Asperger’s Syndrome and Communication Skills

Asperger’s syndrome is a form of autism that is characterised by at least average intelligence or above (IQ=90-110+). People with Asperger’s are able to speak, able to express themselves clearly in proper sentences but at the same time have trouble communicating. How can this be possible? This brief article is an introduction to the communication difficulties that accompany Asperger’s syndrome.

Pragmatic Language

Pragmatic language is a form of language that helps us interact with people around us. It is not how we pronounce or articulate words and not related to stammering or stuttering. Pragmatic language is the ability to follow a conversation, understand humour and take part in the ebb and flow of chatting and talking with friends, colleagues and acquaintances. The following things are important attributes of pragmatic language:

• Attending to the setting, event and context that shape/direct social language
• Tailoring messages to different audiences
• Understanding differences in tone of voice, style of language or formality of language
• Noticing the mood, point of view or “feel” of the audience
• Respecting turn-taking skill in conversation
• Introducing topics in a manner that is polite, respectful and not abrupt
• Being able to shift smoothly from one topic to another
• Keeping the context of a conversation logical, appropriate, concise and relevant
• Attending to and contributing relevant information on a conversation theme
• Correcting misunderstanding, asking for clarification when needed
• Explaining, informing, describing or stating an opinion
• Expressing feelings and emotions, sensations, perceptions
• Ability to tell jokes and understand jokes
• Ability to use idioms and understand idioms
• Ability to understand sarcasm
• Ability to use language to persuade
• Ability to monitor facial expressions, body language and gestures
• Ability to understand the symbolic or abstract message in proverbs or metaphors

People with Asperger’s have difficult in some or all of these skills and as a result are often at odds with people around them. When you don’t understand if someone is making a joke you may take it personally and feel offended or want to lash out at them in return. If you don’t understand sarcasm you will miss a lot of information about the social world around you. If you can’t wait your turn in a conversation you will be perceived as a bore or monopoliser of conversation. If you don’t understand facial expressions you miss a lot of emotional information being conveyed by the speaker. If you don’t understand body language you may use the wrong gestures in social exchange or misinterpret gestures causing you to move away, or move to close or touch when touch is not wanted.

These are just some of the communication deficits of people with Asperger’s syndrome. These deficits are real but subtle and it is important for the people who know and work with someone who has Asperger’s to realise that they will have difficulty in social conversation and appear odd or unusual at times in the way they use language.

People need to realise that anyone with Asperger’s syndrome will have pragmatic language deficits to one degree or another. There are programmes that assist people with Asperger’s develop better pragmatic language skills and in return form better relationships with others. There are also tests that can be administered by psychologists  and speech and language therapists that assess and pinpoint strengths in pragmatic language. It is important to get help when needed and not let people with Asperger’s struggle through life with social language difficulties.