My child has autism
The key feature of children with autism is their difficulty understanding social interactions. autism is complex, because there are two essential skills that they need to master: social cognition and cognitive flexibility. cognitive flexibility is missing or under-developed in children with autism, but also for those with disruptive behaviors. you’ll learn more about cognitive flexibility when you read the chapter on Disruptive Behaviors. in this chapter, we’ll focus on social cognition.
Typical social cognition development
Social cognition is manifest by pro-social behaviors. Newborns make eye contact and smile at their parents.
Attachment. Late in their first year, they develop a preference for their primary carers- they know who their parents are and they prefer being near to their parents. This is the skill of attachment.
Imitation. social cognition is also manifest by imitation and empathy. Humans are biologically programmed to imitate other humans. They copy what others do. Imitation can occur spontaneously and immediately, but as social attention develops, imitation can also occur after a delay. Imitation refers to copying the actions of others, often of cherished adults. It signals closeness. Spontaneous imitating occurs in the early toddler years.
Empathy. Empathy is the automatic sharing of feelings between two humans. It occurs spontaneously. The feeling that’s shared can be positive or negative. Empathy emerges in the early toddler years.
Social attention. Social attention occurs in the late toddler years and in the preschool years. Social attention refers to paying attention to what others do. It consist of copying and imitating (right away but also after a delay). More important, it consists of watching others, seeking out others, using eye contact to create a connection with others, and enjoying a verbal or emotional exchange with others. Social attention also shows up in the play behaviors of preschoolers- by copying real life, they are revealing how much attention they pay to things that are human.
Joint attention. Joint attention is a more highly develped kind of social attention. in joint attention ,the child knows that their social partner might not be paying attention to the same thing that they just noticed, and they try to get their social partner to notice what they noticed. they are seeking out shared attention, even though it emerges as early as 18 months, joint attention is actually a more sophisticated skill than mere social attention. in joint attention the toddler has understood that other minds do not have the same information as their own mind. by sharing attention, the toddler can influence the mind of their social partner. joint attention is more clearly a preschool level skill.
Theory of mind. Theory of mind is the skill of thinking about or knowing about the thoughts and feelings of others. Theory of mind starts to emerge in the preschool years, but it’s more properly a kindergarten or early school age skill. Children can imagine how their friends feel, what they are thinking about, what they believe, and also understand the notion of a false belief.
All of the above skills are skills we call “social cgnition.’
social cognition and autism
in autism, the social cognition skills that we reviewed above can develop but it’s a much slower process. as the child ages into the school age years, they start to pay more attention to the social behaviors of others, and might start imitating and showing empathic emotional reactions. Children with autism are believed not to show imitation or empathy as spontaneously or as clearly as children without autism. they end up having greater difficutly showing their social attention, understanding joint attention, and making use of theory of mind.
goal: improve social cognition
Objectives for social cognition
Build up attachment, imitation, and empathy. the skills of attachment, imitation, and ampethy are hard to teach. some children with autism simply don’t experience these aspects of social cognition and cannot be forced to experience something they cannot see or feel. that said, they can learn about attachment figures, and they can learn about imitation and empathy if they develop enough language. for children with autism who have limited language, a predictable schedule and predictable behaviors of adults will serve as a proxy for developing attachment.
Build up social attention. children with autism can be taught to pay more social attention. they can be taught about eye contact, and how eye contact can be useful to make connections with others so that you can get personal needs met.
Build joint attention.
Build theory of mind skills