Section 2: Understand how social interaction may differ in individuals with autism
Q5: Describe how social development may be delayed or affected for individuals with autism. (2.1)
The triad of improvements appears once more as the cause of delayed social development for individuals with autism. As it affects the social side of the individual, though varies person to person, it can be a reasonable cause of the delay. There can also be other issues that can contribute to a delay of social development including problems during the birth or infancy of the individual, problems with very early stages of play and ‘learned’ environmental problems. Usually, babies with autism or those who will be diagnosed later on will show signs of delayed social development from birth as the baby can show problems with being in physical contact with their mother. There may also be a di ficulty with interactions such as playing or breastfeeding as the baby may feel discomfort with physical contact with the mother. Another significant symptom of autism is lack of emotions, such as the baby not smiling or talking which can make parents and carers feel as if the child is not enjoying themselves with play or not content. Due to the lack of responsiveness, this can make parents feel disappointed or rejected which can make the parent less likely to engage with their child which can break the bond and make it even harder for social skills to develop. The delay of baby milestones such as their first word and their first step can cause anxiety amongst parents which the child can then detect and react to.

Q6: Describe the difficulties individuals with autism may experience with social interaction. (2.2)
The triad of impairments already signifies a delay of social development and there are many difficulties that go alongside this for those with autism. Sensory processing disorder can affect the individual’s sensors causing heightened feelings and emotions and feelings of uncomfortableness when in situations that they are not comfortable in such as loud crowds of lots of people especially if they are not used to this. This can cause an individual with autism to feel distressed and unlikely to put themselves in the situation again affecting their confidence and self-esteem. Those with autism may also struggle with social norms and rules as they will not fully understand how they work this can cause new situations being difficult for them as they may not understand how someone else is going to react to something they say which can cause further anxiety as they may for worried that they may not be accepted or understand the conversation. For example if someone with autism were to speak to another individual that they’ve never met before this can be quite stressful as they are unsure how the other person is going to react whether they’re going to reject them, or what type of communication techniques they use whether or not they will accept the individual with autism communication technique. Fear of rejection usually affects those with Aspergers Syndrome or more high
functioning autism. Those who have experienced hostility from newer typical individuals may feel less likely to engage in social interaction because they don’t want to experience any negativity or hostility again. Those with an obsessive or repetitive obsession may feel uncomfortable in the situation as especially if it is a new situation because it may not be part of their routine and they may not know what to talk about other than their obsession and they can stress about how the other person can feel
about it as they are unsure of the other person’s reaction. They can also be worried due to different communication methods and the person is speaking to you may not be accepting of their communication methods for example if they used noises or gestures they may not understand or be able to interpret what the person is saying and therefore may feel anxious and distressed about speaking to someone as they may not be able to be understood.

Q7: Explain the links between social development and speech and language development in individuals with autism. (2.3)
Communication and social interaction are closely connected as the need to communicate and the type of communication method will depend on social interaction. it may be difficult for an individual with autism to communicate in the correct manner for the social interaction as they may not understand or find it difficult to process and interpret the language and communication style. Unlike individuals without autism, the individual would have had a delayed start meaning that they may not be as up-to-
date with another person’s way of speaking and therefore may be worried about the communication methods. During infancy, a neurotypical individual is more likely to smile and make babbling sounds which are then interpreted and encouraged by adults as an attempt of communication. Parents are usually happy that their child is responding to them and was respond in a similar fashion with making noises back at the child which the child then takes as encouragement and laugh back and continue the exchange encouraging apparent to keep communicating this way. This helps the bond of the parent and the child and gives them a shared experience for the child to keep building up their social development and eventually say words in spoken language. They will usually then take this experience and use it with adults and other children that they may not have met before due to the positive reaction of their parents. This helps the child to develop their social skills and helps them learn important communication skills helping this child to engage in social interaction with a range of different people and improve their self-confidence and self-esteem. During nursery, the children become Toddlers and are more likely to use a bigger range of babbling noises and usually around this time they begin to speak. The new environment of being in nursery just a child more and more complex environment where they have to learn different types of communication to be able to talk to the children and
the adults. This teaches them how to communicate and different scenarios. the child will need to learn how to portray their needs to the adults and helps them identify what will work for them and what doesn’t work for them such as needs being types of food or wanting to nap. this helps the child become more experienced in communication which improves their self-confidence and self-esteem helping them to push themselves to go into more social scenarios that develop their skills full stop in schools
they are likely to push themselves further as they will need to be able to communicate with those older and younger than them and adults for different reasons. They will need to be able to develop their social skills which can be improved during lessons and gaining new knowledge. They will also be able to develop friendships and understand actions of how other individuals will take different types of communication tone and volume whether it be positive or negative. This can sometimes be taught by
other children adults or even the teachers. This will help the child become more confident in their own social development. During school the child will either favour acceptance from the teachers or the students and this will affect their social development full stop during early Adulthood the child has learnt a lot of social skills from when they were the child and these will need to be implemented in different scenarios they will also develop social skills to help them to keep friends and build
relationships whether friendship or romantic Lee it can also help them to get jobs or going to interviews for further education.

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