Selective Attention

Over selectivity refers to an individual's tendency to focus on minute characteristics of an object or person, rather than the whole. For example, when looking at a car a child with ASD may not focus on the totality of the car, including the color, shape and individual parts, but rather will over select on a feature and focus only on that one part such as the wheels. This over selectivity interferes with the understanding of what a car is because a car is obviously more than its wheels. This tendency to over select and focus on specific features of an object or person rather than the whole hinders learning new concepts and interferes with the child's ability to interpret relevant meaning from information in his or her environment.

Another tendency often seen in individuals with ASD is focused attention on a specific object or activity. This focused attention may last for a great length of time if not interrupted, and is often very difficult to interrupt. For instance, if a child with autism has focused his attention on trains, he may continually choose to play with trains and resist playing with other toys. Focused attention may impede a child's ability to shift attention to other people or activities, such as a parent entering the room or another child attempting to join in his/her play.