Autism does not Dictate Children's Lack of Sharing in a Prosocial Choice Test.

Laina and colleagues ran a sharing game with preschoolers. Half of the kids had autism. Half were neurotypical.

Each child got two stickers and could give one to another child. Sometimes the other child sat right across the table. Sometimes the child was in another room. The team counted how often each group shared.

Autistic and neurotypical preschoolers shared at the same rate. Both groups gave away a sticker more often when the other child could see them.

Having autism did not lower sharing. Being watched raised sharing for everyone.

O'Connor et al. (2024) later tested autistic adults with money instead of stickers. The adults actually gave more to strangers than non-autistic adults. Together the two studies show prosocial behavior can stay the same or even grow stronger with age.

Schroeder et al. (2014) looked at first-graders and also found typical levels of prosocial acts despite lower perspective-taking scores. The preschool null result lines up with this pattern: sharing is intact even when cognitive empathy lags.

Cage et al. (2013) found autistic adults only boosted donations when future pay-back was made crystal clear. That qualifier is missing in preschool; the kids simply saw a peer. The mixed adult finding helps explain why presence, not reputation rules, drove sharing in the younger group.

You can stop assuming autistic preschoolers are naturally less generous. Set up play sessions where peers sit face-to-face. The visual cue is enough to spark typical sharing. Use these moments to practice turn-taking and joint play instead of remedial generosity drills.