Spatial transformations of bodies and objects in adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Armstrong et al. (2014) asked adults with autism to picture how a scene looks from another angle.

They used computer tasks that rotated bodies and objects.

The team timed how fast and how accurately each person solved the view-shift.

Adults with autism were slower than typical adults.

They had the most trouble when they had to imagine their own body turning.

This shows the block is not general space skill, but placing the self in someone else's spot.

Conson et al. (2015) saw the same slow-down and added that adults with autism skip the 'feel-it' route and use cold mental rotation instead.

Williams et al. (2010) looked similar adults with Asperger syndrome and found normal visuospatial scores, which seems to clash. The gap is in the task: Nicole used simple left-right views while Amy used full body-turns, so the harder egocentric step reveals the deficit.

Hewitt et al. (2016) extended the idea to children and found autistic kids also rely on mental rotation, not body matching, proving the style starts early.

Peters et al. (2018) wrap these lab clues into practice advice: teach perspective inside real social routines, not as solo puzzles.

If your client stalls on social stories, add a quick body-perspective warm-up. Ask them to stand up, turn, and report what you can see. Two minutes of this egocentric drill can unblock the later social-cognition work.