Table 1.
Distinctions between masking, shallow compensation, deep compensation and accommodation strategies, derived from Livingston et al. [5]
| Strategy type | Description | Specific examples | Overall characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masking (6 items) | Strategies that involve regulating (increasing/dampening) pre-existing social behaviours | Hold back your true thoughts and opinions; dress and speak like the group you are trying to blend in with; stand in a conversation but say/do very little |
• Not very cognitively demanding/tiring • Can become ‘automatic’ with time • Enable one to ‘blend in’ or ‘go unnoticed’ in group situations or from a far • Do not necessarily support active participation in two-way interaction |
| Shallow compensation (10 items) | Strategies that enable production of neurotypical behaviour (e.g. social behaviour) without solving the cognitive difficulty/difference in question (e.g. continued theory of mind difficulty) | Enact learned scripts and social rules to guide conversations; make or appear to make ‘appropriate’ eye contact; repeat and rephrase what your interaction partner says to give the impression of being a ‘good listener’ |
• Fairly cognitively demanding/tiring • Less likely to become ‘automatic’ compared to masking strategies • Enable reciprocal social interaction • Not flexible across contexts, doesn’t always emulate natural social interaction and can ‘break down’ under stress/with constant use |
| Deep compensation (9 items) | Strategies that enable an alternative route to solve the cognitive difficulty in question (e.g. successfully solve theory of mind, albeit differently to neurotypical people) | Flexibly use built catalogue of possible interpretations of others’ mental states, based on a combination of multiple sources of information (e.g. logic, context, facial expression, tone of voice); substitute others’ values/interests with your own or those of a TV/book character to infer their mental state |
• Can initially be challenging to devise • Can become ‘automatic’ with time • More flexible than shallow strategies • Support genuine improvements in social cognition (e.g. theory of mind) |
| Accommodation (6 items) | Strategies that help accommodate, but do not necessarily alter, one’s cognitive difficulty/difference | Work in an environment where your social differences are actively accommodated; live in a foreign country so that your social differences are attributed to ‘being foreign’ by others |
• May enable ‘good outcome’ (e.g. employment, good mental health) without autistic behaviour necessarily reducing • May require additional support structures (e.g. family, financial resources) • Can work alongside compensatory strategies, but are ultimately distinct |