THE NUANCE OF HUMOR AND HOW IT RELATES TO AUTISM IS EXPLORED

By Rachel ANDERSEN

The sound of Johnny’s laughter reverberated off the walls of the RV they had rented for the weekend. Camping was a rarity in their family, as was the sound of his giggles. His mother, Connie, drank in the sound; it was as comforting and welcome as her morning cup of coffee.

Since his autism diagnosis five years before, the subject of autism and humor weighed heavy on Connie. She knew that her son was funny and loved to laugh—the world didn’t. His humor wasn’t always well received, and he often misunderstood others’ attempts to amuse him as well.

Connie wished she could do something to bridge the gap. For now she would settle for savoring the sound and taking mental notes so that she could make it happen as often as possible.

For this article, we will talk about how humor and autism spectrum disorder interact with each other and maybe learn some of the things Connie did.

Humor and the autistic mind

According to an article published on the National Library of Medicine’s website titled, Laughing Matters: Infant Humor in the Context of Parental Affect, research shows that “children with autism are more likely to exhibit ‘solitary laughter’, meaning that they laugh when alone in response to stimuli that do not typically evoke laughter in others, rarely laugh in response to others’ laughter unless attempting to echo the sound, and rarely attempt to intentionally make others laugh”.