Why Autism Causes Struggles with Social Cues While language issues and missed cues can be frustrating to neurotypical individuals and many cues can be taught with enough practice, depending on the severity of a person’s condition, more can be done to help peers of autistic children learn to understand and accept their peer’s differences, and in turn help them better understand what is expected or wanted of them within a given situation. This is not a simple issue, and it’s not an issue entirely to blame on the diagnosis of autism. This can lead to individuals with autism being labeled as a “problem child.” Just as children with autism can have a hard time knowing how to speak appropriately, they often miss non-verbal cues which lead to others telling them how to behave. A common thread is a lack of understanding of pragmatics – how the use of language changes based on contexts, such as using a different tone with a teacher than with a friend, or an indoor voice versus a play voice – and prosody – the tempo and rhythm of speech, including concepts such as intonation, emphasis, and varying pitches. Different cases of autism exhibit wildly different issues. When it comes to non-verbal communication, similar issues occur. Other Examples – A child or young adult on the spectrum might not pick up on subtle cues to stop talking about something, whether it’s something that was shared as a secret or it’s simply a matter of speaking at length about a subject everyone else has lost interest in.Ĭan Individuals with Autism Struggle to Understand Non-Verbal Communication?.In other instances, such as a childless adult approaching a child at the park, this same behavior would be concerning. During parties, at your school’s orientation day, or kids interacting with each other at the park are all examples of when you may talk with strangers. Talking to Strangers – Within a certain context, it is perfectly normal to join a group of strangers and simply engage with them.Just as most children would intuitively know not to pick a group of strangers to suddenly talk to, neurotypical children naturally develop the means to pick up on subtle changes in one’s voice or body language to catch a lie, understand sarcasm, or know when information shared is meant to be a secret. Forming Cliques – Social cues can be most plainly seen in adolescents who develop cliques and a social hierarchy based on displays of dominance and shared interests.For children with ASD, these very complex rules are often completely unspoken and unnatural, and at first, completely incomprehensible. Social cues can be very complicated to understand because behavior that might be appropriate within a very specific context can be seen as wildly inappropriate in another context. Social cues range from subtext in the tone of one’s voice to unwritten and ‘obvious’ social etiquette. Social cues can be categorized as any non-verbal communication that is not previously codified or explained and the implied etiquette surrounding certain situations. To help better understand why a child or adult may miss social cues, it helps to understand what social cues are and why they are important. While some can cope with their troubles and develop the means to recognize and understand cues that were previously missed, many do not intuitively learn to cope with this difference in communicative skills and only improve with early and repeated intervention and professional support. Can You Have Autism and Understand Social Cues?ĭo individuals with autism not understand social cues? When other children or adults fail to say things ‘plainly’ and try to convey meaning through subtext or certain gestures, it’s likely that the individual with autism will misunderstand or completely miss the intended meaning.Īutism research has offered several theories as to why this is, but it is important to stress that missing social skills takes many forms and shapes. Additionally, social skills for high-functioning autism will look different than social skills for someone with severe autism. The rate at which someone with autism will miss social cues varies. It’s important to recognize that children and adults who miss social cues may be exhibiting signs of autism. It’s noted that cases of mild and severe autism often exhibit some form of social dysfunction, particularly in the realm of subtle, non-verbal communication. Few are as recognizable and common as the symptoms of ASD relating to social dysfunction. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed through a series of different symptoms.
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