Interactional Synchrony and Its Association with Social and Communication Ability in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The team watched kids with and without autism play with an adult.

They measured how closely each child matched the adult’s timing, tone, and body moves.

The goal was to see if less “sync” went hand-in-hand with weaker social and talking skills.

Children with autism moved and spoke less in step with the adult.

The more out-of-sync a child was, the more social-communication trouble the child had.

Typical kids stayed better matched and also scored higher on social tests.

Adams et al. (2021) extends this idea to adults. They found the same lack of sync, but inside the brain, during live conversation.

Davison et al. (2002) flips the view: when parents sync to their autistic toddler, the child later gains stronger language and joint attention. Together the papers say “sync matters,” whether the child or the adult drives it.

Johnston et al. (2017) and Franich et al. (2021) show timing problems in smaller tasks—lip-sync videos and syllable beats—suggesting the sync gap starts at the millisecond level and snowballs into real-life interaction.

If a client seems “off beat” with you, that gap may signal wider social-communication risk. Try adding simple rhythm games, mirrored movements, or paced turn-taking to sessions. Small boosts in sync could open bigger doors for language and friendship down the line.