URL: https://autisticrealms.com/monotropism-and-autistic-play/
Peter Gray (2015) writes about the importance of self-directed play. Self-directed play honours the natural way monotropic minds work best; being intrinsically motivated benefits everyone, whether you are Autistic or not. Self-directed play could be even more valuable for monotropic people whose minds and bodies are interest-driven. Self-directed play enables flow, and flow states are hugely beneficial for monotropic people (Heasman et al 2024).
Expectations for the ‘right’ and socially acceptable way to play are generally rewarded and praised, and anything outside of these social norms is often met with disapproval, punishment or sanctions. Many Autistic children learn to suppress their natural ways of being so they can ‘fit in’; they begin to deny themselves their natural monotropic ways of being, over time this can seriously affect people’s well-being and lead to burnout.
...focus on the flow and process of playing rather than putting our own expectations onto a child of what we think they should be doing and what we want the outcome to be.