rigidity of thought

[catkinq]

This is used several times in the ed psycs report on dd but I've realised that I don't know what it means. Does anyon ehave any examples or info? Thanks in advance

I think it can also mean a lack of imagination eg if show DS how to play with car and garage he would do it exact same way every time and not vary or extend it. Or if sings a song has to be sung same way or gets cross. On computer DS will always access something the way he found it first time - so if try and show him a shortcut he will resist and want to do it the same way. DS likes toys that have very clear concrete function eg shape sorter - the shape goes in the hole; not toys that could be used in different ways with imagination, he does not know what to do with them and just carries them from place to place or systemises them eg puts them in rows or counts them rather than make up stories or scenarios. Some children will always want routine eg supper, bath, bed in the exact same order or want to take a route from A to B the same way every time. They want everything predictable and to be kept the same.

quirky language can reveal it too for example no matter how much you might correct their pronunciation on a new piece of vocabulary that they've read wrong, they'll keep reverting to their own wrong pronunciation. The way the literature describes it is that the autistic person thinks along rail tracks whereas the neurotypical thinks like a car, with more flexibility of movement, divergence etc.