Objectives: To investigate spontaneous facial behavior during social interaction in children with acquired brain injury (ABI), and to explore possible links between ABI, facial expressivity, and caregiver-reported social competence.
Design: Between-group comparisons using t tests, within-group comparisons using correlational analyses, correlational analyses of independent variables and outcome measures.
Participants: Sixteen school-aged children with ABI and 32 normally developing children of comparable age and gender.
Main outcome measure: Aspects of facial expressivity derived from coding scheme designed for this study.
Results: Children with ABI were less expressive overall and tended to shift expressions less often than normally developing children. Several measures of expressivity were correlated with measures of social competence.
Conclusions: Brain injury inhibits production of some aspects of spontaneous facial expression. Results are suggestive of links between facial behavior and social skills.