Episode #50: Excerpt from Seeing Autism: Connection Through Understanding - Due out Summer 2021

Early Social Reciprocity and Autism

Excerpt from Seeing Autism: Connection Through Understanding - Due out Summer 2021

By Barbara Avila, MS

Synergy Autism Podcast · Episode #50: MP - Early Social Reciprocity

There is one video that went viral on social media in 2020 that demonstrates social reciprocity and joint attention beautifully. In the video, a father figure and an infant are sitting side by side on a couch. They are watching a show together, and they each take turns “commenting” on the show. The baby is making sounds and gazing with exaggerated gestures. They do not seem to have any words yet. The father-figure is responding exuberantly with “I know, right?” and waiting for the baby’s next “comment.” The baby gestures and vocalizes at the TV, then to the father. The father then answers, “Really! Is that so?” and looks to the baby again. The back-and-forth feedback loop between them is adorable, but it also demonstrates the early social reciprocity and joint attention that happens well before a child’s first words. It is through these increasingly complex interactions that we find friendship, learn to collaborate with others, and find our sense of belonging and community.


The Cascade Effect

There are countless factors and variables at play helping our seeds of social engagement germinate and flourish throughout our lives. We may be in loving, caring homes that nurture the seeds of social reciprocity and joint attention. Or we may be in abusive homes that stunt or delay the seeds early in development. Just as easily, we may be in the idyllic environment for seeds to grow but our seeds themselves are not yet ready. They may need to gain strength and wellness within their own biological systems before sprouting into the world. Infants who later develop autism are born with the innate drive to socially connect just like everyone else. It is the developmental step from early, quiet, and simple social reciprocity to the complexity of joint attention that may not occur in the same manner—delaying language and social development.

Autistic adults commonly report experiencing sensory input differently. The young child may be experiencing an internal landscape, making sensory experiences more vivid and potentially more overwhelming than the rest of us.


Again, “social reciprocity” is a diagnostic phrase used to refer to the back-and-forth mutual exchange between people. Social reciprocity starts early in development. A caregiver gazes at a baby, the baby looks back, and the two continue in a connected and fluid manner. The eye contact you might witness in this infant-caregiver relationship may be fleeting, but it also may be sustained. The infant may gaze at the caregiver, then look away, then look back again to the caregiver.

Early infant research on social reciprocity guides us to understand how it supports later healthy development as well as how disruptions in this early stage can cause challenges later. For example, psychologists found that if a parent “chases” their infant’s gaze rather than allowing the infant to shift away and come back on their own, the child may get overstimulated and struggle with their own overall ability to calm themselves. In the 1960s and 1970s, child development researchers Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby helped the child development world understand the importance of early attachment with caregivers. The research has been primarily focused on the effects on the child when their caregiver is challenged by such mental health needs as depression or anxiety. Bowlby shared that “the early attachment experience creates internal working models—lifelong templates for preconceptions of the value and reliability of relationships, close and otherwise” (Rees 2007). The baby develops templates for their later social interactions in childhood, teen years, and even into adult life.

It is only recently that we have seen research in early engagements where the child has sensory or regulation challenges within their own neurobiological system that impact their readiness for that early social engagement.




To learn more about social engagement and the drive we all have for social connection, please look for its publication this Summer 2021.