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Dandansson
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16 Jun 2021, 1:08 am

We often talk about preseveration in connection with ASD.
APA has this definition: "an inability to interrupt a task or to shift from one strategy or procedure to another."
https://dictionary.apa.org/perseveration

So people are in general good at changing strategies or procedures when needed whereas people with ASD are bad at it? I don't think it's that easy. Many people who seemed "NT" had difficulties with changig strategies and most teachers (who studied pedagogy) had difficulties with perseveration.
Is this really an ASD issue? I say that people with ASD have issues with perseveration in an ASD way but not this is a specific difficulty we have.

What do you think?



autisticelders
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16 Jun 2021, 4:06 am

I have got better at changing gears as I get older, as a child it was very difficult, but unexpected changes were more frequent and I was not in control of my own life until I left home at 19, things began to get better after that because I could plan my own schedule and not be constantly under demands from others, etc as I was when living under parental control and having multiple siblings, all with their own agendas. I still like to have warning ahead of time that change of activity will soon take place. I don't think I have changed as much as I have learned what works for me and how to use the tools I have available to make things happen when they 'should'.


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neilinmich
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16 Jun 2021, 4:09 am

Shifting strategies when something isn't working is initiated by executive function in the prefrontal neocortex. I've read that Aspies have trouble with executive function. It sounds like OCD to me more than ASD.



MrsPeel
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16 Jun 2021, 5:01 am

It's a problem for me at work.
I have trouble shifting from one task to another.
Sometimes I have to go out and walk around to try and clear my head and stop myself thinking repeatedly about the task I just finished.

I don't think it's OCD, it's just autistic perseveration.



Dandansson
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16 Jun 2021, 9:13 am

The teachers who only use one method for teachings people (even if the method does not work) do have difficulties with perseveration, right?
Thing thing is: what we call an ASD issue is something that all people struggle with in their own way. Why don't we just say it like it is?



Last edited by Dandansson on 16 Jun 2021, 9:22 am, edited 2 times in total.

Dandansson
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16 Jun 2021, 9:15 am

MrsPeel wrote:
It's a problem for me at work.
I have trouble shifting from one task to another.
Sometimes I have to go out and walk around to try and clear my head and stop myself thinking repeatedly about the task I just finished.

I don't think it's OCD, it's just autistic perseveration.

Good tip there Mrs Peel.
Perseveration is also an OCD thing, I think.
All people struggle with it but in different ways.
Most people just don't want to admit it.



ToughDiamond
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17 Jun 2021, 5:27 pm

Well, I think in my case there's something of the kind going on. There seems to be a bit more inertia to changing tack than there is in most people, and I probably have a stronger-than-average dislike of being interrupted than most people, though as long as I have some freedom to come to a natural break first, I don't seem to find it particularly hard to resume. I think the truth about Aspies and perseveration is probably more complicated and nuanced than most experts realise, but it's not a matter I've completely thought through.



MrsPeel
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17 Jun 2021, 9:06 pm

Yes, at work they gave me the nickname of the steamroller.
Because once they set me a task I would just continue with it until I'd finished.
Once I get going, it takes a lot of persuasion to get me to stop or change direction.



ToughDiamond
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18 Jun 2021, 3:02 am

^
Makes sense to me. I've sometimes likened my working style to a juggernaut.



Dandansson
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18 Jun 2021, 9:09 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
I think the truth about Aspies and perseveration is probably more complicated and nuanced than most experts realise, but it's not a matter I've completely thought through.

What do you mean?



ToughDiamond
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18 Jun 2021, 10:50 am

Dandansson wrote:
What do you mean?

I mean that I suspect there's more to the perseveration thing in ASD than the experts have so far discovered.



Dandansson
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18 Jun 2021, 10:52 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
Dandansson wrote:
What do you mean?

I mean that I suspect there's more to the perseveration thing in ASD than the experts have so far discovered.

Like what?



ToughDiamond
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18 Jun 2021, 10:57 am

Dandansson wrote:
Like what?

I don't know - like I said, I haven't thought it through.