Do adolescents with DLD use social cues differently?

Citation

Forrest, C. L., Gibson, J. L., Button, K. S., Halligan, S. L., & St Clair, M. C. (2025). Do You Like Me? Differences in Learning Social Cues in Adolescents with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-15.

Click here for video summary

Key terms that are in this paper

· Social cues – parts of communication which guide shared understanding of how to behave.

Aim of the paper

·     This paper aimed to look at how adolescents with DLD use social cues.

·    Individuals with DLD often struggle with social and emotional difficulties.

·      This could lead to difficulties making friends, for example.

·      We do not yet know how these difficulties develop.

·      This paper looked at difficulty with social cues as an explanation for the increased social and emotional difficulties.

·      The study aimed to use a new interactive online task to look at adolescents’ understanding of social cues.

What was found

·     Adolescents with DLD had higher levels of anxiety. Their parents reported that they had more emotional and friendship problems.

·      However, there was no difference in adolescent’s own report of their mental wellbeing between those with DLD and typically developing adolescents. This finding is different from other research.

·      Adolescents with DLD took longer to understand some social cues. 

·      That is, they found it more difficult to learn that they were disliked.

·      They found it just as easy to learn that they were liked.

·      In general, adolescents with DLD paid more attention to positive social cues than negative social cues.

·       How well they learned social cues was not related to their mental wellbeing or friendship problems.

What does this mean?

·      Adolescents with DLD can be good at recognising positive social cues. That is, social cues which indicate they are liked.

·      Adolescents with DLD may however find it more difficult to recognise social cues which suggest that someone doesn’t like them.

·     These findings could suggest a positivity bias. This means they may see some social cues as more positive than they are.

·      This could explain the surprising finding that adolescents with DLD do not report lower mental wellbeing. They may instead struggle to recognise the negative social cues.

·      However, more research is needed to look closer at this link. 

Where can I read this paper?

·        You can read the whole paper for free by following this link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06984-9

·        YouTube summary: https://youtu.be/IYRNBEErp90?si=Ybjijbf0OJi45pUR