Early Learning in Autism as an Atypical Balance between Assimilation and Accommodation Processes

Many children on the autism spectrum are capable of learning large amounts of material in specific areas – yet, they often show learning delays across multiple domains. Additionally, they typically show the ability and motivation to learn from practice and from the outcomes of their own actions, while having difficulties learning from novel situations and from others’ actions and communications. We propose that these and other phenomena reflect, in part, an atypical balance between cognitive assimilation and accommodation processes during early childhood. Adopting a constructivist perspective that connects Piaget’s heuristics with experimental and clinical research in autism, we examine empirical supports as well as implications of this notion for autism research, advocacy, and intervention.