A robot or a dumper truck? Facilitating play-based social learning across neurotypes.

Structured Abstract Background & Aims: How can non-autistic adults facilitate social learning with children on the spectrum? A new theoretical understanding of autism is currently emerging that has made this question more relevant than ever. At the intersection of two growing research areas in the field of autism, the borderland that separates the experience of social interaction between neurotypes is increasingly mapped out. By integrating anthropological research on autistic sociality and the neurocognitive framework of predictive processing, this paper explores the question: If autistic people experience the world in a fundamentally different way, what is a meaningful strategy for supporting them in developing their socialities?

Methods: The paper reports an in-depth analysis of a 2-min sequence in which a non-autistic adult facilitates a collaboration game between three autistic children (8-12 years).