53. Rigid Thinking and the Inability to be Flexible

We know is that in autism their repetitive and fixated behaviors
are generally their strategies for reducing the chaos and
minimalizing their overload by seeking the predictability and
routine of sameness. These are all of their attempts to decrease
their overwhelm from the stimulation and provide some sort of
order to the confusing overwhelming world they are in.


Our children struggle with being flexible because of their need
for sameness and being in control and when things have to change
or you have to drive a different way home because of a traffic
accident their ability to be flexible is nowhere to be found,
right?


Our world honestly is way too uncertain and unpredictable for our
kids on the spectrum. What applies in one situation doesn’t
necessarily apply to the next and that results in increased
anxiety and sometimes anger when things don’t go the way they
anticipated.


Our goal is never to overwhelm them but we want them to mentally
engage and tackle their uncertainty and reduce that rigid
thinking. We want them to be able to evaluate options when there
is a roadblock or something doesn’t go as they planned. Everyone
makes mistakes until they practice and get better. You have to
learn what doesn’t work to ultimately learn what does work right?
That is what we want to teach them.


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