Children with a high autism spectrum quotient recognize multiple emotions like anger and sadness by observing facial expressions. However, children with autistic disorders have atypical neural networks, which makes it more difficult for them to identify the same emotions from facial expressions.
In particular, autistic people tend to be less able to accurately identify anger from facial expressions produced at a normal 'real world' speed. The researchers also found that for people with a related disorder, alexithymia, all expressions appeared more intensely emotional.
There's a common perception that autistic individuals are poor at recognizing others' emotions and have little insight into how effectively they do so. But Autistic adults are only slightly less accurate at reading people's facial emotions compared to their non-autistic peers, according to new Australian research.
Individuals with autism, like neurotypical individuals, are impaired in their recognition of upside-down faces, have difficulty dissociating the top and bottom halves of faces in face composite task, and show superior recognition of face parts when presented in the whole face stimulus.
Children who are autistic typically perform at average or above average levels when it comes to decoding written language. However, they are generally better at sounding out and identifying words than understanding what they have read. This may be because comprehension is a more abstract skill than decoding.
Therefore, it appears that while some individuals may be aware they are autistic, others may not fully understand why they have difficulties connecting with people socially or engaging in conversation - yet still realize they are 'different. '
Signs of High-Functioning Autism in Children
May appear more mature for their age and have above-average intelligence. A tendency to avoid eye contact. Trouble deviating from a routine or adapting to changes. Trouble making friends and maintaining social relationships or not “fitting in” with peers.
Some children with autism smile to show they're happy but don't share their enjoyment. Others show little facial expression or have flat affect and rarely smile so you may not know when they're happy.
Our findings suggest that individuals with autism are impaired in their ability to evaluate beauty, at least when beauty is associated with an objective parameter intrinsic to works of art (proportion in the case of classical representations).
In previous studies, children with autism have been found to have unusually wide faces and wide-set eyes. The cheeks and the nose are also shorter on their faces (Aldridge et al., 2011).
People with autism have difficulty making appropriate facial expressions at the right times, according to an analysis of 39 studies1. Instead, they may remain expressionless or produce looks that are difficult to interpret. The new work is the largest yet to explore this issue.
Some people who have autism actively avoid eye contact and appear confused and anxious when it occurs. Some seemed to make eye contact relatively early but later reported they were actually looking at something that fascinated them (such as their reflection in one's eyeglasses).
There is no one specific facial feature that is characteristic of autism. However, some studies have suggested that individuals with autism may have a broader forehead or wider-set eyes than neurotypical individuals.
People with ASD have a reduced perception of their body movement or shift relative to their own postural orientation and equilibrium. At the clinic we often hear of issues such as fatigue, awkwardness, clumsiness and instability of their foot, ankle and hip joints.
For people on the autism spectrum, the world is a bewildering place. With oversensitive sensory systems, they battle to process the maelstrom of information flowing into their brains. Often the result is sensory overload, leading to signature behaviours such as tantrums, anxiety and social withdrawal.
Although autistic people may struggle to interact with others, many autistic people have said they find interacting with other autistic people more comfortable.
They found that although the autistic children did not differ from the younger, typically developing children in the amount of time spent looking at their own faces, but that they did spend a lot more time looking at objects in the mirror, and that their behavior toward their reflections differed from that of either ...
About stimming and autism
Stimming might include: hand and finger mannerisms – for example, finger-flicking and hand-flapping. unusual body movements – for example, rocking back and forth while sitting or standing. posturing – for example, holding hands or fingers out at an angle or arching the back while sitting.
Some studies have suggested that individuals with autism may have certain physical characteristics that are more common than in the general population. These include a broader face, wider set eyes, and a flatter mid-face region.
The behaviors that are attributable to both autism and vision problems can include lack of eye contact, staring at spinning objects or light, fleeting peripheral glances, side viewing, and difficulty attending visually. Autistic people may also have problems coordinating their central and peripheral vision.
Although the exact cause of autism is still unknown, there is evidence to suggest that genetics play a significant role. Since autism is less prevalent in females, autism was always thought to be passed down from the mother. However, research suggests that autism genes are usually inherited from the father.
A child with level 1 autism may understand and speak in complete sentences, but have difficulty engaging in back-and-forth conversation. Children with ASD level 1 experience some inflexibility of behavior, like difficulty switching between tasks, staying organized, and planning.
While there is no universal definition of "high-functioning autism," it remains an important distinction: ASD can otherwise be missed if a person doesn't have overt signs and symptoms, such as difficulty with communication, inappropriate social interactions, and repetitive or obsessive behaviors.