You have a red and white pattern printed on a piece of paper and nine cubes that are half red and half white, divided diagonally. This is a puzzle that is used as just one part of an IQ test called the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. This is certainly the case in my family– we are all pretty detail oriented! In that sense, this theory may cast too broad a net (whereas others I find too narrow), but I think Frith is definitely still on to something. Frith says that many of these things are true of the relatives of a person with autism, even if they don’t have autism themselves. One comment I have is that I think these traits can be true of anyone who is detail oriented, whether they are autistic or not. The funny thing is that, while the name of this theory of autism refers to a weakness, the most clear evidence of it is seen in a person’s strengths at tasks that depend on being detail oriented.įrith’s video gives several examples of visual tests that seem to indicate that this focus on details is an area of strength in people with autism and Asperger’s.
Central coherence deficit autism series#
It’s been one of my most helpful sources for this series of posts. Incidentally, here’s a link to a presentation by Frith on various Cognitive Theories of Autism. She describes weak central coherence as “an information processing style” that tends to process “details at the expense of global meaning.” Put another way, autistic people are very good at noticing details, but we struggle with seeing the “big picture”– we might see every tree but miss the forest. The weak central coherence theory was first advanced by German-born psychologist Uta Frith of University College London in the late 1980s. For additional information on the strengths and skills of student with autism please click here.Okay this is my third post about a specific cognitive theory of autism, a theory that attempts to explain the outward signs of autism as the results of something different about the autistic person’s brain or mind. The ability, however, to focus on detail can also be a strength which can support the child or young person’s development and learning. But a child or young person with autism who can’t see the bigger picture would only see lots of individual trees or may focus in on the soil that the trees are planted.ĭifficulty in this area can affect a child’s learning and development – for example, after reading a story, the child might remember the small details but forget what the overall meaning of a story. When this happens children and young people can often get lost in the minute details, rather than pulling together different sources of information and seeing the whole situation.įor example, when someone who can see the bigger picture looks at an endless length of trees, that person would see ‘the forest’.
This can often impact on their understanding of the actual meaning or appreciation of the nature of a situation or context. Children and young people autism may sometimes become fixated or overly focused on details. how children and young people with autism process information.Īs highlighted by (Happe´ and Frith 2006) an inability to see the bigger picture refers to the detail-focused processing style proposed to characterise autism.įor example, when someone is interacting with the environment, or recalling information, most people will be able to recall the gist of something e.g. Frith (1989) suggested that the theory of weak central coherence may help explain some aspects of this within autism i.e.
Individuals with autism may have difficulty seeing the ‘bigger picture’.
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