Almeida Telma Sousa, Yang Fuming, Zhang Heying, Lamb Michael E
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
William James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Rua Jardim do Tabaco, 34, Lisbon, 1149-041, Portugal.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 Dec 28. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06675-x.
This study explored the narrative coherence of the accounts of an experienced event produced by autistic and neurotypical children (ages 6-15 years) after delays of two weeks and two months.
The sample comprised 27 autistic children and 32 neurotypical peers, who were interviewed about the event using the Revised National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol. The study focused on assessing the narrative coherence of children's reports, emphasizing key story grammar elements and temporal features in their narratives.
Results revealed that, over time, both autistic and neurotypical children showed a decrease in narrative coherence. Autistic children, particularly those who were cognitively and verbally able, demonstrated the ability to convey their experiences coherently, with performances comparable to those of their neurotypical peers. Interviewer prompts differentially influenced the narrative coherence of autistic and non-autistic children's accounts.
This research showed that, when questioned appropriately, cognitively and verbally able autistic children can effectively communicate their personal experiences, even after significant delays.
本研究探讨了自闭症儿童和神经典型儿童（6至15岁）在间隔两周和两个月后对经历事件的叙述连贯性。
样本包括27名自闭症儿童和32名神经典型儿童，使用修订后的美国国立儿童健康与人类发展研究所（NICHD）调查访谈协议对他们就该事件进行访谈。该研究重点评估儿童报告的叙述连贯性，强调其叙述中的关键故事语法要素和时间特征。
结果显示，随着时间推移，自闭症儿童和神经典型儿童的叙述连贯性均有所下降。自闭症儿童，尤其是那些认知和语言能力较强的儿童，能够连贯地传达他们的经历，表现与神经典型儿童相当。访谈者的提示对自闭症儿童和非自闭症儿童叙述的连贯性产生了不同的影响。
这项研究表明，当被适当地提问时，即使在经历显著延迟后，认知和语言能力较强的自闭症儿童也能够有效地传达他们的个人经历。
