My child has autism
The key feature of children with autism is their difficulty understanding social interactions. The Essential Skill that needs to be developed in children and youth with autism is the skill of Social Attention.
Autism is complex, because there are actually two Essential Skills that children and youth need to master: Social Attention and Cognitive Flexibility. Even though Cognitive Flexibility is under-developed in children and youth with autism, it is not discussed here. You can learn about Cognitive Flexibility when you read the chapter on Refusal/ Disruptive Behaviors. In this chapter, we’ll focus on Social Attention.
essential skill: social attention
Social attention refers to the act of noticing (paying attention to) things that are social. It’s about noticing what humans do, learning from their behaviors, and learning how to get their attention. Limited or absent social attention is the core feature of autism. Social attention is also the primary skill that’s needs further development for the child with autism to socialize successfully.
How do you know if social attention is present? The presence of social attention is measured through observable behaviors. Social attention behaviors include behaviors such as the ones listed here:
Making eye contact with others, or responding to the eye contact from others
Responding to the touch of others; using touch to get the attention of others
Watching others, and learning from them by imitating them
Copying what other people do
Saying something to another person, with the intention of getting their attention
Responding to someone when you are spoken to
Turning your body towards someone who is trying to make a connection with you
Engaging in social play behaviors. Social play behaviors include puppet play, playing with dolls or action figures, or playing dress-up. Any play that involves thinking about human behaviors and thinking about how to respond to the behaviors of others counts as social play. During the play, the child or adolescent makes characters talk with each other, or makes them mimic human behaviors of different kinds
The behaviors above have to occur often, occur over extended periods of time, and have to be socially effective before you can say that a child or adolescent has a normal level of Social Attention. when the above behaviors are fleeing, absent, or very limited in number, you can consider the child or adolescent to have under-developed or limited Social Attention.
Difficulty socializing is not the same thing as difficulty with Social Attention.
Many children with disabilities struggle to socialize, and might seem to struggle in their Social Attention. Children and adolescents with ADHD, Developmental Language Disorder, Anxiety, or Disruptive Behaviors can all struggle to socialize successfully. The main reason why so many children and youth with disabilities struggle to socialize is because they are struggling to harness their attention span, to regulate their emotional state, or to find the words or language they need to socialize. These challenges are real and are discussed throughout this website. However, these challenges are distinct from the challenge of under-developed Social Attention.
Why social attention matters
Social attention is important because it’s so critical for understanding how humans behave, for being able to predict what they will do, and for learning. An important goal for any child with autism is to develop their awareness of the behaviors of humans, teach them how to predict what they will do, getting ones’ needs and wants met, and learning new skills.
what it looks like when social attention is missing or under-developed
Most children with autism do show social attention, just not that often or for very long. Example behaviors that reveal absence or limited social attention are listed here:
Failure to notice people. A child with autism might walk past you or climb onto your lap to gain access to something.
Failure to notice that there are other people in the room
Failure to respond to you when you call them by name, or when you use other strategies to get their attention
Low frequency and limited duration of noticing others.
Eye contact may occur, but it’s brief. Eye contact might occur but without the intention of gaining anyone’s attention
excessive prompting from adults is needed to elicit Social Attention in the child or youth
The child’s attempts at socializing are unusual or awkward. For example, a child with autism might push other children because they are trying to make a connection with them. Or, they might start talking at other children, and not notice that the peer is not listening, or looks bored, or makes hints that they do not want to socialize.
Are you ready for a deeper dive?
Your child’s educational needs will depend upon their level of language, their age, and how much instrutcion they have already received. Depending upon the child, the skills above may take a few years to master. Sometimes, the child will not master the skills listed above. Oftentimes, their level of mastery in understanding and paying social attention depends upon their level of mastery of language.
You may need to accept a slow pace of learning. You may also need to accept that your child might not develop all of the skills above. In contrast, you may think that your child is ready for much more advanced instruction. If the above Social Attention skills are either too advanced or not advanced enough for your child, click on the link below, More Essential Skills for Autism. Even though Social Attention is the key skill for the student with autism to master there are other skills or behaviors that are good to review, and that can help build your child’s social attention.