Sociomoral Reasoning, Empathy, and Meeting Developmental Tasks During the Transition to Adulthood in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Lim et al. (2016) asked how autistic young adults think about right and wrong. They also looked at empathy and life skills.

The team compared autistic and neurotypical people aged 18-25. They used surveys and open-ended questions.

Autistic adults scored lower on moral reasoning and perspective-taking. They felt more personal distress during social problems.

Surprisingly, both groups showed the same level of caring. Qualitative answers showed friends and family help most.

Gillespie-Lynch et al. (2019) meta-analysis found theory-of-mind tests predict only small parts of real social life. Lim et al. (2016) echo that message: low scores on paper do not block genuine empathy.

Callenmark et al. (2014) showed explicit social-cognition tests can hide true deficits. Lim et al. (2016) used mixed methods and caught both the gaps and the strengths.

Granieri et al. (2020) later found autistic adults value care and fairness most in moral dilemmas. This supports K’s advice to build on these strengths when teaching social decision making.

Van Gaasbeek et al. (2026) added that psychological flexibility predicts stress in the same age group. Together the papers suggest we should teach both flexible thinking and perspective-taking for smoother transitions.

You can stop over-relying on false-belief tests. Instead, add real-life moral dilemmas and peer coaching. Ask clients to name a friend who gives advice, then role-play that friend’s point of view. This cheap, quick move boosts both perspective-taking and natural support.