Eliminating Thinking Errors in Children on the Autism Spectrum

By Mark Hutten, M.A.
Philosophers have long known that your thoughts can be your own worst enemy. As Shakespeare once said, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Children and teens with Asperger's and High-Functioning Autism are especially vulnerable to such “thinking errors” due to a phenomenon called “mind-blindness."

In this video, we will look at some examples of popular thinking errors used by kids on the autism spectrum, and how parents can help these children view their situation more accurately. 




Resources for parents of children and teens on the autism spectrum:
 


BEST COMMENT:

Mark, I must tell you - just based on the first and only video of yours that we watched, we have had an amazing breakthrough. The combination of information and clear delivery just turned a light on. What struck us in particular was that because of his Aspergers, we need to 'teach him how the world works'  - and in our case, to do this appropriate to his 8 or 9 year old emotional maturity level. In the background we also see how his OCD combines with those factors to create extreme stress for him and everyone else.We believe the paranoia just resulted from the years of his escalating stress, etc.

Back to the breakthrough: with great effort to pay attention, we were able to apply our new understanding to interacting with him last night and it was amazing! In a matter of hours he was a completely different kid - like he was years ago in terms of the way he talked, engaged, and he even got excited about being engaged in his passion for music. Our new behavior really, probably for the first time, made him feel understood and more safe (I expect that was subconscious).

This is a kid who walked in one day at about 10 years old and informed us he had learned Pi - he could recite 383 digits off the top of his head. By 12-13 yrs he had become an incredible musician, playing in bands w kids 17 & 18. He did the same thing with cooking and was working in a professional kitchen at 13.... all of his own doing. Then of course everything fell apart. It's a combination of amazing gifts and childlike innocence & naivety - not understanding how the world works as you said.

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