Background
It has been suggested that individuals with ASD have a different thinking style compared to people without ASD. Most people have a natural tendency to understand the overall meaning of information, that is, to see the whole picture. As a result we tend to remember the gist of something rather than the exact detail of the message.On the other hand, it has been suggested that individuals with ASD have a tendency to focus on the details rather than trying to understand the overall picture. As a result they often miss the overall meaning of the message or situation. This type of thinking style (i.e. focusing on the details) has been proposed to explain the presence of repetitive interests and behaviours in ASD.

Individuals with ASD have also been found to have higher levels of anxiety than the general population. It has been suggested that this might be related to the tendency for individuals with ASD to focus on the individual details of a message or situation. One of the reasons children with anxiety disorder (and not ASD) feel anxious is because they have a tendency to focus on the threat-related details of a situation, and often fail to understand the overall risk.Therefore the tendency of children with ASD to focus on details might be related to their higher levels of anxiety. Additionally, it has been suggested that children with ASD may use their repetitive behaviours as a means of managing their anxiety.

What we aimed to do
We wanted to examine the relationships between:
•repetitive behaviours of children with ASD and the ways in which they process information
•repetitive behaviours and levels of anxiety in children with ASD
•levels of anxiety and the ways in which children with ASD process information

What we did
Thirty-four young people aged between 8 to 16 years old, with a diagnosis of ASD, took part in the study. The young people completed two matching games and a brief measure of their ability. Each young person was also asked to complete a questionnaire which looked at anxiety. In addition, their parents completed four questionnaires about their child's behaviours in everyday situations.

What we found
We found no clear link between repetitive behaviours and the ways in children with ASD process information. We also found no link between anxiety levels of children with ASD and how they think about information.However, we did find support for a relationship between repetitive behaviour and anxiety. Specifically, we found that parents who reported their child to exhibit higher levels of repetitive behaviours also reported their child as experiencing higher levels of anxiety, and this was confirmed by the young people themselves.

The next step will be to find out more about the link between anxiety and repetitive behaviours. For example, are the repetitive behaviours helpful or unhelpful in managing anxiety?

Brenda Connolly and Helen McConachie, July 2009