Disruption of social development in children with autism spectrum disorder.

During the last few decades, a number of studies have emphasized that children who exhibit signs of developmental delay often display abnormal trajectories in their social development. Among these conditions, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) stand as a special case. ASD is a complex neuropsychiatric group of disorders that affects the brain's typical development of social and communication skills to varying degrees. Common features of ASD include impairment in social interaction, communication (both verbal and nonverbal), information processing, and patterns of behavior that are restricted and repetitive. One of the signature aspects of ASD points to the social-skills deficit. Most children with ASD have tremendous difficulty engaging in everyday social interaction and seem unable to form emotional bonds with others. Research has suggested that, although children with ASD are attached to their caregivers, their expressions of attachment are unusual and difficult to interpret. Furthermore, children with ASD have difficulty in understanding unspoken social cues, which are fundamental for social interaction (e.g. a smile or a grimace). Children with ASD also have difficulties with regulating their emotions and lack the ability to attribute mental states to themselves and others, making them unable to comprehend or predict other people's responses to their own actions. The aim of this article is to review several watershed studies that have investigated the disruption of social development in ASD, and to close with a presentation of current knowledge about the underlying neurobiology of social abnormalities that characterize this spectrum of disorders.