Perspective:
- An autistic person may struggle to recognize that others have different thoughts, ideas, and personal motivation than their own.
- "Perspective taking" is often refered to as "Theory of Mind" by professionals and researchers.
- Perspective taking is critical for socialization, academic work, and personal problem solving for independent living.
- Common terms used to describe mental states are "think", "know", "believe", "expect", and "guess".
- Perspective taking typically involves four steps:    
Step One - When two people enter the same space, they each think about the other person.    
Step Two - Each person considers the other persons intentions and motives. If something is questionable about one then the other will watch closely.    
Step Three - Each person considers wether the other person is having favorable thoughts about them. They weigh how past interactions with that person may affect the current situation.    
Step Four - Each person continues to watch the other. One or both may change their actions so the other will continue to have favorable or desired thoughts about them.
- An autistic person may:
   - Struggle to identify the needs and wants of others.
   - Respond in ways that do not appear to be empathetic..
   - Appear to be too straight forward or demanding.
   - Not share in the interests of others.
   - Not undersatand that others have not had the same experiences as them.
   - Be unable to understand the thoughts, motives, and intentions of others.
   - Be unable to predict the actions/reactions of others.
   - Not be aware of or understand deceit.
   - Be at risk around people who intend to do harm.
- Perspective taking is related in various ways to other features of autism. Please see the Social Interaction Feature, the Cognition Feature, and the Reading Feature in this web site.
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