Abstract
Young adults with High Functioning Autism and a matched comparison group told personal narratives using a standard conversational procedure. Longest narratives were determined (i.e., number of propositions included) and scored using an analysis that looks at the organization of a narrative around a highpoint. The group with Autism Spectrum Disorder produced narratives with significantly poorer HP macrostructure and introduced proportionately fewer propositions with conjunctions. Such impairments in the ability to make sense of personal experiences both reflect and contribute to difficulty in social-emotional functioning.
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Notes
One participant did not complete the ASQ as it was not administered at the testing session and they could not later be tracked down.
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Appendix: Structural Patterns of Narratives in High Point Analysis (Based on Peterson and McCabe 1983)
Appendix: Structural Patterns of Narratives in High Point Analysis (Based on Peterson and McCabe 1983)
Classic Pattern: The narrator may begin with an abstract (“Did I ever tell you about when I broke my arm?”) or attention-getter (“You know what?”). The narrator then provides orientation information about who, what, when, and where some experience occurred, followed by a series of complicating actions that build to a high point (“You can’t believe the worst part.”), and then give additional series of events that resolve the problem (“I had to go to the hospital and get a cast on.”).
Ending-at-the-High-Point Pattern: The narrator gives a chronological sequence of events, as in the classic pattern above, but simply builds to a high point and ends the narrative. There is not resolution in this pattern.
Chronological Pattern: The narrative is a simple description of successive, but not causally related events (e.g., “We went to Disney World. We rode on roller-coasters and ate ice cream. We saw Mickey Mouse.”).
Leap-frogging Pattern: The narrator gives more than two complicating actions that are components of a single experience, but does not give them in chronological order and/or omits key events. That is, the narrator jumps around and leaves events out.
Two-event Pattern: The narrator only tells us two events that constituted an experience (e.g., “One time I tripped and fell.”).
One-event Pattern: The narrator only tells us a single event that constituted and experience (e.g., “I got stung on a trampoline, not on my foot, right here.”).
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McCabe, A., Hillier, A. & Shapiro, C. Brief Report: Structure of Personal Narratives of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 733–738 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1585-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1585-x