Reading and Research
The following list is a selection of papers that all focus on or include reference to the theory of monotropism published between July-Dec 2024.
We have aimed for this to be comprehensive, but if you know of other papers that have come out that may have missed our attention, please do get in touch!
They are listed in date order as they were shared on the Monotropism Discord server.
‘Game changer: Exploring the role of board games in the lives of autistic people. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders‘ (Atherton, G., Cross, L., Belshaw, F., & Piovesan, A., 2024).
This is an interesting article summarising why and how board games can be particularly beneficial for autistic people due to monotropic engagement with their unique interests.
Autistic individuals often report the need to express their desires and interests to allow them to feel comfortable in social situations and their environments (Späth & Jongsma, 2020). In this sense, it is vital to encourage the passions of autistic people and create opportunities for these passions to be explored in social spaces…. Board gaming is a pastime that may be particularly well suited to autistic monotropic engagement, as it requires sustained attention and a transfer of established skills to new domains (Gobet et al., 2004). As autism is a particularly heterogeneous condition, a characteristic which extends to the diversity of passions in those on the spectrum (Nowell et al., 2021), the variety of board game options may be particularly well suited to this population (Brown & MacCallum-Stewart, 2020). The wide array of board games on offer means autistic people can find a game that suits their unique interests.
‘Double Burnout: Exploring the experiences of autistic and educator burnout among autistic educators in the United States‘ (Newson, A., 2024). ProQuest.
The combination of autistic burnout plus teacher burnout amounts to significant distress of some people. This fantastic and important research explores this in more depth.
Reflexive and template thematic analysis were used to understand the differences between Autistic and educator burnout, barriers and facilitators to Autistic mental health and flourishing, and recommendations to support Autistic mental health. Six themes were co-constructed by the research team and then sent back to the AEs for review and member checks. Results indicated that Autistic and educator burnout are separate but intertwined
phenomena that deeply affect the mental health and wellbeing of Autistic educators, even after leaving the teaching profession. Recommendations provided by AEs included rejecting neuronormative and heteronormative standards in education, creating neuroinclusive spaces that allow all educators to feel psychologically safe, and fostering spaces for Autistic flourishing within
school environments.
‘Reacting, retreating, regulating, and reconnecting: How autistic adults in the United Kingdom use time alone for Well-Being.’ (Neville, F., Sedgewick, F., McClean, S., White, J., & Bray, I., 2024). Autism in Adulthood.
A valuable piece of research that highlights how important ‘intense interests’ are for autistic people and how an understanding of engaging in interests and spending time alone with interests can help with sensory regulation.
Spending time alone was considered by the participants to be a strategy that offered protection against and recovery from overwhelm, and although preferred environments and activities were variable, they offered sanctuary and/or opportunities for preferred self-regulation strategies. Understanding social and sensory overwhelm and the need for safe spaces and/or engagement with intense interests may help avoid certain crisis situations for autistic people or assist in shorter, easier, and less traumatic recovery time. Autistic adults learn for themselves how social and sensory input can be disabling and how attempts to “just push through” come at a cost, but these aspects are not always clear to autistic young people, or parents, carers, educators, or employers.
‘Beyond School Avoidance: Recognising, identifying, and addressing autistic burnout in children.’ (Siggers, G., & Day, B., 2024) BJPsych Open, 10(S1), S169.
Many autistic young people experience burnout; this article clearly makes that connection. Often, children can’t go to school rather than choose to avoid it; this needs to be clarified and better understood.
Understanding […] autistic burnout could lead to better support strategies, accommodations, and potentially improved outcomes for autistic children who are refusing school. It necessitates a shift from a potentially punitive approach to one that is compassionate and accommodative, ensuring that strategies are in place to support autistic children’s return to school when they are ready and able to do so. These findings highlight an urgent need for research into autistic burnout in children, recognition of this concept by health and education and a need to re-evaluate current educational practices and support systems for autistic children in school.
‘Encountering Neurodiversity-Affirming Perspectives of Neurodivergent Experiences: A Collaborative Exploration with Caregivers‘ (Rismiller, J. L., 2024).
ProQuest.
This research paper explores the development and relationships within
neurodivergent families, which have been influenced by decades of
biased assumptions and neuro-normative expectations. It brings into the discussion a case study mentioning monotropism and the difficulties with behaviour modification strategies in contrast to neuro-affirming ideas.
..many of the terms and concepts neurodiversity advocates use to describe their lived experiences (e.g., neuroqueer, Autistic inertia, monotropism, spiky profiles, spins) originate within neuro-minority spaces and are as yet a foreign language to people in the neuro-majority. Thus, neurodiversity advocates are also saddled by expressive hermeneutic injustice when members of the neuro-majority reject neurodiversity advocates’ contributions as a result of their own failure to recognize this “foreign language” as valid and meaningful (Catala et al., 2021; Fricker, 2007, 2017). Sadly, families and children are being caught in the middle of this epistemic oppression (Dotson, 2012) as they struggle with accessing services that are affordable, meet their needs, and honor their perspectives (Chan, 2019). The slower researchers and other professionals in the neuromajority are to change their understanding of neurodivergent experiences, the more difficult they make it for families to gain access to this vital neuro-affirming information.
…
Rose was attempting to assimilate neuro-affirming ideas into a long-held cognitive schema built around using behavioral modification strategies rather than neuro-affirming principles of autonomy, agency, and empowerment. Rose was describing wanting to apply what she had learned about monotropism and hyperfocus in the workshop to “convince” her son to change his behavior to be more neuro-normative rather than to connect with him and validate his needs or perspectives. Although the neuro-affirming ideas resonated for Rose, and she had been exploring them prior to the workshop, she still has difficulty figuring out how to practice them during actual interactions with her son…
‘Integrating Positive Psychology and Autism: A roundtable.‘ (Wright, P., Moseley, R., Tomasulo, D., Srinivasan, H., Wilson, J., Woods, S., & Rashid, T., 2024). Autism in Adulthood.
The quote below sums this up – wonderful!
A key insight from my research was the unique way autistics experience and process emotions, such as awe.
Relational incongruence in neurodiverse workgroups: Practices for cultivating autistic employee authenticity and belonging (Longmire, N. H., Vogus, T. J., & Colella, A., (2024). Human Resource Management.
A paper that aims to identify the barriers to autistic employees’ workgroup inclusion and shares a multilevel framework centered around relational incongruence, or differences in patterns of interrelating across (autistic and non-autistic) neurotypes. Concluding that ‘contextual factors or interventions that increase non-autistic employees’ appreciation of autistic patterns of interrelating would be more likely to yield adjustments on both sides of an interaction (e.g., autistic and nonautistic).’
A small but growing body of research has focused on how dissimilarities in sociality manifest and unfold interpersonal interactions across
autistic and non-autistic neurotypes. Traditionally, autistic patterns of
interrelating have been equated with deficits in empathy and social
imagination, or a failure to understand the minds of other people
(Baron-Cohen et al., 1985). This perspective positions the autistic
neurotype as a deficient form of the non-autistic one. However, an
alternate perspective views autistic ways of being as equally valid and
worthy of understanding by non-autistic individuals. This framework,
often referred to as a “double empathy problem,” suggests that two
interacting people of differing neurotypes (i.e., autistic and non-autistic) both experience greater difficulty generating mutual understanding (Milton, 2012) relative to those with similar neurotypes(G. L. Williams et al., 2021). That is differences in patterns of attention (monotropism vs. polytropism, Murray et al., 2005), communication, and sociality (interest-based vs. sociability-based, Rosqvist, 2019) can impede mutual understanding. In support of this perspective, emerging evidence suggests that people on the autism spectrum experience more conversational mutuality in interactions with autistic vs. nonautistic partners (G. L. Williams et al., 2021).
A phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of adults experiencing pathological demand avoidance. (Kenny, N., & Doyle, A. 2024). Neurodiversity, 2.
There is not a direct reference to monotropism in this paper beyond a citation to Murray et. al., 2005 where it says ‘A phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of adults experiencing pathological demand avoidance. In recent years, the increasing influence of the work of autistic researchers and theorists has revolutionised understandings of autism as a construct (e.g., Botha & Frost, 2020; Milton, 2012; Murray et al., 2005)’. However, this paper does draw attention to the importance of interest-led systems for PDAers.
In terms of managing everyday life, autistic individuals who identify with PDA prioritise interests and less so daily life tasks; they emphasise the need for acceptance, recognising a demand and when it needs to be reduced or dis- guised, being aware of masking, and the importance of self- awareness (triggers) and self-acceptance.
Neurodivergence, intersectionality, and eating disorders: A lived experience-led narrative review.(Cobbaert, L., Rose, A., Elwyn, R., Silverstein, S., Schweizer, K., Thomas, E., & Miskovic-Wheatley, J., 2024). PsyArXiv Preprints: Vol. 14 July 2024. Cornell University.
This paper concludes that Neurodiversity Affirming (NDA) care involves respecting and validating different personality and neurocognitive profiles instead of defacto pathologising divergence and trying to ‘fix’ differences rather than celebrating diversity and accommodating specific support needs. Promoting self-determination and a positive, authentic sense of self are critical to NDA care’. Within this paper, there is a brief mention that monotropism may play a part in providing neuro-affirming care as neurodivergent (autistic/ADHD) individuals experience the world differently.
The reasons underlying NDI [neurodivergent individuals) being at a high risk of disordered eating and/or EDs are varied, complex, and multifaceted, and encompass a wide range of interconnected environmental, psychosocial, and biological factors. NDI experience the world differently in a myriad of ways, as illustrated by differences in sensory processing, communication and socialising (e.g., the double empathy problem), thinking and learning styles (e.g., monotropism, inertia), gender identity, sexual orientation, sex diversity, and executive functioning. Together, these differences may contribute, either directly or indirectly, to a wide array of pathways potentially contributing to the development of disordered eating, EDs, and/or body image disturbances for NDI.
Moving toward neurodiversity-affirming integrated psychotherapy with autistic clients. (Pliskin, A. E., & Crehan, E. T., 2024). Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 34(3), 338–350.
This paper cites Murray, D. (2018). Monotropism—An interest-based account of autism in F. R. Volkmar (Ed.), Encyclopedia of autism spectrum disorders ( pp. 1–3). Springer New York.
Neurodiversity-affirming therapy addressing the habit system could recognize and support regulating routines and stims while empowering clients to modify habits, including compulsive ones, that they do not want. Monotropism, a common cognitive aspect of autism (Murray, 2018), often includes what neurodivergent people call hyperfocus. Effective mental health support can
help autistic people channel their single-minded focus toward habits of achieving adaptive flow states in activities of interest (Ashinoff & Abu-Akel, 2021) while avoiding habits of anxious or depressive rumination or obsessive-compulsive tendencies toward which autistic people are at risk (Golan et al., 2022).
Community Member Views on Autism Intervention: Effects of Closeness to Autistic People with Intellectual Disabilities And Nonspeaking Autistic People (Hersh, L. et al 2024). Autism in Adulthood, 6(3), 253–271. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2023.0202
Co-author Steven Kapp shared this on wrote:
‘Our new paper @AutismAdulthood found much consensus against normalization & for well-being, societal reform & supportive environments in autism community: findings were robust to closeness to autistics w/intellectual disabilities & nonspeaking autistics’.
Language games used to construct autism as pathology (Chown, N. 2024) In Mad Studies Reader (pp. 506–517) https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003148456-41
Based on his scholarship of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, Nick Chown introduces the concept of “neurotypical language games.” These language games create culturally biased distinctions that frame medical research and produce social perspectives that have adverse consequences for people labeled autistic.
Examining predictive coding accounts of typical and autistic neurocognitive development (Rapaport, H., & Sowman, P. F. 2024) Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 167, 105905. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105905
It takes into account and mentions the theory of monotropism within this paper.
This paper provides an overview of predictive coding accounts of typical and autistic neurocognitive development and includes a review of the current electrophysiological evidence supporting these accounts.
Living “in the zone”: Hyperfocus in adult ADHD. (Hupfeld, K. E., Abagis, T. R., & Shah, P. 2019). ADHD Atten Def Hyp Disord, 11, 191–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-018-0272-y
Variable Attention Stimulus Trait (VAST) and echoing theoretical concepts from autistic-led theorizing/concepts within autism studies (for example monotropism, Murray et al.,2005). Secondly, informed by the collective storytelling method of Jackson- Perry et al. (2020), the importance of collectivity in ADHD knowledge production is stressed. In summary, a CADS phenomenological and community theorizing approach develops alternative understandings of ADHD in the context of collective ADHDer spaces, aimed at steering the research field of ADHD more generally in a neuroaffirmative direction, and producing knowledge of ADHD which is possible for ADHDers themselves to produce and relate to. (p.50)
The Palgrave Handbook of Research Methods and Ethics in Neurodiversity Studies (Rosqvist, H. B., & Jackson-Perry, D. 2024) is just one of the 11 out of 26 chapters which cite Dinah and/or Fergus Murray; there are 6 explicit mentions of monotropism outside of references, and many more mentions of flow.
This quote is from An Introduction to Critical ADHD Studies (Brown, A. I., Rosqvist, H. B., & Jackson-Perry, D. 2024) (pp. 41–57), chapter 3 in the book:
Hyper focus among ADHD people is defined by Hupfeld et al., (2019, p. 192) as: “a state of heightened, intense focus of any duration, which most likely occurs during activities related to one’s school, hobbies, or ‘screen time’ (i.e. television, computer use, etc.); this state may include the following qualities: timelessness, failure to attend to the world, ignoring personal needs, difficulty stopping and switching tasks, feelings of total engrossment in the task, and feeling ‘stuck’ on small details”. (p. 46)
The next quotes are from Strangers and Friends: Navigating Neurodiverse Research Collaboration (Pearson, A. et al 2024) in the same volume:
Working together through interest-based motivation creates the potential to explore flow states (McDonnell & Milton, 2014), try new things and be creative free of pressure (i.e., for the sake of it rather than output). The concept of ‘serious leisure’ can be helpful for understanding possibilities of exploring collaborations in this way. Serious leisure includes a systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist or volunteer activity sufficiently substantial, interesting and fulfilling for the participant to find a [leisure] career there, acquiring and expressing a combination of its special skills, knowledge and experience (Stebbins, 2010).
One of us describes this as a process of following their “hunches”, “being in deep waters, intuitively finding my way forward”, which they find exciting. At the same time, they acknowledge that this process makes it hard to describe “the rules” to collaborators, outside of an invitation to share an experience of being in the deep waters (or the flow state) together. This example high-lights the multidimensional nature of interest-based motivation, whereby our engagement may go beyond cognitive labelling (e.g., this task is interesting) and instead rely on embodied experience (e.g., engaging with this feels good). While the latter may be harder to describe to others it also provides alternative pathways for finding shared ground that transcends verbalizing our needs, thus creating alternative (and potentially more accessible) ways to build relations with others. (p. 113)
Being in the flow hindered us from being self-conscious about not being good enough. We allowed ourselves to go with the flow. Being in the flow is quite like being in a state of hyperfocus (Brown, 2006). Hupfeld and colleagues (2019) describe it as: A state of heightened, intense focus of any duration, which most likely occurs during activities related to one’s school, hobbies, or “screen time” (i.e., tele- vision, computer use, etc.); this state may include the following qualities: timelessness, failure to attend to the world, ignoring personal needs, difficulty stopping and switching tasks, feelings of total engrossment in the task, and feeling “stuck” on small details (p.119).
This is from the chapter An Inclusive Methodology for Research with Multiply Neurodivergent Participants (Hume, R. 2024):
The feeling of being in the flow allowed us to stay in our comfort zone of interest-driven writing that made us forget about time and place while inter- acting with the text. Being in the flow implies having no impairments since the flow allows us to stay within our interest-based comfort zone. Being in the flow liberated our creativity and gave rise to many openings and possibilities. (p. 220)
Passion and Optimal Functioning in Autism (Meilleur, A. et al, in press). Autism in Adulthood. https://www.lrcs.uqam.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/MeilleurA_AutismInAdulthood_final.pdf
Results indicated that autistic individuals are highly passionate for their interest, showing both high levels of harmonious and obsessive passion
A Coproduced Exploration of Factors Influential to Quality of Life from the Perspective of Autistic Adults (Kuzminski, R., Bölte, S., Lawson, W., Falkmer, M., Black, M. H., Girdler, S., & Milbourn, B. 2024). Autism in Adulthood. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2023.0091
Purpose: Autistic adults reportedly experience poorer quality of life (QoL) than their non-autistic peers. However, many tools used to measure their QoL were not developed for autistic adults, but for the general population. It is possible that factors contributing to the QoL of autistic individuals could vary from that of the general population, meaning commonly used tools may inadequately capture the nuances of autistic QoL. It is, therefore, imperative that autistic QoL is comprehensively conceptualized from the perspective of autistic adults.
Conclusion: While some elements identified by autistic adults also appear in non-autistic conceptualizations of QoL, the impact and importance of these factors may vary from non-autistic experiences. We also identified some factors that may uniquely impact QoL for autistic adults.
Autistic Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Thinking: A Neurodiversity-Affirming approach (Zivkovic, S. 2024). In Neurodiversity and Entrepreneurship (pp. 135–150). https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-798-320241007
Abstract: The term neurodiversity is used to discuss human neurological variation, differences in human cognition, and a social movement that aims to change the way that society views and responds to people who are neurodivergent. While the cognitive differences associated with autism are often discussed in terms of deficits, in recent years autistic autism researchers have been reframing autistic cognition from a neurodiversity-affirming lens that illuminates autistic strengths. Based on characteristics of autistic cognition from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective, this chapter describes neurodiversity-affirming autistic social entrepreneurship and systems thinking approaches and argues that all autistic-owned and -led businesses that align with the mission of the neurodiversity movement are by definition social enterprises. It is hoped that this chapter will assist in reframing autistic cognition from its current deficit conception and encourage the development of business support services that are more appropriate for autistic social entrepreneurs.
Monotropism, Flow and Musicality. In: The Psychology of Music and Autism (Heaton, P. 2024). Musical Journeys 1, in The Psychology of Music and Autism, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-70403-1_6
A wonderful book jam-packed full of musical monotropic flow!
In this chapter Sarah’s and Elisabeth’s musical experiences, and similarities and differences in their musical preferences and modes of engagement, will be explored. These accounts will be contextualised in theoretical models derived from autistic people’s lived experiences as well as in research documenting rewards associated with musical engagement.
Still to read…
We aim to keep up to date with research and writing about monotropism, however there has been growing excitement and interest over the past year. Discussion about Monotropism are reaching wider audiences and we increasingly have more to read and review and look forward to. We will keep you up to date and are excited to see how monotropism theory and practice evolves through 2025. If you’d like to join our Discord please email us!
Here are some articles we haven’t had time to look at properly yet:
Investigating Autistic Hyper-Focus and Monotropism: Limited Convergence of Event-Related Potentials, Laboratory Tasks, and Questionnaire Responses. (Dwyer, P., & Saron, C. 2024, December 3). Preprint. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/4k9bg
Supporting neurodivergent learner’s transition to higher education (Hadley, W., Amoateng, E. Y., & Mapondera, A. Y. 2024). In Advances in educational marketing, administration, and leadership book series (pp. 231–250). https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-7748-2.ch010
Considerations for measuring caregiver talk in interactions with infants at elevated and Population-Level likelihood for Autism: deriving stable estimates (Bottema-Beutel et al 2024). Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_jslhr-24-00312
Neurodivergent feminist teaching & play. MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture (Nygren, A. 2024, November 18) https://maifeminism.com/neurodivergent-feminist-teaching-play/
OUGHT Journal of Autistic Culture, Volume 6, Issue 1 (Dec 2024) features monotropism in the following articles:
- Neuroqueering as Culturally Sustaining Practice by Nathan Hughes and Meaghan Krazinski
- Normal, Perfectly Normal and Monotropic Academic by Jan A. Wozniak
- Learning to Be an Autistic Therapist: Personal Steps Towards an Autism-Affirming Psychotherapy by Sasha D. Strong
Translations
Em portugues: Normalidade e Controlo Social: Enquadramento Sociológico de Subjetividades Neurodivergentes (Normality and Social Control: Sociological Framing of Neurodivergent Subjectivities) https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/31059/1/master_noa_miguel_simoes.pdf
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