Production and Comprehension of Mental State Verbs in Narratives by School-Aged Children with Autism: A Pilot Study
The purpose of this pilot study was to compare mental state verb (MSV) use and understanding across narrative generation, retell, and comprehension in a single sample of school-age autistic children. Our research question was: how do school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) generate, retell, and understand MSVs? Participants included four school-aged children with ASD. All participants were monolingual, native English speakers; hearing within normal limits; nonverbal cognition within normal limits; verbal spoken language at the phrase level; and a confirmed autism diagnosis. For the Expected MSV scores, the difference between each of the three conditions (Generation, Retell, and Comprehension) approached significance. For the Total MSV scores, the difference between Generation and Comprehension and Retell and Comprehension both approached significance, but the difference between Generation and Retell Conditions was not significant. These preliminary results suggest that children with ASD are stronger at comprehending MSVs than producing MSVs; although, there are weaknesses in MSV use across Narrative Comprehension, Retell, and Generation.
Speech therapy, Autism, Comprehension, Generation, Language, Narratives, Retell
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