A reading of stereotypy in autism through the concept of iteration.

Stereotypies currently occupy an important place in the clinical profile of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Since they are usually described with the notions of sameness, resistance to change, or lack of variation, it would seem as if everything were repeated, and nothing could change. In this context, the following question arises: What is it that is repeated in stereotypical repetition? To answer this question, one must turn to clinical vignettes of patients diagnosed with ASD and to the concept of iteration stemming from two different epistemic fields (psychiatry and fractal geometry). Firstly, it is suggested that what is repeated in stereotypies, in particular, is the initial figure, since the elements that are unconnected to it change or may change. Secondly, specifically in the context of autism, it is suggested that what is repeated in a stereotypy is the very fact of repeating.