CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 136Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchChild and Animal Learning DevelopmentDisability Rights and Representation

What do new findings about social interaction in autistic adults mean for neurodevelopmental research?

Open access
Davis, Rachael, Crompton, Catherine J.·2021·Perspectives on Psychological Science
DOI 10.1177/1745691620958010PMC PMC8114326
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Deficit-based accounts of social and communication abilities continue to dominate autism research. However, emerging findings suggest that this view may be overly simplistic and discount the two-way nature of interaction. Here we discuss the reconceptualization of social cognition to consider such difficulties as examples of bidirectional, multifaceted misattunement between autistic and nonautistic individuals. Aligned with progressive theoretical frameworks, emerging empirical research indicates that mismatches in communication styles can contribute to autistic social difficulties and the important role that nonautistic difficulties play. We highlight two areas of future research with the aim of providing empirical support for the views that the autistic community has proposed over the past 2 decades. We discuss the impact of such a paradigm shift on a number of levels, including how bridging the gap between different interaction styles can reduce stigma and increase understanding. Adopting such a framework will provide radical opportunities for transformative societal changes and education around inclusion.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/1745691620958010

Cites

42 of 42 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Within the neurodiversity framework, the Autistic way of socializing, communicating, and sensing is seen as an alternate and acceptable form of human biology that should be celebrated and accommodated rather than corrected or cured.

    “Within this framework, the Autistic way of socializing, communicating, and sensing is seen as an alternate and acceptable form of human biology that should be celebrated and accommodated rather than corrected or cured (Davis & Crompton, 2021; Ortega, 2009).”

    From Neurodiversity and Autism Intervention: Reconciling Perspectives Through a Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention Framework (2022) · cites this paper as Davis & Crompton, 2021

    In “Toward a New Theoretical Understanding of Autism and Social Interaction” (page unavailable), Davis and Crompton endorse a neurodiversity approach focused on difference rather than deficit, inclusion, and support. The paper discusses differences in sensory processing, but the passages do not present autistic sensory experience as something to celebrate or explicitly advocate accommodation rather than correction or cure. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Even Autistic people who lack fluency in neurotypical social skills can engage in successful interactions and form meaningful, reciprocal social bonds with others on and off the spectrum.

    “It is imperative to keep in mind that even Autistic people who lack fluency in “neurotypical” social skills can engage in successful interactions and form meaningful, reciprocal social bonds with others on and off the spectrum (Chen et al., 2021; Crompton et al., 2020; Davis & Crompton, 2021; Heasman & Gillespie, 2019).”

    From Neurodiversity and Autism Intervention: Reconciling Perspectives Through a Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention Framework (2022) · cites this paper as Davis & Crompton, 2021

    The paper’s Abstract reports that autistic people interact successfully with other autistic people and describes the value of autistic peer relationships. Its Standardized Assessments section also says autistic people can interact efficiently even when their styles do not conform to nonautistic norms. The paper does not establish the claim’s further point about forming meaningful, reciprocal bonds with nonautistic people. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Milton's Double Empathy Problem proposes a misalignment between the minds of autistic and nonautistic people, highlighting a lack of reciprocity in cross-neurotype interactions as the source of social communication difficulties between autistic and nonautistic people.

    “Milton’s (2012) influential Double Empathy Problem proposes a misalignment between the minds of autistic and nonautistic people, highlighting a lack of reciprocity in cross‐neurotype interactions as the source of social communication difficulties between autistic and nonautistic people (Davis & Crompton, 2021; Milton, Heasman, & Sheppard, 2018; Mitchell, Sheppard, & Cassidy, 2021).”

    From Annual Research Review: Shifting from ‘normal science’ to neurodiversity in autism science (2022) · cites this paper as Davis & Crompton, 2021

  • Social challenges do not lie solely within an Autistic person-they are relational, meaning that the interactional partner shares responsibility for preventing and remedying misunderstandings and social rejection.

    “Providers must also understand that social challenges do not lie solely within an Autistic person—they are relational, meaning that the interactional partner shares responsibility for preventing and remedying misunderstandings and social rejection (Davis & Crompton, 2021; Keating & Cook, 2020; Milton, 2012; Sasson et al., 2017).”

    From Neurodiversity and Autism Intervention: Reconciling Perspectives Through a Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention Framework (2022) · cites this paper as Davis & Crompton, 2021

  • Communication differences between autistic and non-autistic people are reciprocal, emerging through mismatches in how meaning is expressed and understood.

    “The double empathy problem further highlights that communication differences between autistic and non-autistic people are reciprocal, emerging through mismatches in how meaning is expressed and understood (Milton, 2012; Crompton et al., 2020; Davis and Crompton, 2021)”

    From The system-level organisational design framework: a neuro-cognitive trait interaction approach to workplace inclusion for autistic people (2026) · cites this paper as Davis and Crompton, 2021

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Davis, R., & Crompton, C. J.
Affiliations
University of Edinburgh (GB)
Corresponding author
Davis, Rachael
ORCID
Venue
Perspectives on Psychological Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2021-02-09
Volume
16
Issue
3
Pages
649-653
ISSN
  • 1745-6916 (ISSN-L)
  • 1745-6924
DOI
10.1177/1745691620958010
PMC
PMC8114326
OpenAlex
W3126209166
Cited by
136
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 7
FWCI
10.52
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Perspectives on Psychological Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Queen Margaret University Publications Repository (Queen Margaret University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/P00265X/1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, autistic adults, social interaction, social cognition, deficit model, misattunement, bidirectional interaction, stigma, inclusion
MeSH terms
Social Interaction, Adult, Autistic Disorder, Communication, Humans, Research

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review