Expert: James Michael Roan - 9/1/2005

Question
My name is Abby Wagner and I am an undergraduate Psychology student at Bethel College in Indiana. As part of my Research Methods class this semester, I have to do extensive literature study and use it to design an experiment. I am interested in Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, and hope to do something in that area. In particular, I am interested in how individuals with Asperger's Syndrome comprehend and respond to non-literal communication (i.e. sarcasm) and what the most effective way to teach non-literal communication would be. I am finding quite a bit of information on communication in individuals with Autism, but little to none on non-literal communication specifically. Do you know of any articles or studies on this subject? Any information you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Abby;

It's always a pleasure to meet another psychologist! You have tackled a very difficult subject indeed. I have read studies on what you are interested in, I am just unable to recall them. It's an interesting topic, because Asperger's (AS) kids have a good nonliteral sense of humor often, but they are not usually able to understand someone else's humor, at least not quickly and all of the time. You are correct. They are very literal...most of the time. I'm sorry, I can't help. Your library should allow you to do a search on the a data base like PsychInfo.

Kind Regards,
James