In this episode of The Autistic Culture Podcast, Dr. Angela Kingdon is joined by Jodi Brichta-Coyne, author, life coach, and systems-thinker, to explore Pillar 5: Pattern Matching—the cultural superpower at the heart of autistic insight, organization, and perception.

Autistic pattern matching isn’t robotic—it’s deep, human, creative, and emotionally charged. From recognizing micro-patterns in conversation to creating vast knowledge maps across disciplines, autistic people don’t generalize—we observe. We track anomalies. We notice what others miss. And in a world built on noise and guesswork, this precision is transformative.

🎧 What You’ll Learn

• Why autistic people are data-hungry, detail-oriented, and insight-driven
• How monotropic focus and repetition build meaning and emotional grounding
• Why pattern matching isn’t about cold logic—it’s about finding order, comfort, and connection
• Examples of real-world pattern thinking: board games, Kinsey’s research, Wikipedia editing, Magic the Gathering, and more
• How to embrace your “pattern brain” in a world that often mislabels it as “too much”

👤 Featured Guest: Jodi Brichta-Coyne

Jodi is a Certified Life Coach, Strategic Interventionist, and author of Are You Still There God? It’s Me, Jodi—a witty, honest look at midlife, motherhood, and systems-thinking.

• 📘 Buy Jodi’s Book

Resources Mentioned:

• 🧠 “The Predictive Coding Account of Psychosis and Autism” – Frontiers in Psychiatry
• 📖 “The Prehistory of Autism” – Rounded Globe
• 📘 “Understanding Autism” – IntechOpen Chapter
• 🎓 Monotropism Slides – Dr. Damian Milton
• 🌐 Monotropism.org – Wellbeing & Focus

Related Episodes:

Sex/Alfred Kinsey (Ep 35)

Board Games (Ep 95)

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