It is believed that over 90% of children with Autistic Spectrum Condition will have social-communication difficulties, and approximately 65% of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Social-communication difficulties are also often associated with learning difficulties, including most commonly problems with literacy.
Symptoms of social-communication difficulties include:
* Difficulties interacting with family, friends and key care workers
* Reduced eye contact
* Difficulty using and reading facial expressions
* Difficulty using and reading body language
* Poor awareness of personal space
* Poor understanding of emotions/empathy
* Poor awareness of rules of conversation; e.g. turn-taking of speech
* Go off topic/monopolise conversations
* Non-meaningful/irrelevant speech
* Difficulty following instructions
* Not able to adapt speech for different listeners- e.g. talks to teacher in same way talks to peers
* Problems understanding meaning conveyed by tone of voice/or implied meaning
* Not giving background information when speaking to an unfamiliar person
* Poor greeting/farewells
* Literal and poor understanding of sarcasm
* Often delayed development of speech
Effects of social-communication difficulties:
* Poor parent/peer relationships
* Social isolation – difficulty making/keeping friends
* High levels of frustration/anxiety
* Emotionally volatile
* Inappropriate/poor behaviour – possibly method of disguising a lack of understanding
* Reduced literacy skills; including reading, writing and comprehension
* Difficulty in accessing curriculum – may cause child to fall behind academically/become disinterested in learning
If you would like more information, take a look at this short webcast by Alison, our Speech & Language Therapist