Expression of Shame Emotions in Autistic Children: A Psycholinguistic Study

Abstract

This study describes verbal and nonverbal expressions of shame in autistic children, and their influencing factors, through a psycholinguistic approach. Shame, a social emotion tied to self-awareness of environmental assessment, may appear differently in autistic than neurotypical children; understanding it clarifies the relationship between language skills, psychological processes, and emotional behavior in social interaction. Using a descriptive qualitative case study, data comprised verbal utterances and nonverbal expressions shown in social situations such as being praised, noticed by many people, making mistakes, or being the center of attention. Data were collected through observation, conversation recording, teacher and parent interviews, and documentation, then analyzed via data reduction, presentation, and conclusion drawing. Verbal data were analyzed by linguistic forms (words, phrases, sentences, language style); nonverbal data by kinesics, haptics, proxemics, paralanguage, chronemics, and artifacts. Verbally, shame appears as simple words, subtle rejection, repetition, short sentences, and ellipsis; nonverbally, as looking down, avoiding eye contact, slight smiling, looking away, silence, covering the face, and withdrawing from situations. These indicate a link between emotional processing, language skills, and social responses. Internal factors include emotional sensitivity, language development, self-regulation, and neurological conditions; external factors include parenting style, family environment, teacher interaction, peer acceptance, and social situations. Shame is expressed not only verbally but predominantly nonverbally, and understanding it can inform inclusive educational, communication, and emotional support strategies.