Study title

Conversational deficits are often the first thing people notice about children with an autism spectrum condition (ASC), which affects around 1% of the population. Many ASC children experience communication difficulties and unrewarding interactions, and in turn people who interact with ASC children often find their conversations awkward. These conversational deficits have been linked to impaired theory of mind (ToM), the ability to attribute thoughts and feelings to others. But it is not clear exactly how these impairments might affect their communication, and particularly language production. Our research investigates ASC children's conversational deficits by focusing on conversational alignment: the tendency for partners to imitate each other's use of language (e.g., word choice and grammar). Such alignment appears to be important for both effective communication and satisfying interactions. Our research examines whether ASC children show disturbed patterns of alignment, in ways that might explain some of their communication difficulties. We investigate whether ASC children spontaneously align with a conversational partner, and whether they do so in the same ways as typically developing (TD) children. By examining alignment under different conditions, we can draw inferences about the nature of their communicative impairments. Our research focuses on the relationship between alignment and two factors where we might expect differences between ASC and TD children: 'audience design' and social-affective goals. Previous research suggests that although speakers may align just because they have heard a word or a structure before (and so have been 'primed' to re-use it), they also align in order to achieve particular goals, in ways that may implicate ToM. For example, they may adapt their language according to what they think their partner will best understand (audience design). They may also be guided by the desire to build a stronger relationship with their partner...