Children on the Autism Spectrum and Social Phobia
The diagnosis of social phobia in Aspergers and high-functioning autistic (HFA) kids emphasizes the following: A youngster with social phobia must show the capacity for age-appropriate social relationships with familiar people, and his/her anxiety must occur in peer contexts, not just with grown-ups. Due to limitations of cognitive and perceptual skills, Aspergers and HFA kids with social phobia need not recognize that their fear in social situations is excessive or unreasonable. The anxiety brought on by social situations may be evidenced by crying, tantrums, meltdowns, freezing, shutdowns, or shrinking from social situations with unfamiliar people. There must be evidence of the social fears existing for a minimum of six months. Developmental Pathways to Social Phobia— 1. Genetic factors: Taken as a whole, studies using twins to determine whether genetics play a significant part in the development of social phobia are inconclusive. Some twin studies have examined the h