Social Cognitive Processing in Elementary School Children with Asperger Syndrome

Abstract

Twenty students with Asperger syndrome were compared to 20 typically developing peers to determine their relative effectiveness in interpreting social intentions of others and to examine whether with a given interpretation of social intention there were differences in the social interaction strategies chosen by these two groups of students. An independent samples t-test indicates that the typically developing group performed significantly better on encoding conflicts and benign intention cues. Mixed ANOVAs reveal significant differences between groups for rating of a peer as “not mean” based on cue type, and that the group with Asperger syndrome was more likely to cite use of aggressive strategies. Recommendations focus on methods of teaching social perception and strategy generation for students with Asperger syndrome.