I'm not in any position to speak for your child, but you might want to take another look. After all, my parents said much the same thing about me when I was 7.<p>I had a very rough childhood when it came to my social abilities. I was well spoken and verbalized well. It wasn't until I was an adult that I became acutely aware of the issues I faced with regards to non-verbal and verbal social cues.<p>In many cases I'm quite literally blind, even today, to those social cues. I've learned to compensate for that by essentially training myself by observing other people and becoming quite active in trying to decipher other peoples unspoken cues. It's clear to me that there is something in my makeup that I'm having to compensate for. It doesn't make me a terrible human being...it just is what it is.<p>It's likely that your son is a lot like me. He sounds smart, but struggles socially. I wish my parents had taken a more active role in helping me to practice and manage social situations. The scars from middle and high-school still stick with me.<p>That said, at 30 years old I've managed to 'grow into' myself socially. I find my social interactions to be less daunting. My confidence is 100% better than it was 15 years ago. I'm happily married and am quite happy with every aspect of my life. So it does get better eventually:)<p>So I can really relate to this study. It really confirms what I already knew, that my social troubles where (at least in part) my fault. I hope your son has better success than I did.