By the Book: An Analysis of Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Condition Co-constructing Fictional Narratives with Peers

Abstract

In this discourse analytic study, we examine interactions between adolescents with autism spectrum condition (ASC) and their typically developing (TD) peers during the construction of fictional narratives within a group intervention context. We found participants with ASC contributed fewer narrative-related turns at talk than TD participants. The groups organized the activity as a means to subvert moral and social norms, and youth with ASC participated in negotiating new norms with varying degrees of success. Further, participants with ASC often prioritized making explicit links between narrative events over creative interpretations of narrative, which illustrated differing orientations to the narrative project. Our findings add an interactional dimension to existing research focusing on the psychological aspects of narrative production in individuals with ASC.

Appendix: Transcription Conventions (Adapted from Atkinson and Heritage 1984)

.	Period indicates a falling, or final, intonation contour, not necessarily the end of a sentence
?	Question mark indicates rising intonation, not necessarily a question
,	Comma indicates ‘‘continuing’’ intonation, not necessarily a clause boundary
↑↓	Upward and downward pointing arrows indicate marked rising and falling shifts in intonation
:::	Colons indicate stretching of the preceding sound, proportional to the number of colons
-	A hyphen after a word or a part of a word indicates a cut-off or self-interruption
word	Underlining indicates some form of stress or emphasis on the underlined item
WOrd	Upper case indicates loudness.
°word°	Degree signs enclose whispered speech
=	Equal sign indicate no break or delay between the words thereby connected
<word>	Speeding up
>word<	Slowing down
(())	Double parentheses enclose descriptions of conduct
(word)	When all or part of an utterance is in parentheses, this indicates uncertainty on the transcriber’s part
()	Empty parentheses indicate that something is being said, but no hearing can be achieved
(1.2)	Numbers in parentheses indicate silence in tenths of a second
(.)	A dot in parentheses indicated a ‘‘micropause,’’ hearable but not readily measurable; ordinarily less than 2/10 of a second
[	Separate left square brackets, one above the other on two successive lines with utterances by different speakers, indicates a point of overlap onset
]	Separate right square brackets, one above the other on two successive lines with utterances by different speakers, indicates a point of overlap ending
(…)	Indicates that several turns have elapsed
→	Indicates a transcript segment that is highlighted in the text