Autistic speech & nonverbal communication differences

The official diagnostic criteria for autism uses language specifying that autistic individuals display a deficit in social communication.^[1]American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) In contrast, at Embrace Autism, we often emphasize that autistic social communication methods are different from neurotypical social communication methods. We additionally tend to specify that this difference is not a deficit.

In this article, we explore how our social communication patterns may be different from those of neurotypicals, but not deficient.

Note: Here we use the term “nonverbal” to refer to aspects of communication that are unrelated to speech, words, and language (e.g., the way our body looks when we communicate). This does not mean that an autistic who does not speak is nonverbal. The term “non-speaking” is used to refer to times when autistics do not speak. Non-speaking does not mean nonverbal! In fact, we all have patterns of nonverbal communication regardless of whether we speak.

Nonverbal communication differences

One aspect of social communication which is often identified as being deficient in autistics is nonverbal communication. This includes eye contact, body language, facial expressions, etc. For example, many studies show that autistic individuals tend to perform poorly when tasked with identifying facial expressions.^[2]Recognition of emotions in autism: a formal meta-analysis (Uljarevic & Hamilton, 2013)

Other studies show that while neurotypicals tend to synchronize their nonverbal communication, autistics do not.^[3]Reduced nonverbal interpersonal synchrony in autism spectrum disorder independent of partner diagnosis: a motion energy study (Georgescu et al., 2020)^[4]Interactional Synchrony and Its Association with Social and Communication Ability in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder (Zampella et al., 2020) This means that in neurotypical social interactions, both individuals often smile at the same time and frown at the same time. But in autistic social interactions, this is not usually the case.^[5]Computer Vision Analysis of Reduced Interpersonal Affect Coordination in Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder (Zampella et al., 2020)

Moreover, studies show that autistics display less overall facial expression in conversation compared to neurotypicals.^[6]Facial Expression Production in Autism: A Meta-Analysis (Trevisan et al., 2018) Interestingly, facial expressions of emotional reactions are similar between autistics and neurotypicals. Thus, this difference lies with facial expressions that relate to mimicry (e.g., smiling when another person smiles) and non-emotional facial expressions (e.g., smiling while someone is talking.)^[7]Facial Expression Production in Autism: A Meta-Analysis (Trevisan et al., 2018)

Since autistics don’t employ nonverbal communication methods in the same way that neurotypicals do in conversation, we are often labeled as having a deficit in nonverbal communication. However, what if it only appears that way because it is being compared to the neurotypical norm? Aligned with the double empathy problem and theory of mind, these communication struggles go both ways. Autistics struggle to communicate with neurotypicals, and neurotypicals struggle to communicate with autistics.

The meaning behind nonverbal communication

In neurotypical social interactions, nonverbal communication is highly valued. It is considered an important source of information about emotions and intentions. In contrast, research suggests that autistic individuals don’t tend to rely on nonverbal communication to gather information about the other person in a social interaction.^[8]Reduced impact of nonverbal cues during integration of verbal and nonverbal emotional information in adults with high-functioning autism, Pelzl et al. (2023)^[9]Neural correlates of “social gaze” processing in high-functioning autism under systematic variation of gaze duration, Georgescu et al. (2013)

If our communication styles don’t tend to rely on factors such as facial expressions for information gathering and building connection, then it isn’t necessary for us to be successful at displaying and identifying facial expressions. If it is meaningless to us when someone smiles at us while we talk, then we wouldn’t necessarily draw conclusions about the other person from this behaviour nor would we smile along with them. In support of this theory, one study showed that autistics struggle to identify neurotypical facial expressions, but both autistics and neurotypicals struggle to identify autistic facial expressions.^[10]Can Neurotypical Individuals Read Autistic Facial Expressions? Atypical Production of Emotional Facial Expressions in Autism Spectrum Disorders (Brewer et al., 2016) These findings imply that we don’t use others’ facial expressions to gather information, nor do we make facial expressions to convey information to others.

This interpretation of the data would explain why we commonly struggle in communication and connection with neurotypicals, but not with other autistics.^[11]Outcomes of real-world social interaction for autistic adults paired with autistic compared to typically developing partners (Morrison et al., 2019)^[12]‘I never realised everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people’: A thematic analysis of autistic adults’ relationships with autistic and neurotypical friends and family (Crompton et al., 2020) Neurotypicals depend on nonverbal communication, but autistics often don’t. Our methods of understanding and relating to each other are different.^[13]Neurodivergent intersubjectivity: Distinctive features of how autistic people create shared understanding (Heasman & Gillespie, 2019) As such, neurotypicals can’t rely on our nonverbal behaviours to give them the information they need in an interaction. In turn, we often end up struggling when talking to neurotypicals because we don’t infer information from their nonverbal behaviours. Autistics have different nonverbal communication styles to neurotypicals, thus there is a mismatch, not a deficit.

Based on these findings, it has been suggested that autistic individuals instead rely more heavily on verbal communication to gather information and build connection.^[14]Reduced nonverbal interpersonal synchrony in autism spectrum disorder independent of partner diagnosis: a motion energy study (Georgescu et al., 2020)^[15]A matter of words: Impact of verbal and nonverbal information on impression formation in high-functioning autism (Kuzmanovic et al., 2011)

Differences in how autistics speak

Another aspect of autistic social communication that is thought to be deficient is the way we speak. For example, we are said to have a deficit in “normal back-and-forth conversation.”^[16]American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) Once again, let’s explore whether our patterns of speech actually reflect a deficit, or whether it’s perhaps just another communication difference.

One major factor to consider is that the majority of evidence suggesting that autistics have a communication deficit is conducted by looking at how autistics communicate with neurotypicals. This experimental design neglects to understand whether our communication struggles are only present when there is an expectation to abide by neurotypical social conventions, but are absent when it is acceptable for us to communicate outside these norms, such as when interacting with another autistic individual.^[17]Neurodivergent intersubjectivity: Distinctive features of how autistic people create shared understanding (Heasman & Gillespie, 2019)

In line with this critique, evidence shows that autistic individuals do not struggle to communicate with other autistic individuals.^[18]Outcomes of real-world social interaction for autistic adults paired with autistic compared to typically developing partners ( Morrison et al., 2019)^[19]‘I never realised everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people’: A thematic analysis of autistic adults’ relationships with autistic and neurotypical friends and family, Crompton et al. (2020) This is despite the findings that autistics communicate with each other in different ways from how neurotypicals expect communication should go.^[20]Neurodivergent intersubjectivity: Distinctive features of how autistic people create shared understanding (Heasman & Gillespie, 2019) For example, we usually favour the use of explicit verbal cues over nonverbal cues.^[21]Reduced nonverbal interpersonal synchrony in autism spectrum disorder independent of partner diagnosis: a motion energy study (Georgescu et al., 2020)^[22]A matter of words: Impact of verbal and nonverbal information on impression formation in high-functioning autism (Kuzmanovic et al., 2011)

Autistic speech patterns are effective

It seems that once again this is an example of a communication mismatch between autistics and neurotypicals, but not a deficit. A recent study found that this is indeed the case.^[23]Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective (Crompton et al., 2020) In their study, researchers asked individuals to recount a story to a second participant, who was asked to recount the story to a third participant, and so on. Similar to how a game of “broken telephone” works, the story was passed along to a total of eight individuals. This happened in three different groups: an autistic-only group, a neurotypical-only group, and a mixed group where the story was passed between autistics and neurotypicals. Researchers found that there was no difference in the quality of the details that got passed down the chain of people between the autistic-only group compared to the neurotypical-only group. This suggests that when autistics are speaking to other autistics, the interaction is successful and conducive to information sharing and understanding. As expected, this is also the case for when neurotypicals are speaking to other neurotypicals. In contrast, researchers found that there was a steeper decline in information transfer within the mixed group. Individuals in the mixed group also reported experiencing less connection to each other and less enjoyment about the interaction compared to individuals in the other groups. Thus, it seems that communication only “breaks down” when neurotypicals and autistics have to speak with each other.

The current study would suggest that autism may not be associated with a core deficit in social communication.^[24]Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective (Crompton et al., 2020) In this case, neurotypical communication was equally impacted in mixed interactions. Thus, this study is a great example of how the communication deficits outlined in the diagnostic criteria for autism may actually reflect communication differences.

This study also exemplifies how other research showing poor autistic speaking skills may be better explained by their use of mixed autistic-neurotypical interactions. In this view, if more studies measured how well neurotypicals could communicate based on autistic norms, it would also look as though neurotypicals had a communication deficit.

Summary

Autistics use and value different interaction styles compared to neurotypicals. While the diagnostic criteria have identified this as a deficit in social communication, when viewed from a less neurotypical-centric lens, this deficit appears to be more of a difference or a mismatch in communication styles. Autistics are able to successfully communicate, foster shared understanding, and build connections with other autistics in parallel ways to how neurotypicals do with each other. Perhaps, if we find ourselves in a mixed autistic-neurotypical interaction, we would experience fewer communication struggles if there was a shared understanding about how our communication styles are mismatched.