Autism and Triadic Play: An Object Lesson in the Mutuality of the Social and Material

Williams, Emma; Costall, Alan; Reddy, Vasudevi

doi:10.1080/10407413.2018.1439140

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…As is described both in the historical literature and the current diagnostic guidelines, autism is characterized by abnormalities in the use of objects and the relation to the physical environment ( Kanner, 1943 ; World Health Organization, 2018 ). Recent debates in psychology and cognitive science concerning the role of objects in social and psychological development have motivated an interest in how the use of objects may facilitate processes of social interaction and communication in autism ( Iannaccone et al, 2018 ; Williams et al, 2018 ; Manzi et al, 2020 ). In the field of psychology, a socio-material and ecological perspective highlights the constitutive function of objects and artifacts in psychological and social development, and in the field of cognitive science, enactive, embedded, and material theories of cognition have emphasized the role of interactive context and materiality in social interaction and cognition ( Gibson, 1979 ; de Jaegher and di Paolo, 2007 ; Malafouris, 2013 ; Pedersen and Bang, 2016 ; Rietveld et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autism and the Sensory Disruption of Social Experience

Boldsen

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Autism research has recently witnessed an embodied turn. In response to the cognitivist approaches dominating the field, phenomenological scholars have suggested a reconceptualization of autism as a disorder of embodied intersubjectivity. Part of this interest in autistic embodiment concerns the role of sensory differences, which have recently been added to the diagnostic criteria of autism. While research suggests that sensory differences are implicated in a wide array of autistic social difficulties, it has not yet been explored how sensory and social experience in autism relate on a phenomenological level. Given the importance of the sensory dimension of social encounters in phenomenological analyses of autism, this question must be considered crucial. This article investigates the role played by sensory differences in autistic social experience. Through a phenomenological analysis informed primarily by the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty with particular emphasis on the relation between intersubjectivity and perception, I argue that sensory differences affect the way other people appear in autistic experience on a pre-reflective level. By drawing on autistic young adults’ experiential descriptions of social encounters, this article identifies three aspects of how sensory differences affect social experiences in autism. First, social encounters manifested as sensorially disturbing, chaotic, and unpredictable events. Second, the embodied expressions of others appeared unfamiliar, threatening, and promoted a sense of detachment from the social world. Third, deliberate practices were employed to actively seek perceptual and social meaning in these disorienting social encounters. This analysis stresses the importance of understanding embodied intersubjectivity through its sensory dimensions. In addition, it indicates an important avenue for future research in exploring the potential role of practice in maintaining an intuitive grip on social meaning. By approaching social encounters as sensory and perceptual events, I emphasize how social difficulties in autism are inherently world-involving phenomena rather than a cognitive deficit reducible to the autistic person.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autism and the Sensory Disruption of Social Experience

Boldsen

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Playful teasing and the emergence of pretence

2022

Self Cite

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The study of the emergence of pretend play in developmental psychology has generally been restricted to analyses of children’s play with toys and everyday objects. The widely accepted criteria for establishing pretence are the child’s manipulation of object identities, attributes or existence. In this paper we argue that there is another arena for pretending—playful pretend teasing—which arises earlier than pretend play with objects and is therefore potentially relevant for understanding the more general emergence of pretence. We present examples of playful pretend teasing in infancy before and around the end of the first year, involving pretend communicative gestures, mis-labelling and almost non-compliance with prohibitions. We argue that the roots of pretence not only lie earlier in human infancy than generally acknowledged, but also are rooted in playful emotional exchanges in which people recognise and respond to violations of communicative gestures and agreements.

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A Pragmatic Turn in the Study of Early Executive Functions by Object Use and Gestures. A Case Study from 8 to 17 Months of Age at a Nursery School

Rodríguez

Moreno-Llanos

2020

Integr. psych. behav.

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The two first years of life are critical in the development of Executive Functions (EF). However, very little is known about their early manifestations, how they develop, how they relate to other psychological constructions or the status of other people’s influence in this early development. The study of EFs has been carried out through standardised tasks, but some authors question their ecological validity and suggest an approach involving everyday situations and the challenges that children set for themselves. In this article we first review these issues in relation to the first manifestations of EFs. We secondly present a longitudinal case study at nursery school of a child between the ages of 8 and 17 months, considering the challenges and the means he employed in order to resolve them. We found that, from 8 months of age, the child gave himself challenges in relation to the functional uses of objects and instruments. He regulated his own behavior both through object and instrument uses and private gestures. He also involved the teacher at 17 months. This finding suggests that (1) the material world is particularly important in these early manifestations of EF, (2) teachers’ interventions are essential. Implications of the findings for early years education are discussed.

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Autism and Triadic Play: An Object Lesson in the Mutuality of the Social and Material

Abstract: This research was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (R00023 4949). The author would like to thank Zita Bareham for her invaluable assistance in coding the play sessions and the reviewers for their very helpful comments on earlier drafts of the paper.

Cited by 4 publications

References 67 publications

Autism and the Sensory Disruption of Social Experience

Autism and the Sensory Disruption of Social Experience

Playful teasing and the emergence of pretence

A Pragmatic Turn in the Study of Early Executive Functions by Object Use and Gestures. A Case Study from 8 to 17 Months of Age at a Nursery School

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