What is ASD?
Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is an umbrella term referring to a group of disorders (such as autism and Aspergers syndrome). All people with autism will share difficulties in the following three areas, often referred to as the ‘triad of impairments’:
1. difficulties with social interaction;
2. difficulties with social communication and
3. difficulties with social imagination.
However, while everyone who has ASD shares difficulties in these three areas, the extent of their difficulties may vary considerably. While some people with ASD may be able to function so well in society that their peers do not know they have ASD, other people with ASD may rely very heavily on support to communicate with others, socialise and do basic everyday tasks.
Difficulties with social interaction
These include understanding other people’s emotions and feelings as well as expressing your own. For example, while people with Autism may want to make friends, they may not know how to do so or may not know how to maintain those friendships.
Difficulties with social communication
Over 80% of our communication is non-verbal. This means that over 80% of the messages we give out to people are through things such as eye contact, facial expressions, body language, the tone and rate of our speech. People with ASD may not know how to use these to give out the right messages to others or may not understand nonverbal communication that other people use (eg, may not differentiate the subtleties between ‘angry’ vs. ‘sad’ facial expressions). People with ASD may also have difficulty understanding jokes, humour and sarcasm as well as non-literal language (eg, ‘pull your socks up and do your work!’).
The amount of language that people with ASD can use varies significantly. While some can use language extremely well, others may also rely on gestures, pictures, objects etc.
Difficulties with social imagination
‘Difficulties with social imagination’ are different to a ‘lack of imagination’. Many people with autism are very creative and may be, for example, accomplished artists or writers.
We all use social imagination to help us understand other people's behaviour, make sense of abstract ideas, and to imagine situations outside the present moment. The consequence of having difficulties with social imagination is an inability to:
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understand and interpret other people's thoughts, feelings and actions
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predict what will happen next
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understand the concept of danger
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engage in imaginative play and activities
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prepare for change and plan for the future
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cope in new or unfamiliar situations.
What are the implications for education, life and society?
A person with ASD:
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May not understand those ‘invisiable’ social rules we do not think about but that are crucial to socialising. For example, using an appropriate topic of conversation with someone, not interrupting others, not sitting too close to other people.
- May not understand how others are feeling, making them appear arrogant or insensitive
- Prefer to spend time alone that make friends or spend times with family/peers
- May not seek comfort from others at times of need or stress
- May appear to behave strangely as they have difficulty expressing their needs and feelings.
Useful websites:
www.nas.org.uk
www.aboutautism.org.uk