Repetitive and Restricted Behaviors and Interests in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Chapter 1.  Background and Conceptualization of RRBIs: Development of Classification.- Chapter 2. RRBIs in ASD Across Childhood.- Chapter 3. Subtypes of Sensory Modulation Disorders in Children with ASD.- Chapter 4. Stereotyped Speech.- Chapter 5. Neurobiology of RRBIs: Animal and Human Models.- Chapter 6. Neurocognitive Deficits Underlying Mechanisms of Adherence to Routines, Ritualized Patterns, and Restricted and Fixated Interests.- Chapter 7. Underlying Mechanisms for RRBIs Across Typical and Atypical Development.- Chapter 8. RRBIs and Social Communication Skills in ASD.- Chapter 9. The Function of RRBIs: First-Hand Accounts of Adults with ASD.- Chapter 10. Assessment of RRBIs.- Chapter 11. RRBIs in ASD: An Intervention Model.- Chapter 12. From Restricted Interests to Work: Reframing ASD Diagnostic Criterion as a Vocational Advantage.- Chapter 13. Future Directions in RRBIs Research and Practice. 

Eynat Gal, Ph.D., is an occupational therapist specializing in the area of developmental disabilities and specifically in Autism spectrum disorders. She received her Ph.D., completing her doctoral dissertation, "An investigation of the relationship of sensory differences and intellectual level to stereotyped and self-injurious movements in children" in 2006. She received IMFAR's "Best Autism Dissertation Award" for this work in 2007. She is a faculty member of the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Haifa, Israel, where she is the head of the Masters program. Her research focuses on the investigation of underlying mechanisms that stand at the base of autistic behaviors, such as sensory and social deficits as well as functional aspects of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. She has developed several instruments for assessing developmental disorders, including a tool for assessing sensory processing disorders, vocational assessments to enable people with disabilities to participate in jobs according to their abilities, and an assessment for eating problems and patterns of children with ASD. She co-leads the Laboratory of Autism Research at the University of Haifa. Research funding has been received from Cure Autism Now, Autism Speaks Foundation, the EU, and various Israeli foundations. She is the adviser of masters- and doctorate-level students who currently investigate various aspects of repetitive and restrictive behaviors and interests (RRBI) in ASD. She publishes widely on developmental disabilities as ASD, including a book chapter on restricted behaviors and interests in ASD in the International Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Johnny L. Matson and Peter Sturmey, editors (Springer, 2011). 

NuritYirmiya, Ph.D., earned her doctorate in Developmental and Clinical Psychology from UCLA and is currently a Professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she