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It may come as a surprise, but neurotypical people also show stereotypical movements (stereotypy is the term used formally in scientific literature for this behavior).

There is a neural pathway that triggers this to occur in about any human, under the right circumstances - just watch anyone doing something that demands deep focus or concentration combined with fine motor skills.

For example, watch a musician or a someone playing videogame and you can identify motor stereotypical moves in the facial muscles (specially tongue/mouth/jaw).

The stereotypical moves in autistic persons tend to be very characteristic and are easy to spot if you have a trained eye.

So don't worry about moving your toes in patterns or jiggling your leg while you are coding, it is perfectly normal.



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