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Autism is widely associated in daily circles with people who are socially awkward, have a different way of thinking, and are generally less effective communicators. However, recent research shows that only one of these statements is true.
Autism Research: Communication Between Autistic and Non-Autistic People
People with autism often have a harder time understanding the ways other people think, and that goes both ways, with the speech and thinking patterns of people with autism often varying in different and unique ways from the way a typical person might think. However, different is not always bad, and that is what a recent study found out.
This recent study had various pairings of autistic, non-autistic and mixed-group participants and had them do two tasks. They were told to share a factual story and a fictional story. The researchers then compared how much of the information was successfully transferred in their speaking on both the factual and fictional story.
What they found was that communication levels were about the same for the autistic and non-autistic groups, but the scores were lower on both sides in the mixed-group rooms.
Communication Differences
One of the most common things associated with autism is a difference in the way the person thinks and communicates. They often have trouble understanding unspoken rules and the point of a lot of less direct ways of speaking such as euphemisms. However, this is not a failure to communicate properly as shown by the experiment. Participants were able to communicate equally as efficiently with their perspective groups as long as they weren’t mixed.
This shows that the issue is not communication efficiency, but communication flexibility, a deficit apparent in both groups. Neither the autistic nor non-autistic participants were as effectively able to communicate with their counterparts. This shows that having a different way of communicating can be a difficulty, but this is not only limited to autistic individuals.
Communication styles can stereotypically differ between culture groups, genders, and generationally. It is often seen as much more difficult to communicate with someone who is different because they often have a different background, different points of view, and different thinking patterns due to the difference in how they were raised. These failures to communicate often lead to intergroup misunderstanding, strife, and even mistreatment in severe cases.
Men and women both regularly discuss and make memes about how difficult it is to understand the opposite gender and anyone who has moved to a foreign country will understand that it can be difficult to understand the way people communicate in a different culture. If an American moves to Japan for example, they often have trouble understanding that much of the communication is done subtly and that words don’t always mean what they would appear to mean on the surface. It takes many years of experiencing and living in a culture to fully understand how they communicate.
Lack of understanding, especially between different cultures can lead to distrust, discrimination and even violence. Because of this, it is important that children are taught to be flexible in their communication style, so that they can be able to effectively communicate not only with those who communicate in a similar style to them, based on their cultural norms, but also those of different norms and different ways of thinking, autistic or not.
Autism and Communication in the Classroom
Teaching children how to be flexible, kind, and patient in their communication style will go a long way towards bringing the world together and reducing the often escalating nature of miscommunication . Whether those differences come from autism or a gender, cultural, or generational difference, people need to know how to communicate kindly and patiently in a way that gives others the benefit of the doubt. Children need to be mindfully taught how to communicate in a flexible way as it is not something that is often learned without guided experiences by a parent or teacher.
Firstly, children need to be taught to be flexible. They should not always assume that others mean what they first assume. Rather than making assumptions that can lead them astray, they should ask for confirmation of their ideas. Simply asking someone if they mean what was inferred can go a long way to defusing potentially explosive topics. One person often feels insulted, but their conversation partner did not mean to insult them. Simply checking they meant what they said and understood how their words come across can go a long way towards reducing misunderstandings in communication.
Secondly, children need to be taught to always start with kindness. Giving others the benefit of the doubt can often prevent people from responding in defensive ways which can escalate the negativity of an interaction. If someone feels insulted, it often shows on their face in a response of anger or disgust, sometimes accompanied by defensive words and accusations. This aggressively defensive response can cause the other person to become defensive themselves as they may feel misunderstood and angry that the other person would think so little of them. Rather than jumping straight to anger and assuming the worst, it is better to start with kindness and assume speakers mean something positive and confirm understanding of that rather than the negative interpretation.
Thirdly, children need to be taught to be patient. Many interactions escalate beyond a point of no-return because of an impatience for the other person to change their point of view immediately on the spot. Admitting you were wrong is very difficult to do psychologically. It can be even more difficult when you don’t think you are wrong! When miscommunications occur or there are perceived slights, it is better to say how something could be misinterpreted or how it could be hurtful and then quickly end the conversation with or without an apology. This will give time for the person to think over what they have said and lower the emotional charge of the situation. Trying to force someone into a corner and admit their fault, especially in group settings, is a recipe for disaster as this will often make them simply dig in and defend their position more to not lose face in front of friends or family.
Ways to teach this could include simple things like discussion scenarios or roleplaying, which are already a part of some school’s curriculum for elementary school aged children, but it can also be fun to do riddles together to understand flexible thinking and considering alternatives. In many riddles, the thinker is required to think about a different meaning of a word, such as in a pun, reconsider their assumptions about information not given, and use logical thinking to find out the truth. This along with more direct discussion of the more abstract emotional side in class can encourage brain skills about thinking of alternatives and not jumping to conclusions.
Students and many adults struggle to understand people who are different and need to be taught how to be open and flexible in their communication style when talking with someone from a different communication style. This difference in communication can come from autism, or any other number of differences. Teaching students to be more flexible in their communication will make them more inclusive, better leaders, and more easily able to avoid or deescalate tension.
Conclusion
If children are taught to be more flexible, kind, and patient in their interactions, they will not only be better able to communicate with people who are not neurotypical such as people with autism, but they will be better able to communicate with people who differ from them in other ways such as gender, culture, or generation. Because of this, communication should be a mindful topic added to curricula and not simply something expected to be taught by life itself. While some students may be able to pick up proper communication flexibility through life or from their parents, many others may not have these skills or opportunities. Because it is such a vital basic skill, schools need to teach these communication skills directly.
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References
Crompton, C.J., Foster, S.J., Wilks, C.E.H. et al. Information transfer within and between autistic and non-autistic people. Nat Hum Behav (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02163-z