Difficulty with social communication is the most pervasive difficulty experienced by individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD). Communication difficulties are often magnified in adolescence as social demands become more intricate. This puts adolescents with HF-ASD at increased risk of social isolation and depression, as they have difficulty developing positive social identity. Yet, there is a dearth of literature addressing the communication issues of this population and even fewer studies including the voice of adolescents with HF-ASD themselves. This study aimed to (1) explore the perspectives of adolescents with HF-ASD as to their social communication skills, (2) explore what (if any) difficulties they perceive themselves as having when talking with their peers, (3) explore if they would like help with social communication skills and (4) determine what kind of help they think may be useful to them and establish if they already use self-initiated strategies. This study was qualitative in nature, using thematic analysis to analyse data collected from 10 semi-structured interviews with 5 adolescents with HF-ASD. Qualitative research underpins the idea that one must understand the significance and explanation that people give to situations, experiences, their own actions and to the actions of others, for one to comprehend human behaviours and actions. A qualitative design allowed us to gain the most in depth insight into how adolescents with HF-ASD understand and perceive their experiences. Three themes emerged revealing the participants’ perceptions of their difficulties communicating, challenging feelings that they experience about communication, and their perspectives about the support for developing communication skills. The participants indicated a need for support to aid their desire to improve communication skills and interactions with typically developing peers. In educational settings, adolescents with HF-ASD may benefit from a peer mentor system to give them opportunities to practice social communication skills with typically developing peers and to encourage inclusion amongst their classmates.

中文翻译：

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“只是想与人交谈……这是最难的”：高功能自闭症谱系障碍青少年对社交沟通技巧的看法

社交沟通困难是高功能自闭症谱系障碍 (HF-ASD) 患者遇到的最普遍的困难。随着社会需求变得更加复杂，沟通困难往往在青春期被放大。这使患有 HF-ASD 的青少年面临更大的社会孤立和抑郁风险，因为他们难以发展积极的社会认同。然而，解决这一人群交流问题的文献很少，包括 HF-ASD 青少年自身声音在内的研究甚至更少。本研究旨在 (1) 探讨 HF-ASD 青少年对社交沟通技巧的看法，(2) 探讨他们在与同龄人交谈时认为自己遇到的困难（如果有的话），(3) 探索他们是否需要社交沟通技巧方面的帮助，以及 (4) 确定他们认为哪种帮助可能对他们有用，并确定他们是否已经使用自发策略。这项研究本质上是定性的，使用主题分析来分析从 5 名 HF-ASD 青少年的 10 次半结构化访谈中收集的数据。定性研究支持这样一种观点，即必须了解人们对情境、经验、自己的行为和他人的行为的重要性和解释，才能理解人类的行为和行为。定性设计使我们能够最深入地了解患有 HF-ASD 的青少年如何理解和感知他们的经历。出现了三个主题，揭示了参与者对沟通困难的看法，他们在交流中体验到的具有挑战性的感受，以及他们对发展交流技巧的支持的看法。参与者表示需要支持以帮助他们提高与典型发展中同龄人的沟通技巧和互动的愿望。在教育环境中，患有 HF-ASD 的青少年可能会受益于同伴导师系统，让他们有机会与典型发展中的同伴练习社交沟通技巧，并鼓励他们的同学融入其中。