Movement difficulties—initiation of a task sequence

• “Even today, actions can be difficult. A scene could be: I’m in the car, sitting near my mother who is driving. It is hot; we should open the window. Technically I know how to open it: on the dashboard there’s the button to raise and lower the window. I can describe the action: I must push the button with my finger. But my hesitation grows while I try to put together the sequences to go through the action. I mentally review all the necessary steps, but the first one simplly doesn’t come out. I’m trapped. To help the [person] with autism, verbally give me the sequences and facilitate me while I try to organize myself! But of course mum doesn’t know what I want. How could she? She doesn’t read my mind! Unable to move, the only thing that comes out instead is a stereotyped movement that eventually consists of a reassuring thumb in the mouth or four fingers quickly flapping in front of my eyes.”

• Alberto Frugone, Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone