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So excited! @RachaelVDavis & I have a new paper out where we explore what new findings about social interaction in autistic adults mean for neurodevelopmental research.
Thread! https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620958010
Thread! https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620958010
Recent work by @lizzieshephard, @Noahsasson & @Brett_Heasman (among others!) has explored the bi-directional nature of interaction difficulties between autistic & non-autistic people, and conversely, an ease in autistic-autistic interactions.
This has been encapsulated in @milton_damian Double Empathy Problem & @dimitrisbolis Dialectal Misattunement Hypothesis – and is also something that autistic people have been reporting anecdotally for a long time!
We don't know what mechanisms underly ease in autistic- interactions (tho @heasutherland's PhD is exploring this & @olivia_rifai has a paper under review, so watch this space!). Understanding these mechanisms is important for research, practice, & our understanding of autism.
In this paper, we propose two priority areas for this developing field of research...
1.Much of the research to date has focused on static states – we propose research to explore developmental processes too. The DMH predicts that gaps in autistic/non-autistic communication styles increase over time - what contributes to this widening gap in understanding?
2. In order to do this research, we need to create autism-specific and autism-inclusive standardised assessments that are sensitive to change and growth of social and communication behaviours in autistic people.
There is such cool work happening in this area. Writing this paper with @RachaelVDavis was a chance to reflect on that & get excited for what might come next for the field. Here’s a link again! https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620958010
