Abstract
Pragmatic difficulties resulting in problems with reciprocal conversation are widely studied in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is some consensus on the conversation differences between individuals with autism compared to neurotypical groups and groups with other developmental delays. There is little information on whether conversation partners (neurotypical or with ASD) of individuals with ASD find these differences problematic. The results indicate that behaviors reported to be the most problematic were not necessarily behaviors commonly addressed in research. Further, some conversational capacities that have received less research focus were perceived as more problematic. Although conversation partners who had ASD themselves reported the frequency of behaviors similarly to the neurotypical group, they did not find the behaviors as problematic.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, C., Green, J., Gilchrist, A., & Cox, A. (2002). Conversational behavior of children with Asperger syndrome and conduct disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,43, 679–690. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00056.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Bailey, A., Le Couteur, A., Gottesman, I., Bolton, P., Simonoff, E., Yuzda, E., et al. (1995). Autism as a strongly genetic disorder: Evidence from a British twin study. Psychological Medicine,25, 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291700028099.
Baldwin, S., Costley, D., & Warren, A. (2014). Employment activities and experiences of adults with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,44, 2440–2449. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2112-z.
Baltaxe, C. A., & D'Angiola, N. (1996). Referencing skills in children with autism and specific language impairment. European Journal of Disorders of Communication,31, 245–258. https://doi.org/10.3109/13682829609033156.
Baltaxe, C. A., Russell, A., D'Angiola, N., & Simmons, J. Q. (1995). Discourse cohesion in the verbal interactions of individuals diagnosed with autistic disorder or schizotypal personality disorder. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Developmental Disabilities,20, 79–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/07263869500035471.
Bambara, L. M., Cole, C. L., Chovanes, J., Telesford, A., Thomas, A., & Tsai, S.-C. (2018). Improving the assertive conversational skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder in a natural context. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders,48, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2018.01.002.
Bang, J., Burns, J., & Nadig, A. (2013). Brief report: Conveying subjective experience in conversation: Production of mental state terms and personal narratives in individuals with high functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,43, 1732–1740. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1716-4.
Baron-Cohen, S. (1988). Social and pragmatic deficits in autism: Cognitive or affective? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,18, 379–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02212194.
Baron-Cohen, S. (1989). The autistic child's theory of mind: A case of specific developmental delay. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,30(2), 285–297.
Bauminger, N. (2002). The facilitation of social-emotional understanding and social interaction in high-functioning children with autism: Intervention outcomes. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,32, 283–298. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016378718278.
Bauminger, N., Solomon, M., Aviezer, A., Heung, K., Brown, J., & Rogers, S. J. (2008). Friendship in high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder: Mixed and non-mixed dyads. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,38, 1211–1229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0501-2.
Bauminger-Zviely, N., Karin, E., Kimhi, Y., & Agam-Ben-Artzi, G. (2014). Spontaneous peer conversation in preschoolers with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder versus typical development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,55, 363–373. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12158.
Beattie, G., & Shovelton, H. (1999). Do iconic hand gestures really contribute anything to the semantic information conveyed by speech? An experimental investigation. Semiotica,123, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1999.123.1-2.1.
Berney, T. (2004). Asperger syndrome from childhood into adulthood. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment,10, 341–351. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.10.5.341.
Breit-Smith, A., & Murray, D. S. (2009). Teaching conversation skills to children with high functioning autism/Asperger syndrome. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education,16, 48–54. https://doi.org/10.1044/lle16.2.48.
Candini, M., Giuberti, V., Manattini, A., Grittani, S., di Pellegrino, G., & Frassinetti, F. (2017). Personal space regulation in childhood autism: Effects of social interaction and person's perspective. Autism Research,10, 144–154. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1637.
Capps, L., Kehres, J., & Sigman, M. (1998). Conversational abilities among children with autism and children with developmental delays. Autism,2, 325–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361398024002.
Carter, E. W., Common, E. A., Sreckovic, M. A., Huber, H. B., Bottema-Beutel, K., & Gustafson, J. R. (2014). Promoting social competence and peer relationships for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Remedial and Special Education,35, 91–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932513514618.
Cummings, L. (2017). Pragmatic disorders (Vol. 3). Dordrecht: Springer.
de Rosnay, M., & Hughes, C. (2006). Conversation and theory of mind: Do children talk their way to socio-cognitive understanding? British Journal of Developmental Psychology,24, 7–37. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151005X82901.
de Villiers, J., Fine, J., Ginsberg, G., Vaccarella, L., & Szatmari, P. (2007). Brief report: A scale for rating conversational impairment in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,37, 1375–1380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0264-1.
Dean, M., Harwood, R., & Kasari, C. (2017). The art of camouflage: Gender differences in the social behaviors of girls and boys with autism spectrum disorder. Autism,21, 678–689. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361316671845.
Dotson, W. H., Leaf, J. B., Sheldon, J. B., & Sherman, J. A. (2010). Group teaching of conversational skills to adolescents on the autism spectrum. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders,4, 199–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2009.09.005.
Eales, M. J. (1993). Pragmatic impairments in adults with childhood diagnoses of autism or developmental receptive language disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,23, 593–617. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046104.
Eigsti, I.-M., de Marchena, A. B., Schuh, J. M., & Kelley, E. (2011). Language acquisition in autism spectrum disorders: A developmental review. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders,5, 681–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2010.09.001.
Gessaroli, E., Santelli, E., di Pellegrino, G., & Frassinetti, F. (2013). Personal space regulation in childhood autism spectrum disorders. PLoS ONE,8, e74959. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074959.
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. Syntax and Semantics,3, 41–58.
Hillier, A., Campbell, H., Mastriani, K., Izzo, M. V., Kool-Tucker, A. K., Cherry, L., et al. (2007). Two-year evaluation of a vocational support program for adults on the autism spectrum. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals,30, 35–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/08857288070300010501.
Hobson, R. P., Lee, A., & Hobson, J. A. (2010). Personal pronouns and communicative engagement in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,40, 653–664. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0910-5.
Holmes, J., & Stubbe, M. (1997). Good listeners: Gender differences in New Zealand conversation. Women and Language,20(2), 7–14.
Howlin, P., & Moss, P. (2012). Adults with autism spectrum disorders. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry,57, 275–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371205700502.
Howlin, P., Moss, P., Savage, S., & Rutter, M. (2013). Social outcomes in mid-to later adulthood among individuals diagnosed with autism and average nonverbal IQ as children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,52, 572–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2013.02.017.
Hughes, C., & Leekam, S. (2004). What are the links between theory of mind and social relations? Review, reflections and new directions for studies of typical and atypical development. Social Development,13, 590–619. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2004.00285.x.
Hughes, C., Bernstein, R. T., Kaplan, L. M., Reilly, C. M., Brigham, N. L., Cosgriff, J. C., et al. (2013). Increasing conversational interactions between verbal high school students with autism and their peers without disabilities. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities,28, 241–254.
Jones, C. D., & Schwartz, I. S. (2009). When asking questions is not enough: An observational study of social communication differences in high functioning children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,39, 432–443. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-008-0642-y.
Kelly, R., O’Malley, M.-P., & Antonijevic, S. (2018). ‘Just trying to talk to people… It’s the hardest’: Perspectives of adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder on their social communication skills. Child Language Teaching & Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265659018806754.
Kissine, M. (2012). Pragmatics, cognitive flexibility and autism spectrum disorders. Mind & Language,27, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0017.2011.01433.x.
Knott, F., Dunlop, A., & Mackay, T. (2006). Living with ASD: How do children and their parents assess their difficulties with social interaction and understanding? Autism,10, 609–617. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361306068510.
Koegel, L., Park, M., & Koegel, R. (2014). Using self-management to improve the reciprocal social conversation of children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,44, 1055–1063. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1956-y.
Koning, C., & Magill-Evans, J. (2001). Social and language skills in adolescent boys with Asperger syndrome. Autism,5, 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361301005001003.
Lai, M.-C., Lombardo, M. V., Auyeung, B., Chakrabarti, B., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2015). Sex/gender differences and autism: Setting the scene for future research. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,54, 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2014.10.003.
Lord, C., & Magill, J. (1989). Methodological and theoretical issues in studying peer-directed behavior and autism. In G. Dawson (Ed.), Autism nature, diagnosis, and treatment. New York: Guilford Press.
Losh, M., & Capps, L. (2006). Understanding of emotional experience in autism: Insights from the personal accounts of high-functioning children with autism. Developmental Psychology,42, 809–818. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.5.809.
Loveland, K. A., Landry, S. H., Hughes, S. O., & Hall, S. K. (1988). Speech acts and the pragmatic deficits of autism. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research,31, 593–604. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3104.593.
Loveland, K. A., Tunali-Kotoski, B., Chen, Y. R., Ortegon, J., Pearson, D. A., Brelsford, K. A., et al. (1997). Emotion recognition in autism: Verbal and nonverbal information. Development and Psychopathology,9, 579–593. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579497001351.
Matthews, N. L., Ly, A. R., & Goldberg, W. A. (2015). College students’ perceptions of peers with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,45, 90–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2195-6.
Mazza, M., Pino, M. C., Mariano, M., Tempesta, D., Ferrara, M., & De Berardis, D. (2014). Affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,8, 791. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00791.
McCann, J., & Peppe, S. (2003). Prosody in autism spectrum disorders: A critical review. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders,38, 325. https://doi.org/10.1080/1368282031000154204.
Merrill, N., Gallo, E., & Fivush, R. (2015). Gender differences in family dinnertime conversations. Discourse Processes,52, 533–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2014.958425.
Nadig, A., Lee, I., Singh, L., Bosshart, K., & Ozonoff, S. (2010). How does the topic of conversation affect verbal exchange and eye gaze? A comparison between typical development and high-functioning autism. Neuropsychologia,48, 2730–2739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.05.020.
Nuernberger, J. E., Ringdahl, J. E., Vargo, K. K., Crumpecker, A. C., & Gunnarsson, K. F. (2013). Using a behavioral skills training package to teach conversation skills to young adults with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders,7, 411–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2012.09.004.
Paul, R., & Wilson, K. P. (2009). Assessing speech, language, and communication in autism spectrum disorders. In S. Goldstein, J. A. Naglieri, & S. Ozonoff (Eds.), Assessment of autism spectrum disorders (pp. 171–208). New York: Guilford Press.
Paul, R., Dykens, E., Leckman, J. F., Watson, M., Breg, W. R., & Cohen, D. J. (1987). A comparison of language characteristics of mentally retarded adults with fragile X syndrome and those with nonspecific mental retardation and autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,17, 457–468. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01486963.
Paul, R., Orlovski, S. M., Marcinko, H. C., & Volkmar, F. (2009). Conversational behaviors in youth with high-functioning ASD and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,39, 115–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-008-0607-1.
Peppé, S., Cleland, J., Gibbon, F., O’Hare, A., & Castilla, P. M. (2011). Expressive prosody in children with autism spectrum conditions. Journal of Neurolinguistics,24, 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2010.07.005.
Pridham, F. (2013). The language of conversation. London: Routledge.
Rehfeldt, R. A., & Chambers, M. R. (2003). Functional analysis and treatment of verbal perseverations displayed by an adult with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,36, 259–261. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2003.36-259.
Roach, P. (2000). English phonetics and phonology: A practical course (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Roberts, J., Martin, G. E., Moskowitz, L., Harris, A. A., Foreman, J., & Nelson, L. (2007). Discourse skills of boys with fragile X syndrome in comparison to boys with Down syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research,50, 475–492. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2007/033).
Sandin, S., Lichtenstein, P., Kuja-Halkola, R., Hultman, C., Larsson, H., & Reichenberg, A. (2017). The heritability of autism spectrum disorder. JAMA,318, 1182–1184. https://doi.org/10.1093/med:psych/9780198717942.003.0006.
Sasson, N. J., Faso, D. J., Nugent, J., Lovell, S., Kennedy, D. P., & Grossman, R. B. (2017). Neurotypical peers are less willing to interact with those with autism based on thin slice judgments. Scientific Reports,7, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40700.
Shriberg, L. D., Paul, R., McSweeny, J. L., Klin, A., & Cohen, D. J. (2001). Speech and prosody characteristics of adolescents and adults with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research,44, 1097–1115. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2001/087).
Sng, C. Y., Carter, M., & Stephenson, J. (2018). A systematic review of the comparative pragmatic differences in conversational skills of individuals with autism. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments. https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941518803806.
Sperry, L. A., & Mesibov, G. B. (2005). Perceptions of social challenges of adults with autism spectrum disorder. Autism,9, 362–376. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361305056077.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Tager-Flusberg, H., & Anderson, M. (1991). The development of contingent discourse ability in autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,32, 1123–1134. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1991.tb00353.x.
Volden, J. (2004). Conversational repair in speakers with autism spectrum disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders,39, 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/13682820410001663252.
Volden, J. (2017). Autism spectrum disorder. In L. Cummings (Ed.), Research in clinical pragmatics (pp. 59–83). Cham: Springer.
World Health Organisation. (2018). International classification of diseases and related health problems. 11th revision. https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en
Ziatas, K., Durkin, K., & Pratt, C. (2003). Differences in assertive speech acts produced by children with autism, Asperger syndrome, specific language impairment, and normal development. Development and Psychopathology,15, 73–94. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579403000051.
Acknowledgments
This research was not supported by grants or any other sources of financial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
CYS conceived, planned and developed the project with support from MC and JS. CYS coordinated the distribution of the survey and collated the data. NS provided the statistical analysis. All authors contributed to the analysis of the data and the final written manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee, Approval No: 5201700488) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sng, C.Y., Carter, M., Stephenson, J. et al. Partner Perceptions of Conversations with Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 1182–1197 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04348-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04348-8