Social Relations & The Asperger's relation

A child with AS normally has several problems when it comes to handling social situations and the appropriate use of social scripting as recommended by Todd Cardin through his personal experience can help to guide a child in the right direction. Some characteristics of the impaired social relations are:

  • Social Reciprocity: This is characterized by the inability to correctly participate in the “give and take” of the normal social interaction. There are commonly two extremes present. The first is where a child tends to take a false control of the situation where they initiate interaction but try to lead the conversation along terms they have created. The other extreme is when a child is often withdrawn or very quiet. They may become frightened, confused, or just upset at not being able to handle constant social interactions which lead to an outward withdrawal.
  • Interpreting and reacting to various social situations: A person with Asperger’s does not necessarily have an intact processing system that would normally allow them to interpret and react to the nuances present in a number of social situations. This means that people with AS often respond incorrectly or oddly to a situation because of the inability to interpret what is taking place.
  • Social rules: A child may have a hard time following the accepted social rules even after constant reminders, redirection, and observation. Because the perception of social environments is skewed, it is often difficult to know when a rule should be applied and it is therefore unintentionally broken.
  • Expressing/understand emotional states: This is a very important area that is addressed with Todd Cardin’s social scripting. Children diagnosed with Asperger’s can have a hard time recognizing and understanding their emotions and the emotions of others. Emotional states can also be very difficult to regulate especially during times of high stress. Emotionally charged situations can cause behavioral problems including tantrums, destructive habits, acting out, and severe withdrawal.