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Narrative Performance of Optimal Outcome Children and Adolescents with a History of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

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Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) have traditionally been considered a lifelong condition; however, a subset of people makes such significant improvements that they no longer meet diagnostic criteria for an ASD. The current study examines whether these “optimal outcome” (OO) children and adolescents continue to have subtle pragmatic language deficits. The narratives of 15 OO individuals, 15 high-functioning individuals with an ASD (HFA), and 15 typically developing (TD) peers were evaluated. Despite average cognitive functioning, the ASD group produced narratives with fewer central “gist” descriptions, more ambiguous pronominal referents, idiosyncratic language, speech dysfluency (more repetitions and self-corrections), and were less likely to name story characters. The OO participants displayed only very subtle pragmatic and higher-level language deficits (idiosyncratic language and self-correction dysfluency).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Katherine Tyson, Alyssa Orinstein, Eva Troyb, Michael Rosenthal, Molly Helt, Robert T. Schultz, and Michael C. Stevens for their assistance with this project, our undergraduate research assistants, the parents and children who participated in this study, and the funding agency, the National Institutes of Mental Health (R01MH076189).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA

    Joyce Suh, Inge-Marie Eigsti, Letitia Naigles, Marianne Barton & Deborah Fein

  2. Department of Psychology, Queens University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Elizabeth Kelley

  3. Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, USA

    Deborah Fein

Authors
  1. Joyce Suh
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  2. Inge-Marie Eigsti
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  3. Letitia Naigles
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  4. Marianne Barton
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  5. Elizabeth Kelley
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  6. Deborah Fein
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joyce Suh.

Appendix: Coding of Story Elements

Appendix: Coding of Story Elements

Page 1

  1. 1.

    Something about Mr. Turtle (how he feels, what he does)

  2. 2.

    Frogs flying on lily pads

Page 2

  1. 3.

    Frogs doing tricks/having fun on lily pads

  2. 4.

    Frogs scaring/chasing birds

Page 3

  1. 5.

    Frogs flying/floating (toward houses, etc.)

Page 4

  1. 6.

    Man eating a sandwich

  2. 7.

    Man sees frog

  3. 8.

    Frog waves at man

Page 5

  1. 9.

    Frog flying into clothesline

Page 6

  1. 10.

    Frog with cape

  2. 11.

    Frogs flying through window

  3. 12.

    Frogs flying through chimney

Page 7

  1. 13.

    Grandmother sleeping

  2. 14.

    Frogs watching TV

  3. 15.

    A frog changing the channel with his tongue

Page 8

  1. 16.

    A frog flying

  2. 17.

    A dog chasing the frog

Page 9

  1. 18.

    Frogs chasing the dog

Page 10

  1. 19.

    Frogs and lily pads falling/frogs landing on houses

Page 11

  1. 20.

    Frogs fall

  2. 21.

    Frogs are back in the water

Page 12

  1. 22.

    Detective investigating/trying to figure out what happened

  2. 23.

    Dog sniffing lily pad (or mention of the dog)

  3. 24.

    Mention of police, ambulance, other dogs.

  4. 25.

    Man telling the newswoman what had happened

Page 13

  1. 26.

    Shadow by the barn

  2. 27.

    The sun is setting

Page 14

  1. 28.

    Pigs are flying

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Suh, J., Eigsti, IM., Naigles, L. et al. Narrative Performance of Optimal Outcome Children and Adolescents with a History of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). J Autism Dev Disord 44, 1681–1694 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2042-9

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