Discrepancies between self- and parent-perceptions of autistic traits and empathy in high functioning children and adolescents on the autism spectrum.

The team asked high-functioning kids and teens with autism to rate their own traits and empathy.

They also asked parents to rate the same child.

Both groups filled out short questionnaires so the scores could be compared side-by-side.

Youth with autism said they had fewer autistic traits and more empathy than their parents saw.

Typical kids showed no such gap.

The mismatch was large enough to change how a clinician might read the file.

Lerner et al. (2012) saw the same pattern for social skills: youth gave themselves high marks while parents scored them a full step below average.

Ding et al. (2017) and Knüppel et al. (2018) stretched the idea to quality of life and found the same tilt—youth again viewed themselves more positively than parents did.

Hurtig et al. (2009) flips the script on anxiety and depression: here parents under-reported internal distress compared with youth and teachers, showing the gap can run either way depending on what you ask.

If you only collect one form you may miss the real picture.

Take five extra minutes to gather both youth and parent reports before writing goals or picking interventions.

When the scores clash, use the gap as a talking point to teach self-awareness and to guide parent expectations.