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.
Recognizing an emotion in a face depends in part on information from the eyes and mouth. People with autism often avoid looking into other people's eyes, which could contribute to their difficulty detecting emotions.
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.
People with autism are just as good at reading emotions in body language as kids without the disorder according to Rachel David from New Scientist, “The findings call into question whether people with autism really do have trouble reading others emotions, or if previous studies mistakenly focused on reading emotion ...
Autistic pre-teens and teenagers might know the words for emotions but still have trouble recognising them in themselves and others, particularly when they're upset. They might also have difficulty recognising other people's facial expressions, tone of voice or body language.
Research from 2018 has shown that autistic people may have difficulties with cognitive empathy (recognizing another person's emotional state) but not affective empathy (the ability to feel another's emotional state and a drive to respond to it).
Autism and Emotional Intelligence
Many autistics struggle with emotional intelligence. Some psychologists believe that the concept of theory of mind explains this.
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.
While some people with autism merely yell or stamp, many really do become overwhelmed by their own emotions. 3 Bolting, hitting, self-abuse, crying, and screaming are all possibilities. These can be particularly frightening—and even dangerous—when the autistic individual is physically large.
Some autistic people can experience difficulties making themselves understood, understanding what's being said to them, and understanding facial expressions and body language. This can cause considerable frustration and anxiety which may result in anger or distressed behaviour.
Autistic kids and adults tend to do very well in socializing with cats, dogs, horses, etc. Interacting with animals brings out more advanced socialization skills, which they can then use, to some extent, with other humans.
Yes. A study by Washington State University shows autistic children had a different visual response to light. Their pupils reacted 16 milliseconds slower for low-level flashes and 40 milliseconds for brighter beams than their non-autistic peers. Eye-tracking technology can also help diagnose ASD in infants.
People with autism often experience love differently from neurotypical people. Their expression of love is less straightforward, as they tend to rely heavily on non-verbal communication.
People with autism often speak with a different rhythm, prosody, and/or volume than typical peers. Thus, even if the words themselves are appropriate, they may sound flat, loud, soft, or otherwise different. It's not unusual for people with autism to "script" their conversations.
Finally, we recently observed in a larger sample of patients, who presented in specialized outpatient clinics for ASD, a bimodal IQ distribution within ASD individuals [38.2% below average intelligence (i.e., IQ < 85), 40% with above average intelligence (IQ > 115) and 21.8% with an average intelligence (IQ between 85 ...
Autism Prevalence
31% of children with ASD have an intellectual disability (intelligence quotient [IQ] <70), 25% are in the borderline range (IQ 71–85), and 44% have IQ scores in the average to above average range (i.e., IQ >85). Autism affects all ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
It's long been known that a subset of ASD patients will show extraordinary gifts in mental acuity and computation. These autistic savants exist at the other end of the spectrum, exhibiting feats of mental intelligence that the neurotypical can only marvel at.
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.
The country with the highest rate of diagnosed autism in the world is Qatar, and the country with the lowest rate is France. Around 4 times as many boys have autism as girls.
If someone in your family has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), you may be more likely to have a child with ASD. ASD can look very different from person to person, so taking a careful family health history can be important for early diagnosis.
Although autistic people may struggle to interact with others, many autistic people have said they find interacting with other autistic people more comfortable.
Many people affected by autism like to review conversations to themselves. This can include repeating lines from their favorite movies, TV shows or YouTube channels. We call this “scripting.” It's a common repetitive behavior that can be a source of comfort when the person is anxious or excited.
Individuals with autism often have a number of unusual physical characteristics, called dysmorphologies, such as wide-set eyes or broad foreheads. Dysmorphic features may mark a subgroup of individuals who have autism with a distinct underlying genetic cause.