Why do Autistic Kids Socialize Lesser? | Understanding Social Symptoms
A simple game to guess the outcome by picking a hand has recently started gaining momentum that researchers believe is helpful in understanding why and how autistic kids interact with people in their inner circle.
Katherine Stavropoulos, assistant professor from the University of California says, “One needs to look closely at the electrical activities in young brains to understand the differences in the respective group based reward systems.”
Scientists and clinicians alike have proposed a variety of different theories in an attempt to explain why kids with autism condition are less inclined socially than their normally developing peers. Attempting autism test for toddlers can help parents to have deeper insights into their children’s social, behavioral and other related symptoms.
Parents need to understand; at times social motivation hypothesis does not work with kids diagnosed with autism condition because they might find social interactions less rewarding. Stavropoulos comments, “Autistic kids often find lights too bright or noises too loud.”
The professor further explains, “Majority of us would hesitate to converse with someone who comes as screaming.”
We shouldn’t underestimate theories surrounding the condition as there might be a possibility of them existing in tandem explains Stavropoulos. The team used electrophysiology to study neural activities among 43 children aged between 7 and 10. Out of 43 children, 20 had an autism diagnosis while others were typically developing children.
During guessing game simulation activity, participants were exposed to nonsocial and social rewards. Each participant had to wear a 33-electrode-cap and sit in front of a computer. Participants had to choose a box that was the right one by clicking on the screen.
Researchers note, giving away different types of rewards helps in understanding neural reactions of participants with right simulations in place.
The reward systems were subdivided into 2 stages
- Reward Anticipation
- Reward Processing
Participants had to play the game in two blocks
-
Social Block
Smiling faces popped up when the kids participating in social block sessions made the right choice. On the other hand, those with wrong selection saw a sad face.
-
Non-social Block
Non-social blocks included scrambled faces reformed into arrow shapes highlighting correct answers while denoting the incorrect ones.
Stavropoulos explains, “Similar to autism test for toddlers, when kids saw their selections being right or wrong, we were able to accurately gauge their post-stimulus activity.” Typically developing kids loved social rewards whereas autistic kids were more responsive to social feedback.
Can attempting autism test for toddlers help you understand your kid’s traits towards the condition? Feel free to share your thoughts by commenting in the comment box below.
Ruby Joseph
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Ruby Joseph editor
Hi, my name is Ruby Joseph and I am Editor in Chief @ Autism Times. Every piece of article written and published on the site has to go through my desk before it reaches you.
Wondering why?
Because no one other than the one who has an autism diagnosis can understand others who have autism.
I am an autistic and happy to be associated with one of the best leading autism platforms today.
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