Social cues
Social cues are the silent signals people send: tone of voice, faces, body language, pauses. Reports often say a child misses them.
A clinician has not checked this definition yet.
Applies across the UK
When a report says your child misses social cues, it means the child does not pick up, or does not respond to, signals other people expect them to notice: a warning look, a bored tone, a turn in the conversation ending.
It is worth knowing that this framing is one-sided. Research with autistic people suggests communication breaks down in both directions: non-autistic people misread autistic signals too. So a child described as missing cues may also be sending cues that others miss.
Our own reports use this phrase, including as a headline finding. Read it as shorthand for a difference in how your child does social signals, not as a fault in them.
Related words
Where this comes from
- Signs of autism in children , NHS. Checked 2026-08-15.
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