A Comparrison of Narratives from Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Typically Developing Children

Past research studies have found that children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) show deficits in producing narratives, more specifically in the areas of story grammar, linguistic cohesion, and Theory of Mind (ToM). Theory of Mind is the ability to understand that other individuals perceive thoughts, emotions, and perceptions differently than their own. Jerome Bruner (1986) suggests that children with ASD have deficits in ToM. This study compared the narrative elements of story grammar, linguistic cohesion, and landscape of consciousness in a narrative produced from a wordless picture book. Participants included 5 typically developing children and 5 children diagnosed with ASD between the ages of 10-13 years. Each child was instructed to give a narrative based on a wordless picture book. The overall hypothesis is children with ASD will produce narratives with limited story grammar, linguistic cohesion, and landscape of consciousness. Results indicated that children with ASD produced shorter narratives and used less story grammar, linguistic cohesion, and landscape of consciousness elements when compared to their typically developing peers