Autism and Social Interactions.

Back in chapter 9, the book had a small section about Autism and social interactions. Funnily enough, I have started volunteering at a U of M Social Skills Group for Adults, where clinicians lead people with high functioning Autism in conversations and activities, and give them tips and advice about how to interact with others. I was given the opportunity to interact with this special group and serve as another model of normal social and communication skills. Throughout the time I was there, I kept thinking back to Psychology and how interesting it was that we had just referenced this. Here were a few things that were going through my head:

-Their schedule is very set. People on the Autistic spectrum tend to function well when they stick to a schedule, and prefer things to be set, predictable, and understandable.

-Facial expressions and nonverbal cues are very difficult to grasp sometimes. It is hard for a number of autistic individuals to express and/ or understand "internal ideas." This means that the meaning behind body language, facial expressions, hand movements, gestures, voice fluctuations, etc., can often go undetected or misunderstood. Metaphors, sarcasm, and similar uses of figurative language can also be hard to understand because often people on the autistic spectrum understand things in a very literal and more basic sense.

-Exchanging different types of feelings can be an unprecedented struggle. For most people, it isn't that hard to identify what emotion they or others are experiencing, and how to correctly go from there. However, with many individuals with Autism, this is not the case. In Social Skills Group conversations, common questions the clinicians and leaders of the group asked the participants were: "How did that make you feel? How do you think he/she was feeling then? What do you think that would have felt like?" People on the Autistic spectrum may have to learn to associate certain feelings with the appropriate response to that feeling. This could include, for instance,  learning that when something bad happened to someone else, that made the other person feel sad. Therefore,  it would be appropriate to show the other person empathy.

Autism is a very complex and multifaceted disorder, and there are many people with all types of manifestations of it. This is why it is also referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder. I hope you got something helpful out of this, and maybe now better understand some of the daily challenges that accompany Autism.