Abstract
This study examines the narrative abilities of 28 high-functioning children with autism or Asperger's Syndrome and 22 typically developing children across two different discourse contexts. As compared with the typically developing children, the high-functioning group performed relatively well in the storybook context but exhibited difficulty imbuing their narratives of personal experience with the more sophisticated characteristics typically employed by the comparison group. Furthermore, children with autism or Asperger's Syndrome demonstrated impairments inferring and building on the underlying causal relationships both within and across story episodes in both narrative contexts. Findings further revealed that the narrative abilities of children with autism or Asperger's Syndrome were associated with performance on measures of emotional understanding, but not theory of mind or verbal IQ. Findings are discussed in relation to the social and emotional underpinnings of narrative discourse.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 239-251 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2003 |
Funding
The research presented in this article was supported by a National Research Service Award (1 F31 MH1255101) to M. Losh and by a grant from the Spencer Foundation to L. Capps. Thanks and appreciation to Lisa Rasco, David Sobel, Erin Heerey, and Agata Rozga for their substantial contributions to the collection, transcription, and coding of these data. Special thanks also go to the children who participated in this study and their families.
Keywords
- Asperger's Syndrome
- Autism
- Emotional understanding
- Narrative
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology