AAAP Today

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DOES YOUR CHILD WITH AUTISM HAVE AN IMAGINARY FRIEND?

by Lirio S Covey, Ph.D.

“Imaginary friends (also known as pretend friends or invisible friends) are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality”. (1)

Many parents notice that their child may talk of an imaginary friend, with whom the child may engage in vivid interactions consisting of play and sharing of stories.

Imaginary friends are not signs of trouble. In fact, they are often practice opportunities for learning how to engage in a range of social activities, or seek as a source of comfort when feeling fearful or sad, even if “pretend”, yet realizing the "friend" is not real.

Having an imaginary friend, however, is thought not to be accessible to children with autism, which would be consistent with a deficit in social skills and emotional understanding, considered a core characteristic of autism.

A recent research study examined whether this assumption is always the case. (2) Parents of 111 children between 24 and 96 months old were asked if they had observed their children engage in imaginary friendships and play. The parents’ responses were compared to parents of children without autism who were seen in a separate study and asked the same question.

The research showed that, although fewer than among children without autism, a subset of children with autism were able to spontaneously create imaginary friends. Further having imaginary friends was observed to begin later than in the children without autism. The lack of comparability in parent samples and methods that limit the exploratory study render the observed results requiring of further study.

Comment: Having imaginary friends would seem consistent with the remarkable creativity in art and music demonstrated by some children with autism. The study finding, if confirmed, suggests the possibility that helping children with autism engage in imaginary friends may improve social skills and alleviate social difficulties characteristic of the autism condition.

References:

(1) Taylor, M. Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

(2) Davis, PE, Simon H, Meins E, Robins, DL. Imaginary Companions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism and Developmental Disorders, on line March 21, 2018.

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​AUTISM RATES IN THE US CONTINUE TO CLIMB. WHY?

​1 of 68 children in 2012; 1 of 59 children in 2014.​

Among schoolchildren in the United States, autism rates jumped 15% between 2012 and 2014.

Between 2000 and 2014, the increase was 150%. These surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) involving 8 year old children are conducted every two years.

No clear environmental causes have been identified. Studies have shown a large genetic contribution to autism and that the influence of genes is extremely complex; no specific gene or combination of genes has been reliably identified.

The CDC studies have shown variation in autism prevalence by state. New Jersey has the highest autism rate – 3%, Arkansas has the lowest – 1%. Increasing rates were observed among African-American and Hispanic children, narrowing the gap compared to white classmates.

It has been noted that New Jersey has more resources than other states that are devoted to autism detection and treatment. This observation supports the belief among many autism researchers that improved detection is a significant contributor to the increased autism rates, and that many cases of autism in past years were there but were unrecognized.

This large effect of diagnostic competence on autism rates suggests: 1) autism rates could continue to rise as communities become better equipped to identify autism; 2) where diagnostic competence has been lacking due to limited resources, there are many autistic individuals who are not benefiting from the growing knowledge and use of autism-specific educational assistance.

The prevalence rate of autism in the Philippines is not yet known.

PERSONS WITH AUTISM ARE LESS SUSCEPTIBLE TO MARKETING TRICKS!

Research on cognitive and perceptual tasks had shown that people with autism generally seem to be less sensitive to “contextual stimuli than neuro-typical individuals”.

A research study examined whether this reduced sensitivity to contextual stimuli led to better making rational decisions, consistency in making choices, and less vulnerability to external influences such as marketing tricks.

Study participants were 90 adults with autism and 212 adults without autism. They were asked to choose 10 pairs of products, with the products in each pair differing on two contextual dimensions – either capacity or longevity.

One condition was characterized by a lower capacity (16 gigabytes) but a longer lifespan (36 months); the other condition was characterized by a higher capacity (32 gigabytes) and a shorter lifespan (20 months). Persons in either condition were presented with a decoy item – a third choice that was a worse condition (28 gigabytes and a lifespan of 16 months) than the other two conditions. A consistent, rational decision consisted of the participants’ making the same choice twice, with or without the decoy. Less rational and more inconsistent choices would involve switching in favor of the decoy.

The study showed that the adults with autism made more consistent choices, with or without the decoy; that is, they switched fewer times than the participants without autism. This means that the autistic adults were better at making judgments independently of its context.

Conclusion: Persons with autism appear to be less susceptible to having their choices biased by the way information is presented to them. Extending this ability to making choices regarding consumer products, the finding suggests that persons with autism are less vulnerable to marketing tricks.

Reference: George D. Farmer, Simon Baron-Cohen, William J Skylark. People with Autism Spectrum Conditions Make More Consistent Decisions. Psychological Science, Vol 28, Issue 8, 2017.