Story Recall and Narrative Coherence of High-Functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Previous research has found few quantitative differences between children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and well-matched controls in the length, complexity, and structure of their narratives. Researchers have noted, however, that narratives of children with ASDs have an unusual and idiosyncratic nature. This study provides an analysis of narratives in 17 children with high-functioning ASDs and 17 typically developing children matched on age, gender, language abilities, and cognitive abilities. We examined story recall and narrative coherence. The study revealed no group differences in story length or syntactic complexity. Children with ASDs also did not differ from controls in their use of the gist of a story to aid recall, or in their sensitivity to the importance of story events. Children with ASDs did, however, produce narratives that were significantly less coherent than the narratives of controls. Children with ASDs appeared less likely to use the gist of the story to organize their narratives coherently. These findings are discussed with regard to their relationship to other cognitive and linguistic difficulties of children with ASDs.     

An evaluation of the short-term impact of a media-based substance abuse prevention programme

A state-wide substance abuse prevention programme, entitled KidsInTouch, incorporated a multifaceted approach involving: (a) media-based interventions; and (b) parent training workshops. KidsInTouch was targeted at parents and their children, ages five to 12 years. The media-based interventions attempted to increase children's and parents' awareness and knowledge about substance abuse and prevention. In addition, the intervention advertised and solicited audience participation in parent training workshops. Parents participating in the parent training workshops, in comparison to the control parents, evidenced significant improvement in both alcohol and other drug knowledge and parenting skills. The implications of using the media and involving children and their parents in substance abuse prevention programmes are discussed.     

Resolving ambiguity: a psycholinguistic approach to understanding prosody processing in high-functioning autism

Individuals with autism exhibit significant impairments in prosody production, yet there is a paucity of research on prosody comprehension in this population. The current study adapted a psycholinguistic paradigm to examine whether individuals with autism are able to use prosody to resolve syntactically ambiguous sentences. Participants were 21 adolescents with high-functioning autism (HFA), and 22 typically developing controls matched on age, IQ, receptive language, and gender. The HFA group was significantly less likely to use prosody to disambiguate syntax, but scored comparably to controls when syntax alone or both prosody and syntax indicated the correct response. These findings indicate that adolescents with HFA have difficulty using prosody to disambiguate syntax in comparison to typically developing controls, even when matched on chronological age, IQ, and receptive language. The implications of these findings for how individuals with autism process language are discussed.