Issue 5: Trouble reading facial expressions
Social skills and understanding social cues are a major issue for individuals with Autism. Autistic individuals have particular difficulties in understanding and comprehending facial expressions. "Research has shown that only 7% of emotional meaning is conveyed through the actual words we speak, while the remaining 93% is communicated through nonverbal means, with 55% through facial expression." (Crissey, 2008, para.2). For individuals with Autism, who focus primarily on what someone says, and take it very literal, they are only receiving part of the message. So if someone was really angry, but said 'Nothing is wrong!', then the individual would receive an incomplete and wrong message. (Crissey, 2008). As a result, misunderstandings occur and for Christopher this is often the case. Christopher animatedly talks about his interests, but doesn't realize that the other children don't care and have stopped listening. Also he doesn't understand when the teacher is angry with him, when a child is being friendly, or sad and needs help. Facial expressions need to be explained.
(See Artefacts: 5 Facial Expressions).