The monotropism theory of autism
Published 1 September 2024. Written by Leeds Autism Practice Staff.
Monotropism is a theory of autism. It tries to explain what is going on for autistic individuals. It does this in a neuroaffirmative way: looking at differences between autistic individuals and neurotypical individuals rather than assuming autism is a deficit.
Where did it come from?
Monotropism has come from the autistic community itself. It was originally developed by Dinah Murray and Wenn Lawson and has since been expanded on by other authors.
How does it work?
The theory suggests that autistic individuals are monotropic whereas neurotypical individuals are polytropic.
Polytropic people prefer to split their attention across many different things at once. In contrast, monotropic people prefer to concentrate all of their attention on one thing at a time.
This explains several characteristics of autistic experience. For example, why autistic individuals tend to have hyper-fixations on a certain topic, or why they may find it more challenging to read verbal and non-verbal communication at the same time.
It explains the strengths and challenges autistic individuals face. For example, why they are often very good at concentrating on a single task, or why it can be difficult when they are being bombarded by lots of different sensory information.
Differences in attention
Monotropic individuals focus more on a few things whereas polytopic individuals divide their attention between lots of things.
This leads to the concept of inertia. It takes longer for monotropic individuals to change their focus but once changed, it stays there longer than it would do for polytropic individuals.
This could explain why autistic individuals may appear resistant to change but also explains why they are often excellent problem-solvers and keep working on problems long after polytopic individuals have given up.
Sensory differences
If you function best when focusing on one thing, it follows that experiencing a wide variety of sensory inputs at once can be challenging.
The deficit model of autism suggests that behaviours such as flapping or stimming are maladaptive and should be stamped out.
However, the monotropism theory of autism suggests the opposite: these are adaptive behaviours that help the person provide themselves with controlled and familiar sensory input to help regulate themselves.
Social communication
Many autistic individuals find social communication a challenge. Based on what we learned so far, it is understandable why this would be the case.
Social situations often require attending to multiple things at once: words, facial expressions, body language, and potentially of multiple people at the same time. These situations often take place in noisy and busy environments where there is a large, often overwhelming, amount of sensory input.
These environments are designed to be ideal for polytropic individuals but do not meet the needs of monotropic individuals. Many autistic individuals find they thrive in smaller groups, in calmer environments, and when interacting with other autistic individuals.
Conclusion
Previous theories of autism suggested that autistic individuals have a deficit in understanding others (theory of mind) or managing our emotions and behaviours (executive functioning).
These theories do not adequately explain why these problems occur, though, and nor do they explain autistic strengths. Monotropism provides a more comprehensive theory that accounts for the struggles and strengths of autistic individuals.