Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-rbxfs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-06T13:54:01.122Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Being misunderstood in autism: The role of motor disruption in expressive communication, implications for satisfying social relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2019

Jonathan Delafield-Butt Open the ORCID record for Jonathan Delafield-Butt [Opens in a new window] ,
Colwyn Trevarthen ,
Philip Rowe  and
Christopher Gillberg
Jonathan Delafield-Butt
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Innovation in Autism, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1QE, United Kingdom. jonathan.delafield-butt@strath.ac.ukhttps://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/delafieldbuttjonathandr/
Colwyn Trevarthen
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, United Kingdom. c.trevarthen@ed.ac.ukhttp://www.pmarc.ed.ac.uk/people/colwyntrevarthen.html
Philip Rowe
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Innovation in Autism, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1QE, United Kingdom. jonathan.delafield-butt@strath.ac.ukhttps://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/delafieldbuttjonathandr/ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1QE, United Kingdom. philip.rowe@strath.ac.ukhttps://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/rowephilipprof/
Christopher Gillberg
Affiliation:
Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Gothenburg, SE-411 19 Gothenburg, Sweden. christopher.gillberg@gnc.gu.sehttps://gillbergcentre.gu.se/english/research-staff-%26-associates/gillberg--christopher
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Jaswal & Akhtar's outstanding target article identifies the necessary social nature of the human mind, even in autism. We agree with the authors and present significant contributory origins of this autistic isolation in disruption of purposeful movement made social from infancy. Timing differences in expression can be misunderstood in embodied engagement, and social intention misread. Sensitive relations can repair this.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e86
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aitken, K. J. & Trevarthen, C. (1997) Self-other organization in human psychological development. Development and Psychopathology 9:651–75.Google Scholar
Anzulewicz, A., Sobota, K. & Delafield-Butt, J. T. (2016) Toward the autism motor signature: Gesture patterns during smart tablet gameplay identify children with autism. Scientific Reports 6. doi:10.1038/srep31107.Google Scholar
Bosco, P., Giuliano, A., Delafield-Butt, J., Muratori, F., Calderoni, S. & Retico, A. (2019) Brainstem enlargement in pre-school children with autism: Results from an inter-method agreement study of segmentation algorithms. Human Brain Mapping 40(1):7–19.Google Scholar
Coleman, M. & Gillberg, C. (2012) The autisms. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cook, J. (2016) From movement kinematics to social cognition: The case of autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 371(1693). doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0372.Google Scholar
Cook, J. L., Blakemore, S. J. & Press, C. (2013) Atypical basic movement kinematics in autism spectrum conditions. Brain 136(Pt 9):2816–24. doi:10.1093/brain/awt208.Google Scholar
Damasio, A., Damasio, H. & Tranel, D. (2013) Persistence of feelings and sentience after bilateral damage of the insula. Cerebral Cortex 23:833–46. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhs077.Google Scholar
Damasio, A. R. (1999) The feeling of what happens: Body, emotion and the making of consciousness. Heinemann.Google Scholar
Damasio, A. R. (2011) Neural basis of emotions. Scholarpedia 6(3):1804. doi:10.4249/scholarpedia.1804.Google Scholar
De Jaegher, H. (2013) Embodiment and sense-making in autism. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 7. doi:10.3389/fnint.2013.00015.Google Scholar
Delafield-Butt, J. T., Freer, Y., Perkins, J., Skulina, D., Schögler, B. & Lee, D. N. (2018) Prospective control of neonatal arm movements: A motor foundation of embodied agency, disrupted in premature birth. Developmental Science 21(6):e12693.Google Scholar
Delafield-Butt, J. T. & Gangopadhyay, N. (2013) Sensorimotor intentionality: The origins of intentionality in prospective agent action. Developmental Review 33(4):399–425. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2013.09.001.Google Scholar
Delafield-Butt, J. T. & Trevarthen, C. (2015) The ontogenesis of narrative: From moving to meaning. Frontiers in Psychology 6:1157. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01157.Google Scholar
Delafield-Butt, J. & Trevarthen, C. (2017) On the brainstem origin of autism: Disruption to movements of the primary self. In: Autism: The movement sensing perspective, ed. Torres, E. & Whyatt, C., ch. 8. Taylor & Francis CRC Press.Google Scholar
de Waal, F. (2006) Primates and philosophers: How morality evolved. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Di Cesare, G., Sparaci, L., Pelosi, A., Mazzone, L., Giovagnoli, G., Menghini, D., Ruffaldi, E. & Vicari, S. (2017) Differences in action style recognition in children with autism spectrum disorders. Frontiers in Psychology 8(1456). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01456.Google Scholar
Dowd, A. M., McGinley, J. L., Taffe, J. R. & Rinehart, N. J. (2012) Do planning and visual integration difficulties underpin motor dysfunction in autism? A kinematic study of young children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 42(8):1539–48. doi:10.1007/s10803-011-1385-8.Google Scholar
Fatemi, S. H., Aldinger, K. A., Ashwood, P., Bauman, M. L., Blaha, C. D., Blatt, G. J., Chauhan, A., Chauhan, V., Dager, S. R., Dickson, P. E., Estes, A. M., Goldowitz, D., Heck, D. H., Kemper, T. L., King, B. H., Martin, L. A., Millen, K. J., Mittleman, G., Mosconi, M. W., Persico, A. M., Sweeney, J. A., Webb, S. J. & Welsh, J. P. (2012) Consensus paper: Pathological role of the cerebellum in autism. Cerebellum 11(3):777–807. doi:10.1007/s12311-012-0355-9.Google Scholar
Fournier, K. A., Hass, C. J., Naik, S. K., Lodha, N. & Cauraugh, J. H. (2010) Motor coordination in autism spectrum disorders: A synthesis and meta-analysis. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 40(10):1227–40. doi:10.1007/s10803-010-0981-3.Google Scholar
Gillberg, C. (1983) Perceptual, motor and attentional deficits in Swedish primary school children. Some child psychiatric aspects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 24(3):377–403. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1983.tb00116.x.Google Scholar
Gillberg, C. (2003) Deficits in attention, motor control, and perception: A brief review. Archives of Disease in Childhood 88(10):904–10. doi:10.1136/adc.88.10.904.Google Scholar
Gillberg, C. & Kadesjö, B. (2003) Why bother about clumsiness? The implications of having developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Neural Plasticity 10(1–2):59–68. doi:10.1155/NP.2003.59.Google Scholar
Gillberg, C. & Steffenburg, S. (1989) Autistic behaviour in moebius syndrome. Acta Paediatrica 78(2):314–16. doi:10.1111/j.1651-2227.1989.tb11076.x.Google Scholar
Grace, N., Johnson, B. P., Rinehart, N. J. & Enticott, P. G. (2018) Are motor control and regulation problems part of the ASD motor profile? A handwriting study. Developmental Neuropsychology 43(7):581–594. doi:10.1080/87565641.2018.1504948.Google Scholar
Grice, H. P. (1975) Logic and conversation. In: Syntax and semantics. Vol. 3: Speech acts, ed. Cole, P. & Morgan, J. L., pp. 41–58. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Haar, S., Berman, S., Behrmann, M. & Dinstein, I. (2014) Anatomical abnormalities in autism? Cerebral Cortex 26(4):1440–52. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu242Google Scholar
Hubley, P. & Trevarthen, C. (1979) Sharing a task in infancy. In: Social interaction during infancy, ed. Uzgiris, I., pp. 57–80. Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Jaffe, J., Beebe, B., Feldstein, S., Crown, C. & Jasnow, N. (2001) Rhythms of dialogue in infancy. Monographs of the Society of Research and Child Development 66:1–132.Google Scholar
Merker, B. (2007) Consciousness without a cerebral cortex: A challenge for neuroscience and medicine. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 30:63–134.Google Scholar
Nieuwenhuys, R. (2012) The insular cortex: A review. Progress in Brain Research 195:123–63. PMID: 22230626 DOI.Google Scholar
Panksepp, J. & Biven, L. (2012) The Archaeology of mind: Neuroevolutionary origins of human emotions. WW Norton.Google Scholar
Porges, S. W. (2011) The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. WW Norton.Google Scholar
Rochat, M. J., Veroni, V., Bruschweiler-Stern, N., Pieraccini, C., Bonnet-Brilhault, F., Barthelemy, C., Malvy, J., Sinigaglia, C., Stern, D. N. & Rizzolatti, G. (2013) Impaired vitality form recognition in autism. Neuropsychologia 51(10):1918–24. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.06.002Google Scholar
Schilbach, L., Timmermans, B., Reddy, V., Costall, A., Bente, G., Schlicht, T. & Vogeley, K. (2013) Toward a second-person neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 36(4):393–414. doi:10.1017/s0140525x12000660Google Scholar
St. Clair, C., Danon-Boileau, L. & Trevarthen, C. (2007) Signs of autism in infancy: Sensitivity for rhythms of expression in communication. In: Signs of autism in infants: Recognition and early intervention, ed. Acquarone, S., pp. 21–45. Karnac Books.Google Scholar
Stern, D. N. (2010) Forms of vitality: Exploring dynamic experience in psychology, the arts, psychotherapy and development. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sullivan, W. & Rees, J. (2008) Clean language: Revealing metaphors and opening minds. Crown.Google Scholar
Teitelbaum, P., Teitelbaum, O., Nye, O., Fryman, J. & Maurer, R. G. (1998) Movement analysis in 2infancy may be useful for early diagnosis of autism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences US. 95:13982–87.Google Scholar
Torres, E. B., Brincker, M., Isenhower, R. W., Yanovich, P., Stigler, K. A., Nurnberger, J. I., Metaxas, D. N. & Jose, J. V. (2013) Autism: The micro-movement perspective. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 7:32. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2013.00032.Google Scholar
Trevarthen, C. (2009) The intersubjective psychobiology of human meaning: Learning of culture depends on interest for co-operative practical work and affection for the joyful art of good company. Psychoanalytic Dialogues 19(5):507–18. doi:10.1080/10481880903231894.Google Scholar
Trevarthen, C., Aitken, K. J., Vandekerckhove, M., Delafield-Butt, J. & Nagy, E. (2006) Collaborative regulations of vitality in early childhood: Stress in intimate relationships and postnatal psychopathology. In: Developmental psychopathology: Developmental neuroscience, ed. Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J., pp. 65–126. Wiley.Google Scholar
Trevarthen, C. & Delafield-Butt, J. T. (2013a) Autism as a developmental disorder in intentional movement and affective engagement. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 7:49. doi:10.3389/fnint.2013.00049.Google Scholar
Trevarthen, C. & Delafield-Butt, J. T. (2013b) Biology of shared meaning and language development: Regulating the life of narratives. In: The infant mind: Origins of the social brain, ed. Legerstee, M., Haley, D. & Bornstein, M., pp. 167–99. Guildford Press.Google Scholar
Trevarthen, C. & Delafield-Butt, J. T. (2017a) Development of consciousness. In: Cambridge encyclopedia of child development, ed. Hopkins, B., Geangu, E. & Linkenauger, S., pp. 821–35. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Trevarthen, C. & Delafield-Butt, J. T. (2017b) Intersubjectivity in the imagination and feelings of the infant: Implications for education in the early years. In: Under-three year olds in policy and practice, ed. White, E. J. & Dalli, C., pp. 17–40. Springer.Google Scholar
Trevarthen, C., Delafield-Butt, J. T. & Schögler, B. (2011) Psychobiology of musical gesture: Innate rhythm, harmony and melody in movements of narration. In: Music and gesture II, ed. Gritten, A. & King, E., pp. 11–43. Ashgate.Google Scholar
Vandekerckhove, M. & Panksepp, J. (2011) A neurocognitive theory of higher mental emergence: From anoetic affective experiences to noetic knowledge and autonoetic awareness. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 35(9):2017–25.Google Scholar