Sharing joy during interaction as a category for assessing emotional and social functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders

Social and interaction difficulties are among the axial symptoms that define the nature of autism spectrum disorders. Among social deficits, children with ASD have been observed to lack or impoverish the display and sharing of emotions during established social interactions. The causes of impaired emotional participation in people with ASD, from a neurobiological point of view, are deficits in the development of mirror neurons, the mechanisms of functioning of the frontal and temporal lobes, or the limbic system. In this article, the author presents her own research to assess and analyze behaviors aimed at sharing joy during play, conversation and observation of preschool children with autism spectrum disorders.