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General Parenting
Kids on the spectrum--Does yours have a flat affect?
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<blockquote data-quote="trinityroyal" data-source="post: 359736" data-attributes="member: 3907"><p>My difficult child doesn't really have a flat affect, but his range of facial expressions is limited and they are very stilted looking, if that makes any sense.</p><p>He was put into socialization classes very young, and learned to set his face into his interpretation of the expression he wants to convey. The classes also spent a lot of time on interpretation of expressions. Interestingly, difficult child is hopelessly bad at it, but he's very glib. He decides based on what he wants you to feel, or what he thinks you should be feeling, that the expression is displayed on your face. He also assumes that if your head is pointing in his general direction that you are looking at him and presenting a given expression. It was this that twigged me to the fact that he really doesn't see facial expressions at all. He's awfully glib and sounds convincing, but the misinterpretation of people's feelings based on what he thinks they should be feeling leads to some very awkward, and sometimes very unpleasant exchanges.</p><p></p><p>At this stage in his life, further work on interpreting expressions doesn't seem to help him. I suspect that he has some degree of face blindness. So instead I focus on verbalizing things. I tell him, "I'm very happy right now." or "What you said made me angry", or whatever, so that there's no mystery.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="trinityroyal, post: 359736, member: 3907"] My difficult child doesn't really have a flat affect, but his range of facial expressions is limited and they are very stilted looking, if that makes any sense. He was put into socialization classes very young, and learned to set his face into his interpretation of the expression he wants to convey. The classes also spent a lot of time on interpretation of expressions. Interestingly, difficult child is hopelessly bad at it, but he's very glib. He decides based on what he wants you to feel, or what he thinks you should be feeling, that the expression is displayed on your face. He also assumes that if your head is pointing in his general direction that you are looking at him and presenting a given expression. It was this that twigged me to the fact that he really doesn't see facial expressions at all. He's awfully glib and sounds convincing, but the misinterpretation of people's feelings based on what he thinks they should be feeling leads to some very awkward, and sometimes very unpleasant exchanges. At this stage in his life, further work on interpreting expressions doesn't seem to help him. I suspect that he has some degree of face blindness. So instead I focus on verbalizing things. I tell him, "I'm very happy right now." or "What you said made me angry", or whatever, so that there's no mystery. [/QUOTE]
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Kids on the spectrum--Does yours have a flat affect?
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