TY - JOUR

T1 - Mental states and activities in Danish narratives: children with autism and children with language impairment

AU - Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth

AU - Christensen, Rikke Vang

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - This study focuses on the relationship between content elements and mental-state language in narratives from twenty-seven children with autism (ASD), twelve children with language impairment (LI), and thirty typically developing children (TD). The groups did not differ on chronological age (;–;) and non-verbal cognitive skills, and the groups with ASD and TD did not differ on language measures. The children with ASD and LI had fewer content elements of the storyline than the TD children. Compared with the TD children, the children with ASD used fewer subordinate clauses about the characters’ thoughts, and preferred talking about mental states as reported speech, especially in the form of direct speech. The children with LI did not differ from the TD children on these measures. The results are discussed in the context of difficulties with socio-cognition in children with ASD and of language difficulties in children with LI.

AB - This study focuses on the relationship between content elements and mental-state language in narratives from twenty-seven children with autism (ASD), twelve children with language impairment (LI), and thirty typically developing children (TD). The groups did not differ on chronological age (;–;) and non-verbal cognitive skills, and the groups with ASD and TD did not differ on language measures. The children with ASD and LI had fewer content elements of the storyline than the TD children. Compared with the TD children, the children with ASD used fewer subordinate clauses about the characters’ thoughts, and preferred talking about mental states as reported speech, especially in the form of direct speech. The children with LI did not differ from the TD children on these measures. The results are discussed in the context of difficulties with socio-cognition in children with ASD and of language difficulties in children with LI.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - linguistics

KW - autism

KW - narrative

KW - mental states

KW - language impairment

UR - https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/0CA3C5FE0E32D04E37DA33B7226A524C/S0305000916000507a.pdf/div-class-title-mental-states-and-activities-in-danish-narratives-children-with-autism-and-children-with-language-impairment-a-href-cor1-ref-type-corresp-a-div.pdf

U2 - 10.1017/S0305000916000507

DO - 10.1017/S0305000916000507

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 27804897

VL - 44

SP - 1192

EP - 1217

JO - Journal of Child Language

JF - Journal of Child Language

SN - 0305-0009

ER -