- evaluating human voices
- assigning the emotional value of different stimuli (e.g., deciding when something is disgusting)
- attaching an incoming signal with an emotional value
- deciding whether a social signal really matters
- deciphering prosody, the additional tones and ways that people add layers of meaning to their spoken words
- generating an initial emotional response to social stimuli (e.g., Should someone’s tone really impact me as much as it does? What does someone’s look really mean, and am I overreacting?)
- generating reactions in response to different situations
- helping control basic visual information
- helping us notice where someone else is looking
- selecting which of the myriad incoming social signals are the most important
- allowing us to observe other human bodies
- allowing us to know when incoming social signals are rewarding
- helping us to not just listen to what people say, but HOW it is said
- observing minute details of facial expression and body language
- perceiving important social cues
- regulating strong human emotions
In a way, you can say that people with AS and HFA have an overly-developed rational brain, and an under-developed social brain.
- appear to only be concerned with their own needs and wants
- experience a delay in the development of the idea that the self is equal in importance to that of others
- have difficulty understanding that others have their own mind, point of view, feelings, and priorities
- problems attributing mental states to others or to be able to describe what others might be feeling in a given situation (the ability to guess others’ states of mind is related to one’s ability to effectively practice introspection on one’s own)
- the inability to guess others’ mental states often results in (a) “social mistakes” (e.g., unintentionally saying something highly offensive), and (b) attributing negative intentions in others that aren’t there
- a lack of developed private self-consciousness, which is a predictor of paranoia (the ability to know one’s self in some way relates to the skill in attributing feelings and motivations to others)
- will take statements by others in a more concrete and literal fashion
- they have to work harder than NTs at theorizing what others are experiencing
- are more concerned with facts, figures, and data than relating to people
- they need more time than others to understand social subtleties in language (e.g., irony, sarcasm, some forms of humor)
- difficulty linking behavior of others to their inner feelings, and as a result, can’t understand or predict someone’s behavior
- difficulty linking their own behavior to the feelings of others, thus they are unable to anticipate or predict such a response
- put more weight on words or actions
- put less weight on body language, facial expressions, and physical appearances
- don’t put them in a position where they have to decipher hints, innuendos, subtext, or passive-aggressive behavior – instead, use plain speech
- don’t assume that their lack of normal eye contact means that they are sneaky, lying, or undependable
- talk about what you “think” about a particular topic, rather than how to “feel” about it (e.g., “I think a conservative political viewpoint contributes to the individual becoming more self-sufficient and less reliant on government” … instead of, “How do feel about conservatism”).
More resources for Neurodiverse Couples:
==> Online Group Therapy for Men with ASD
==> Online Group Therapy for NT Wives
==> Living With Aspergers: Help for Couples
==> Online Group Therapy for Couples and Individuals Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder
==> Cassandra Syndrome Recovery for NT Wives
==> Videos to help you understand your partner on the autism spectrum...
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