The development of the "social mind" is the ability to read people and situations and respond accordingly. Autistic children, however, often lag behind their peers in emotional intelligence. In fact, many times a child's lack of eye contact or awareness to their surrounding can be an indicator to parents that something is different about their child. According to Wilkenson, deficits in emotional intelligence "includes difficulty communicating with others, processing and integrating information from the environment, establishing and maintaining reciprocal social relationships, taking another person’s perspective, inferring the interests of others, and transitioning to new learning environments". As some autistic children develop, challenges in these area can grow as the social landscape becomes more dynamic and nuanced. Winner & Crooke posit, “the set of tools used for social understanding and social regulation/communication in our early years is the same set required in adulthood to participate effectively as a member of society (i.e., hold a job and live with others in the community).” Some schools provide a social intelligence curriculum, of sorts, as part of their work with autistic children. One study in particular researched a program called “Peer Networks Intervention” where children with autism participated in playgroups with two or three typically developing kids. According to Debra Kamps, director of the University of Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training, the study “found that the children who participated in the social network not only made significant progress in social communication during the intervention but also made many more initiations to their peers in general.”
 

Wilkinson, L.A. (n.d.). "Emotional Intelligence (EI) and ASD. Living Autism. Retrieved from https://livingautism.com/emotional-intelligence-ei-asd/

Winner, M.G. & Crooke, P.J. (n.d.). "Assessing the social mind in action". Austism Support Network. Retrieved from http://www.autismsupportnetwork.com/news/autism-assessing-social-mind-action-657532

Social Training with Peers Helps Kids with Autism (2015). Autism Speaks. Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/social-training-peers-helps-kids-autism