Autism and Social Cues: Understanding the Challenges

People often communicate with more than just words. Our facial expressions and body language can help communicate what we are feeling about a situation. However, some people on the autism spectrum struggle to understand these social cues. They may misinterpret them and not know how to respond appropriately.

Oftentimes, autism affects how the brain processes information from social cues. Individuals with autism will often miss subtle hints about how a person may be feeling. However, there are ways to help people with autism spectrum disorder develop the skills to recognize social cues.

If you’d like to learn more about improving social skills in autism, you can download your free guide here:

What are social cues?

In its simplest definition, social cues are nonverbal signals used to communicate our reactions, thoughts, feelings, or intentions. Social cues play a vital role in how most people understand each other. They are a critical piece of successful social interactions.

Social cues help people navigate complex scenarios when verbal communication may not get the job done. They help us understand when it is time to speak in a conversation and when someone we love needs support.

Recognizing social cues is an important part of social interaction that many on the autism spectrum may find challenging. But once people with autism are able to recognize social cues, they can also learn the best ways to respond which can lead to meaningful social interactions.

Examples of social cues

There are a myriad of social cues that we use every day to help communicate without spoken language. Some of these social cues include:

• Facial expressions – These include movements with our mouths, like smiling or frowning to indicate happiness or sadness, or movements like raising our eyebrows, which can demonstrate surprise.
• Gestures – These can include nodding or shaking the head to demonstrate agreement or disagreement. Other gestures can include shrugging shoulders when uncertain or waving hands around to demonstrate anger or frustration.
• Body language – These can include how we are holding our arms or sitting in a chair. Open arms or sitting up straight can demonstrate a welcoming demeanor. Closed arms or slumping in a chair can demonstrate being closed off or experiencing discomfort.
• Tone of voice – This can be used to demonstrate excitement, seriousness, or sadness depending on how high or low the voice tone reaches.

How does autism affect understanding of social cues?

Recognizing social cues may be easy for neurotypical people, but it becomes a lot harder for many with autism spectrum disorder. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder often struggle to pick up on social cues due to their brains processing the information differently.

Facial expressions

A smile or a frown may be how we convey our emotions, but for some people with autism spectrum disorder, it is harder to gauge emotions from facial expressions. The inability to decipher facial expressions can lead to social difficulties for people on the autism spectrum.

Gestures

Body language and gestures may be used to demonstrate interest or disinterest in a situation, but people on the autism spectrum might misinterpret that perceived level of interest. While gestures may guide the conversation for some, they can become distracting to some people with autism spectrum disorder and lead to confusion for them.

Tone of voice

Slight changes in your tone can change the meanings of certain words, such as implying a sarcastic or excited tone. Unfortunately, many on the autism spectrum may struggle to recognize the subtle nuance of these tone of voice changes leading to verbal communication challenges. My own son struggled with sarcasm leading him to take certain things literally that weren’t intended to be literal.

Social contexts

Most social interactions will have some unspoken rules about how they should develop. Nonverbal cues, like when to jump into a conversation, may be missed by those on the autism spectrum. This can lead to an unintentional social faux pas when the autistic person accidentally talks over someone because they missed the social cues.

Impact of not understanding social cues

For those with autism spectrum disorder, missing social cues profoundly impacts social relationships and interactions. Those impacts often lead to barriers that make it more difficult for autistic people to build meaningful relationships. Many on the spectrum experience increased anxiety and stress due to the social isolation that can damage their overall well-being.

My own son missed many social cues early on due to his tendency to take things literally. This contributed to him feeling alone at times. While in certain situations, he would thrive socially, in others, he would be seen as pushy or strange.

While some on the autism spectrum may seem to not have any emotions, he would become a ball of emotion after missing social cues.

My son would stand too close to his peers in school causing them to ask him to back off. When he wouldn’t, or if he did it again, they would snap at him. These negative social interactions led to further communication challenges as he experienced social isolation.

He had trouble maintaining conversations due to his inability to stand still with others thinking he was done talking to them. Eventually, he was able to learn the social skills necessary to have successful social interactions.

How to teach social cues in autism?

While it can be challenging for autistic children to understand certain social cues, there are strategies and supports available that can help your child’s ability to pick up on these cues. Autism research found these methods to be effective in social skills development.

ABA therapy

While controversial to some in the autism community, ABA therapy has proven to have some advantages when it comes to teaching social skills to children with autism.

ABA therapy likes to break down complex social interactions and teach them as smaller, more manageable steps for interaction. ABA tends to use reinforcement principles and repetitive behaviors to encourage positive social skills and help recognize social cues.

Early intervention and professional support

Early intervention can help a child with autism by teaching them social skills at an early age that help them identify social cues. Many early intervention programs are designed to cater to children on the autism spectrum and their needs as they deal with delayed development.

Meanwhile, professional support can extend beyond the child. This support can give parents and caregivers the tools they need to assist their loved ones with autism spectrum disorder as they develop.

Practical exercises to recognize social cues

While early intervention, professional support, and ABA therapy can go a long way to help those with autism recognize social cues, parents and caregivers need exercises to help incorporate into their loved one’s daily routines. Some practical exercises that can help teach social skills include:

All of these can be used in social interaction scenarios to help those with autism spectrum disorder interpret social cues and practice social skills. They help illustrate and explain the situation and have been shown to assist in social development.

Many experts believe these tools can be used for instruction and teachable moments to practice in realistic settings.

Autism and social cues

It can be very difficult for people on the autism spectrum to recognize many social cues neurotypical people take for granted. These can include nonverbal cues, facial expressions, and body language. Social communication difficulties can also contribute to social isolation, anxiety, and stress.

Parents and caregivers need to be patient while helping teach important social skills to our children with autism. Use social stories, visual supports, early intervention, and professional support to help develop these social skills. Positive reinforcement can help individuals with autism with their social skills training.

It can be a long journey both for the parent and their loved ones. However, helping your loved one on the autism spectrum practice social interactions and understand social cues can lead to more meaningful relationships for your loved ones and yourself.

FAQs

Q: Do autistic people struggle with social cues?

A: People on the autism spectrum often struggle with social cues. Communication challenges often cause individuals with autism to not understand the feelings and intentions of others if they aren’t specifically stated, leading to awkward social interactions.

Q: How does autism affect your social skills?

A: Autism spectrum disorder can negatively affect a person’s social skills. This can include misunderstanding social cues, struggles with verbal communication, and challenging social interactions.

Q: How do you teach an autistic person social cues?

A: Research has found social cues can be taught to individuals with autism through ABA therapy, early intervention, professional support, and practical exercises.

Q: Can you be autistic and not struggle socially?

A: While many on the autism spectrum may struggle with social development, there are no defining factors of autism. Many people on the spectrum are capable of social interaction without any struggles, while others may struggle with social cues.

Q: What social cues do autistic people not get?

A: People with autism tend to struggle with nonverbal social cues like facial expressions, body language, gestures, posture, and tone of voice.

References: 

Dimitris Bolis, Leonhard Schilbach, Observing and participating in social interactions: Action perception and action control across the autistic spectrum, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Volume 29, 2018, Pages 168-175, ISSN 1878-9293, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.01.009.

Forby L, Anderson NC, Cheng JT, Foulsham T, Karstadt B, Dawson J, Pazhoohi F, Kingstone A. Reading the room: Autistic traits, gaze behaviour, and the ability to infer social relationships. PLoS One. 2023 Mar 1;18(3):e0282310. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282310. PMID: 36857369; PMCID: PMC9977004.

International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education. 2021, 13 (3), 341-363, DOI: https://doi.org/10.26822/iejee.2021.195

Isni, Lutfi. (2018). The Importance of Social Skills for Autism. 10.2991/indoeduc-18.2018.7.

Kee jiar, Yeo & Teng, Kie. (2015). Social Skills Deficits in Autism: A Study among Students with Austim Spectrum Disorder in Inclusive Classrooms. Universal Journal of Educational Research. 3. 1001-1007. 10.13189/ujer.2015.031208.