Story-telling ability in children with autism or Asperger syndrome: A window into the imagination

Background: Autism spectrum conditions are diagnosed on the basis of impair ed imagination. The present study used a totally fret: story-telling method to assess if narratives produced by children with autism or Asperger Syndr ome (AS) contained fewer imaginative events. Method: In Condition 1. childr en were offered an imaginary theme and asked to elaborate a story. In Condi tion 2, they were offered a reality-based theme with the same instructions. Comparison groups included 13 children with autism. 14 children with AS, 1 5 children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD), and 14 normally devel oping children. The non-autistic controls had a verbal mental age (VMA) eit her equivalent or lower than the autism and AS groups. Results: Both the ch ildren with autism and AS were less likely to introduce imaginary elements into their stories in Condition 2, though the children with AS were more ab le to produce imaginative narratives than children with autism in Condition 1. Conclusions: This study provides experimental evidence fur imaginative impairments in story-telling in children with autism spectrum conditions. T hese are discussed in terms of two cognitive theories: executive dysfunctio n and theory of mind. Limitations: In this study it was not possible to mar ch the children with autism and AS with each other on VMA, as the children with autism were not as high-functioning. Future research could examine VMA matched groups of autism and AS.