic people in loud, crowded, environments like to blast music on their earbuds or headphones to drown out the noise. This works because the music is predictable, as opposed to the chaotic noise of a crowd. More generally, it's about pattern. Pattern is predictable, and therefore safe. So more generally, what this Neo-criterion represents is a greater degree of pattern-seeking behavior. Often times this behavior can become debilitating, at which point it may be diagnosed as OCD. It is also common for autistic people to be additionally- or alternatively-diagnosed as having OCPD, particularly for those perceived as women.