Why does the Miller Method develop new rituals with children on the autism spectrum? Since these children already have plenty rituals, wouldn giving them more rituals make them more autistic?
Good question. In answering it, let me first describe all the good things that introducing and working with rituals does for children with autism — Suppose you have a tantrumming autistic child. Introducing a repetitive ritual of some kind — having him or her go up and down stairs, cross back and forth over an elevated structure, repeatedly pour water or drop objects in a can, scribble back and forth, knock blocks off a stand, and so forth can often help calm the child and make it possible to bring him or her back into regular classroom or therapy activities in a relatively short period of time. We are also able to vary the child’s rituals (or systems as we call them) so that they become less and less like rituals and more like typical functioning. We expand them bit by bit, involve different people in them so they are no longer solitary and we can interrupt them in a way which induces the child to produce words, signs or actions indicating his or her need to maintain the ritual. So,
