Parents discuss social skills of their children with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome
Social Skills in Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome
In order to interact with another person, an individual needs to be motivated to start an interaction, have the skills to engage another person, be able to maintain the interaction, think about the person’s intentions and interests and end the interaction at an appropriate time.
There are a number of subtle social skills that help to streamline social interaction, such as maintaining an appropriate level of eye contact, using gestures to supplement the interaction or using pointing, giving or showing to share attention with others.
Individuals with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome have been described as having friendly and happy personalities. It has also been reported that they ‘love adult attention’ and ‘have no fear of strangers.’
In comparison to individuals with a similar degree of disability, a research study reported that individuals with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome were less impaired on a measure assessing ‘reduced contact and interest’ which including focusing on eye contact, physical contact and initiating play with other individuals.
You can download the research paper here.
Interestingly, eye-tracking research studies indicated that individuals with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome focus their gaze on the eye region of the face which is similar to typically developing individuals.
Taken together, this research suggests that social contact and interest appears to be intact in individuals with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome.
Unfortunately, there have been some reports of individuals with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome being subject to social or financial exploitation. Individuals may be particularly vulnerable due to their drive for social interaction but their potential difficulties in understanding social rules.
Linking to this, in comparison to individuals with the same developmental age, individuals with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome seem to show an impairment in theory of mind (ability to reason about another individual’s thoughts).
Watch a video of Dr Hayley Crawford discuss some helpful hints and tips about managing social vulnerability in Rubinstin-Taybi syndrome