A comparative study of the use and understanding of self-presentational display rules in children with high functioning autism and Asperger's disorder.

Barbaro et al. (2007) watched kids with high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger's disorder (AspD) play a game.

The kids had to hide their feelings so an adult would not know they got a bad prize.

Typical kids did the same task. The team scored how well each child kept a straight face.

HFA and AspD kids used weaker cover-up moves than typical peers.

Yet all groups could explain why hiding feelings is useful.

HFA and AspD looked the same on both use and understanding.

Dissanayake et al. (2010) later showed HFA/AspD kids still know it is them on delayed video, even when they fail false-belief tasks. Together the studies say self-recognition stays, but acting the part fades.

Dritschel et al. (2010) moved the question to teens and found they think others know their thoughts better than they do. The teen data extend the child finding: self-presentation gaps last.

Colle et al. (2008) tracked the same HFA/AspD pair into adulthood and found both groups use fewer pronouns and time words in stories. The language gap matches the social mask gap, again with no HFA-AspD split.

Taddei et al. (2013) looked at planning and attention in the same three groups and saw AspD outperform HFA. This seems to clash with Josephine's null HFA-AspD difference, but Stefano tested pure cognition, not social rules. Different domains, different splits.

You can teach the rule—"hide disappointment"—and clients will repeat it, yet still look flat or blunt. Script practice plus video feedback works better than verbal explanation alone. Track each client, not the label; HFA and AspD act the same here.