Overselectivity

A learning challenge in which an individual attends to only one or a few features of a stimulus while ignoring other relevant features, resulting in an inability to discriminate between stimuli that share some characteristics. For example, a child who is overselective might learn to identify an object based solely on its colour, then confuse it with other objects of the same colour regardless of shape or size. Originally described in children with autism, overselectivity is now recognised across a broader range of conditions including intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, and hearing impairments. In accessibility and AAC contexts, overselectivity is particularly problematic because it interferes with learning to distinguish between communication symbols that share visual features, limiting effective use of icon-based AAC devices.