Social communication disorders refer to difficulties with the use of both verbal and non-verbal language for social purposes. People with social communication disorders have primary challenges in social interaction, social pragmatics, and social cognition.
Notably, they have difficulties communicating for social purposes in appropriate ways for a given social context. They cannot communicate effectively, understand others' perspectives, or respond to verbal and nonverbal social cues.
Such individuals also struggle while following basic rules for conversation and storytelling and have difficulties understanding non-literate or ambiguous language. The condition first appeared in the DSM in 2013.
Before that, individuals exhibiting symptoms of the disorder were typically diagnosed and treated for autisms.