Abstract
Autism is a lifelong disorder, defined by deficits in social interactions and flexibility. To date, diagnostic markers for autism primarily include limitations in social behavior and cognition. However, such tests have often shown to be inadequate for individuals with autism who are either more cognitively able or intellectually disabled. The assessment of the social limitations of autism would benefit from new tests that capture the dynamics of social initiative and reciprocity in interaction processes, and that are not dependent on intellectual or verbal skills. New entry points for the development of such assessments may be found in ‘bodily connectedness’, the attunement of bodily movement between two individuals. In typical development, bodily connectedness is related to psychological connectedness, including social skills and relation quality. Limitations in bodily connectedness could be a central mechanism underlying the social impairment in autism. While bodily connectedness can be minutely assessed with advanced techniques, our understanding of these skills in autism is limited. This Perspective provides examples of how the potential relation between bodily connectedness and specific characteristics of autism can be examined using methods from the coordination dynamics approach. Uncovering this relation is particularly important for developing sensitive tools to assess the tendency to initiate social interactions and the dynamics of mutual adjustments during social interactions, as current assessments are not suited to grasp ongoing dynamics and reciprocity in behavior. The outcomes of such research may yield valuable openings for the development of diagnostic markers for autism that can be applied across the lifespan.
Highlights
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a lifelong impairing disorder, or group of disorders, defined by deficits in social communication and interaction, and restrictive, repetitive interests (Lai et al, 2014)
We focus on social initiative and social reciprocity
Signs of bodily connectedness have been reported for typically developing (TD) individuals when they are engaged in a mutual task, even when the bodily movements are immaterial to the joint task performance [e.g., when solving a cognitive puzzle through verbal interaction (Shockley et al, 2003)]
Summary
Autism Spectrum Disorder (from hereon: autism) is a lifelong impairing disorder, or group of disorders (prevalence >1%), defined by deficits in social communication and interaction, and restrictive, repetitive interests (Lai et al, 2014). Poor social initiative and reciprocity are most apparent during spontaneous interactions between individuals Detailed assessment of these impairments requires measuring the dynamics of ongoing interactions, to capture potential asymmetries in the mutual contributions of interacting individuals. Intelligent individuals with autism (around 50%; Wingate et al, 2014) rely on cognitive abilities to compensate social limitations This enables them to disguise these limitations, during conceptual (Scheeren et al, 2013) or standard situations (Begeer et al, 2010), while remaining limited in reallife interactions (Klin et al, 2003). The assessment of the social limitations of autism would benefit from tests that (i) capture the dynamics of social initiative and reciprocity in interaction processes, and (ii) are not susceptible to cognitive compensation, or dependent on intellectual or verbal skills. There is a particular scarcity of measures that assess elementary social limitations during direct social interactions, taking into account who initiates the interaction, how interactants are influenced by social triggers, and to what extent they contribute to the interaction in a balanced manner
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