Alia Breon, MD
Exploring Autism Through a Lens of Monotropism and the Neuroscience of Attention.
I’m a physician, a parent to an autistic son, and a partner in a neurodiverse marriage. My work explores autism through both lived experience and a neuroscience-based understanding of attention, sensory processing, and stress.I first encountered autism as an ER physician caring for patients on their hardest days. Then, within the same six-month period, both my husband and son discovered their neurodiversity. Through my medical lens, autism felt fragmented—like a set of experiences that didn’t quite fit the DSM criteria I had been trained to use.That search for coherence led me into the neuroscience of attention, sensory processing, interoception, and monotropism—a framework that brings the fragments together. I share this work through writing, speaking, and coaching.
Essays & Reflections
I explore the science of autism—monotropism, attention, interoception, and how we feel—and pair it with the lived experiences that give that science meaning. My work is shaped by my training as a physician and my experience in a neurodiverse family.
Speaking & Consulting
For Healthcare Professionals
I bring monotropism into clinical conversations—connecting this emerging framework with the neuroscience of attention, interoception, and stress biology.
For Educators & Families
I translate the science of attention, monotropism, and interoception for those who live or work with autistic people every day—turning research into understanding.
Get in touch
The Theory of Monotropism
“Autism is not a set of deficits, but rather a different, more focused strategy for using attention”
- Dr. Wenn Lawson