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Preference for order, predictability or routine

Autistic people may prefer following set routines or rituals (including having or using favourite items), knowing what is going to happen in advance and for rules to be the same for everyone. These characteristics may help you plan and organise and keep calm and happy. Support may be needed if they are making it harder for you to adapt to new situations and do the things you need to do. 

What is a ‘preference for order, predictability or routine’?

All autistic people are different and they don’t necessarily have the same preferences or behaviours, nor the same support needs. But it is common for autistic people to show preferences for order, predictability or routine. 

Examples of this can include: 

  • following set routines and rituals – examples include eating the same meals each day, doing tasks in the same order, using the same items (such as a favourite cup or pen), taking the same route to school or work, children asking the same questions to hear the same answers (for reassurance) 
  • for things to be in order – for example, collections are well organised, toys are lined up, no sudden changes are made to schedules 
  • knowing what is going to happen in detail – for example, the order of events, which bus or train you are going to catch, what (and what time) you are going to eat, which people are going to be at an event, and when you can leave 
  • for information to be precise, accurate and make sense, so that what is going to happen is predictable – the bus turns up on time; there are clear rules that make sense and that everyone follows. 

In an autism assessment

A preference for order, predictability or routine is considered part of ‘restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests’ (RRBIs), one of the two core characteristics in the criteria for an autism diagnosis. 

‘RRBIs’ also includes Focused and dedicated interests and Repeated movements and behaviour (stimming). When autistic people describe their lived experience, they usually refer to these topics separately rather than grouping them together like the diagnostic criteria. 

The diagnostic criteria describe these behaviours and interests in a negative way as ‘restricted and repetitive’, but autistic people generally describe them in a positive way, explaining the purpose and benefits to them. However, there can be circumstances when support is needed. 

The purposes and benefits to autistic people

Autistic people have said that having routines and rituals, and planning and organising, can be ways of coping with stress, as they bring predictability and order to day-to-day life. 

Routines and rituals can help autistic people to: 

  • self-regulate or self-soothe (keep calm or calm down) 
  • manage energy levels by structuring the day 
  • cope with change 
  • reduce anxiety 
  • manage unpredictability in their lives and the world. 

When support may be needed

If an autistic person’s routines, rituals and preferences are not causing any harm, there is no need to try and change them. 

They may need support if their routines and rituals: 

  • become so rigid that unplanned changes cause significant distress 
  • are obsessive-compulsive, which may be a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that requires additional support 
  • negatively affect their relationships and/or social opportunities. 

Support strategies 

There is not enough research into how to support autistic people with restrictive routines and/or difficulty managing change. Autistic people and some professional sources suggest: 

  • Support a routine that provides structure and reduces unpredictability. 
  • Prepare ahead and count down to any changes. Visual prompts and strategies such as seeing a new location or practicing a journey in advance of a visit can be helpful. 
  • Making a ‘plan B’ and ‘plan C’ can help to manage unexpected changes. For example, planning a second option in advance can minimise the challenge of dealing with an on-the-spot change and decision-making. 
  • Involve the autistic person in any planned changes and decision-making. Allow time for processing. 
  • Add extra time into your schedule to accommodate unexpected changes like travel delays. 

Insight from autistic people

“I need a daily routine in order to keep in control of my life. The world can feel like it's really chaotic and crazy and anything can happen; it's really super unpredictable … and it all just feels like a big messy room, and I'm sat in the middle of it unable to control anything. If I put in place a routine, then that means everything gets neat and tidy; I know what's going to happen and I feel in control and I feel calm, and this is what reduces my anxiety to a manageable enough level to be able to function day-to-day.” 
– Purple Ella, Autism and routines

“Being autistic, for me, means having a very strict and rigid routine and feeling devastated, like the world is going to end, when it gets disrupted. When someone shows up ten minutes late, asks me to do something last minute, or strikes up spontaneous conversation, it causes me an enormous amount of stress.” 
– Alis Rowe, Story from the spectrum

“I didn’t think I 'insisted on sameness' at first. After all, I crave variety in terms of food, music, road trips, and certain other activities.  I don’t have any greeting rituals, nor must I take the same route every day … But I asked my partner and he said 'Uh, yeah … you freak out every time you have to suddenly do something you hadn’t planned to do.' … It didn’t take long for me to realise he was right.” 
– Laina Eartharcher, Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour

“I get super tired when I'm overwhelmed from changes. And changes could be from small things. ... I had a super bad time when we went to a sandwich shop … and they didn't have the right bread, and I start freaking out. It just was chaotic, because you plan everything around those events. I think ‘Okay I'm going to go here and do that’ and it's difficult. But now we try and make plan-Bs and plan-Cs, just because if it doesn't go exactly how we want it to, we need to make sure that we have another back-up plan that may go well, and that's … a really good hack actually.” 
– Dan Jones, Why change impacts autism and Asperger's syndrome

“When I was recently forced to move flat, I was fixated on my new journey to work, not because of the new route in particular, but because I was unsure how it would impact on my time to read in the morning. Realising this, I have since implemented time in the evening to make up for the lost reading and everything else has fallen into place around it.” 
– James Ward-Sinclair, Autism, routine and structure: how to prepare for expected and unexpected change

“We had a carpet … laid out in stepping stones. … I knew where every single one of those ‘stones’ were. … That carpet was a million different universes, all punctuated with an exhalation of exertion as I danced from one ‘stone’ to the next. It became one of the few things in my life that I could rely on. … that carpet was one gigantic stim toy for me. … [O]ne day I came home and my carpet was gone. … All my worlds and universes that helped keep me safe were gone. … I didn’t know where to put my feet, I couldn’t even walk on it because I felt like I was going to fall over.” 
– The Autistic Advocate, An autistic frequency

“At school, I really couldn’t cope with other kids not following school rules. I loved following rules, for example I was always on time and ready for every lesson with every book in my bag. I’d be upset when other children turned up late, disrupted lessons or hadn’t brought the right books with them.” 
– John Pendal, Story from the spectrum 

“For me, I need to fully understand rules and follow them closely because I find deep comfort in knowing what's expected of me. … I also try to avoid conflict and confrontation at all costs due to my sensitivity to energy and anger..., so this is another reason I follow rules to the letter. When someone not only breaks a rule but calls me out for following it, it baffles and dysregulates me. I got called a ‘goody-two-shoes’ all the time as a kid, but I didn't know why that was considered bad. Furthermore, rule-breaking really upsets me because I'm very dedicated to social justice.” 
– Jaime A. Heidel, 15 things that bother your autistic loved one

“I like to line my shoes up in the order of how much they cover my foot … I like to keep all of my skincare in a line on the windowsill in order of when I use them. I like to line up all of my stuffed animals on my bed…” 
– Morgan Foley, Turns out I do line things up

“Autistic kids spending time lining up toys is a good thing. … I made arrays of toys … Organising my stuffed cats by criteria I invented. … Organising my rock collection and cataloguing the properties of each rock in a notebook. … While a non-autistic kid might not see much point to these activities, to me, they were important. … If an autistic kid is sitting on the floor quietly lining up their toys, it’s probably helping them calm down and feel at peace.” 
– Miss Luna Rose, Why lining up toys is good for autistic kids

Ben’s parent: “Ben what does lining up toys … do for you?” 
Ben: “It helped calm me down and communicate without speaking” ... 
Ben’s parent: “What did you tell me, earlier today? It brought what?” 
Ben: “It brought order to things.” 
– Ben and parent, Autism and lining up toys

Links, resources and article sources

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