Narrative coherence of Mandarin-speaking children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: An investigation into causal relations

Abstract

Previous research has shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had difficulty integrating narrative information coherently. The majority of these studies focused on people narrating in English; however, little is known about the narrative abilities of Mandarin-speaking individuals with ASD. This study investigates the ability of Mandarin-speaking children with ASD to achieve narrative coherence. The data consist of narratives from 18 children with high-functioning ASD (M_age: 8.23) and 18 typically developing children (M_age: 7.03), matched on language and cognitive abilities. The narratives were elicited using Frog, where are you? Narrative coherence was assessed in terms of causal statements and causal networks. The results reveal no group differences in basic narrative measures or in overtly marked causal statements. The two groups of children were equally sensitive to the relative causal importance of story events. However, the narratives of children with ASD were less causally connected and less coherent. These findings are discussed with regard to their relationship to pragmatic deficits and the cognitive preference of children with ASD.