Violations of Personal Space in Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Williams Syndrome: Insights from the Social Responsiveness Scale.

Lough et al. (2015) asked parents to fill out the Social Responsiveness Scale. They compared youth with autism, youth with Williams syndrome, and typical peers.

The survey looked at how often each child stood too close, touched strangers, or ignored personal space.

Parents said both autism and Williams groups broke personal-space rules more than typical kids.

Williams syndrome youth earned the highest parent ratings for space violations.

Cashon et al. (2013) surveyed the same groups two years earlier. They found autistic youth showed less risk awareness, while Williams youth seemed overly friendly. The new paper zooms in on one clear behavior—standing too close.

Lough et al. (2016) later asked parents of adults with Williams syndrome the same kind of questions. Parents again rated their children as more vulnerable than the adults rated themselves. Together the three studies show a steady parent view: Williams syndrome equals space and safety problems across age.

McAuliffe et al. (2017) looks opposite at first. Their autism teens improved social skills after PEERS training, while the current study only reports problems. The gap simply shows baseline data come before teaching; the same parent tool can later track gains.

You now have a parent checklist item: “My child gets too close to others.” If that box is ticked, teach concrete space rules—arm-length circle, floor-tape lines, or hula-hoop distance. Start early with Williams syndrome clients; parents signal this is their top social worry.