(Nov 2025) Autism & the Predictive Mind, Absolute Thinking in a Relative World: Practical Implications for Treatment & Interv

Course overview

Many ideas about the autistic brain are based on conceptions about the human brain that are outdated. The computer as a metaphor for the brain, with its input, processing and output, has been very useful in the past but seems to be incorrect in the light of recent discoveries in brain science. The brain is not a computer: the brain is guessing more than it is computing. In order to make these smart guesses, the brain has developed a unique characteristic: contextual sensitivity. The brain uses context to predict the world. This is known as the predictive coding account of human information processing. But what if your brain is not so talented in using context? What if your brain does think in absolutes? This is the case in autism. Difficulty seeing and understanding context can explain why people with autism have difficulties with communication, social interaction, sensory stimuli, and flexible thinking and behavior in daily living. This course will explain the concept of absolute thinking (reduced contextual sensitivity in predicting the world). The predictive coding perspective offers some thought-provoking new ideas, such as why traditional emotion recognition programs and traditional social skills training are not a good idea for children with autism and why autism friendliness is not the same as eliminating or reducing stimuli. The predictive coding perspective will change some of the currently used strategies in autism and offer new, dynamic strategies and solutions.