Entry #6: Autism, Emotions and Facial Expressions

Recently I've been experiencing the world through the eyes of a child with autism. This child that I know, who I see with some regularity, has, like many other children with autism, begun questioning emotions and facial expressions associated with them. We have recently begun playing a game, (the child's own idea) where we try to make different facial expressions and then guess the expression the other is making (the guessing was my idea). During one of these games, I offered to help the child with the expression of sadness by showing on their face how to lift and "scrunch" the middle area above the nose and between the eyebrows upwards and to the middle, and how to downturn the corners of the mouth. Now, oftentimes, when it's the child's turn, there is a pause and then I'm asked to help mold the expression on their face with my hands.

Examples of different human facial expressions.

We're still working on it, but over time, the child has increased the amount of eye contact with me and others, (perhaps partially because of the face expression guessing games we play); something that those around children with autism can attest to being difficult for them.

Another task that seems to be difficult is their ability to understand behaviors of others and any emotion they may be expressing. For example, I've observed with this child that certain videos, books, stories, etc that show societal customs or expectations can be difficult to comprehend but at the same time can be vastly intriguing. For example, recently while watching a cartoon video on making friends, the child would continually rewind to the part where one of the characters approached another "sad" character sitting alone and asked if they wanted to be friends; the fascination with the situation presented was clearly evident.

Another time while we were reading a book, (about a dog who was sad and being comforted by a friend by being given a hug), the child asked many questions about what was happening: why the dog was sad, what is sadness (a constant, recurring question in our interactions- among with other emotions), why was the friend giving the dog a hug, what did the hug do, did the dog still feel sad?; and wanted to keep flipping back to that page to see the picture again. Later on while we were attempting to build card structures, mine fell down. I was "devastated" as the probably best ever card building to ever exist tumbled down into a pile. I figured this was a good time to overact the emotion to benefit the child.

There is much frustration and sadness when the best ever card tower falls down.

To my surprise the child hugged me and said it would be okay and offered to help me with the rebuilding; a small victory.

These interactions have fueled questions for me. On one side, what resources are available to teach children with autism to learn to "read" emotions. I stumbled on a few. One of them is a Samsung app named "Look At Me" that seems to offer (haven't tried it myself) the children games where making eye contact is the goal. The app is also made to increase their ability to recognize facial expression and emotions through the interactive games. Samsung touts a 60% increase in children users ability to perform these tasks (Woollaston). Another site, educateautism.com offers printables of emotion charts, drawing of facial expressions, and games.

Another question I had, is why does someone like me, who is not an overly emotive person. For who expressing emotions is not a primary concern, and who prefers logic over emotion any day; can still identify emotions, facial expressions in others with ease. What is different in our brains. What is the difference between the brain of a child with autism, someone who is a very emotively in tune and expresses those emotions freely, and someone somewhere in the middle like me (but arguably much more on the logical not emotive side) who can identify the traits with ease, and can pretend/imitate the facial expressions/emotions but in general life doesn't make grand and repetitive use of them? If there is a difference, where is the origin? Brain structure? A quick internet research will reveal that there is evidence that the amygdala plays a starring role in the processing of emotions. Is that where the difference lies? Or is it overall chemical activity in the brain influenced perhaps by experiences or general wiring structure and development of the brain?

I don't know that answer yet, but it is enthralling and intriguing to see how humans (and other species) differ so vastly yet are so intrinsically similar in this and many other aspects. But what really fascinates me is how and why these differences come about and how they influence every aspect of our life, history and future as individuals and as a species. Ultimately with more knowledge we could learn to better understand ourselves and each other; that could be good or maybe not, but that's a topic for another time.






Sources:
Woollaston, Victoria. "Could This App Help Autistic Children? Samsung's 'Look At Me' Helps Sufferers Make Eye Contact and Read Emotions." Daily Mail.com: Science. Dailymail.com, 23 Dec. 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2885042/Could-app-help-autistic-children-Samsung-s-Look-helps-sufferers-make-eye-contact-read-emotions.html>. 





Picture sources:
Happy facial expression: www.yodesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/happy-face.jpg
Disgusted facial expression: www.sentiment.christopherpotts.net/figures/emotion-ekman-faces.png
Angry facial expression: www.business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_popup/public/2015/04/14/london-property06.jpg
Scared facial expression: www.awaypoint.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/worried-man-with-pill-male-birth-control.jpg
Worried facial expression: www.hecticparents.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/upset-black-woman-white-background.jpg
Sad facial expression: www.encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSJAx4nAEUDsKDDntGjpBmHMeMnNrvNbkRHdY0ZUhj-O9Ksq6TS-vlnO4M
Card building: www.previews.123rf.com/images/zerbor/zerbor1207/zerbor120700003/14341341-collapsing-house-of-cards-Stock-Photo.jpg