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Hutto R, Fleming K, Davidson MM. The Feasibility and Data Quality for a Listening Comprehension Task in an Unmoderated Remote Study With Children. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023:1-16. [PMID: 37257417 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-22-00559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of this research note was to examine the sample representation, feasibility and completion, and data quality when using an unmoderated remote study (i.e., conducted without direct contact with a researcher) for a listening comprehension task with 4- to 11-year-old children. METHOD Thirty-five participants met inclusionary criteria for this study. Sample representation was examined descriptively. Feasibility and completion (i.e., submission of parent questionnaires and more than 50% of task with no missing data) were examined descriptively and compared with differences of proportions tests. Data quality (i.e., missing data for items with interference or not codable) was examined descriptively with multilevel logistic regression models, as well as one-sample proportions tests by listening comprehension task and participant characteristics. RESULTS Our sample skewed toward predominantly White and toward families with highly educated parents. Overall, most participants completed the task and had quality data (i.e., audibly clear responses that could be coded, few missing responses, and task completion) in this unmoderated format. There were not any statistically significant effects across participant characteristics in terms of rates of completion. Data quality only significantly differed by response type with mouse selection having the least amount of missing data followed by prompted audio-recorded questions and then open-ended audio-recorded questions. CONCLUSIONS The unmoderated remote study approach seems feasible for a listening comprehension task for most children ages 4-11 years old. Future work is needed to determine if these results apply to samples with broader representation. Overall, we found good data quality despite the less controlled environment in remote studies. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23114924.
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Affiliation(s)
- Randi Hutto
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, The University of Kansas, Lawrence
| | | | - Meghan M Davidson
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, The University of Kansas, Lawrence
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Chapple M, Davis P, Billington J, Corcoran R. Exploring the different cognitive, emotional and imaginative experiences of autistic and non-autistic adult readers when contemplating serious literature as compared to non-fiction. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1001268. [PMID: 37213386 PMCID: PMC10192853 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1001268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Recent research has demonstrated how reflections on serious literature can challenge dominant social-deficit views of autism. This method enables autistic readers to explore social realities more slowly and carefully, encouraging detail-focused considerations. Previous research has also shown that autistic and non-autistic readers reflecting on serious literature together are able to achieve mutuality in a way that enables them to overcome the double empathy problem. However, the advantages of reading aloud designs have yet to be explored with autistic and non-autistic readers due to previous concerns amongst autistic people on the issue of being read aloud to. The present study aimed to explore how an adapted shared reading design that compared serious literature and non-fiction would enable autistic and non-autistic readers to imaginatively engage in the reading experience. Methods Seven autistic and six non-autistic participants read 8 short text extracts alone while listening to pre-recorded audio of an experienced reader reading each text aloud. Participants completed a reflective questionnaire for each text and a follow-up interview where moving parts of the text were then re-read aloud before discussion. Half of these texts were serious literature, while the other half were non-fiction. Similarly, half of the texts explored fictional social realities that depicted a lack of mutuality, or non-fiction accounts of autism; while the other half explored broader emotional experiences. Results Thematic and literary analysis of participant reflections and follow-up interviews revealed three main themes: (1) From Surface Reading to Intuitive Engagement, (2) Imaginative Feeling and (3) Going Forward from the Reading Experience. Discussion The findings showed that autistic readers were better able to hold onto the detailed complexity of serious literature, while non-autistic readers tended to reduce information down to key ideas and understandings for later generalization. Findings are discussed in relation to future shared reading designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Chapple
- Department of Primary Care and Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Philip Davis
- Centre for Research Into Reading, Literature and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Josie Billington
- Centre for Research Into Reading, Literature and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Rhiannon Corcoran
- Department of Primary Care and Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Centre for Research Into Reading, Literature and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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Jarvers I, Döhnel K, Blaas L, Ullmann M, Langguth B, Rupprecht R, Sommer M. "Why do they do it?": The short-story task for measuring fiction-based mentalizing in autistic and non-autistic individuals. Autism Res 2023; 16:558-568. [PMID: 36511363 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
This study aimed to validate the short-story-task (SST) based on Dodell-Feder et al. as an instrument to quantify the ability of mentalizing and to differentiate between non-autistic adults and autistic adults, who may have acquired rules to interpret the actions of non-autistic individuals. Autistic (N = 32) and non-autistic (N = 32) adult participants were asked to read "The End of Something" by Ernest Hemingway and to answer implicit and explicit mentalizing questions, and comprehension questions. Furthermore, verbal and nonverbal IQ was measured and participants were asked how much fiction they read each month. Mentalizing performance was normally distributed for autistic and non-autistic participants with autistic participants scoring in the lower third of the distribution. ROC (receiver operator curve) analysis revealed the task to be an excellent discriminator between autistic and non-autistic participants. A linear regression analysis identified number of books read, years of education and group as significant predictors. Overall, the SST is a promising measure of mentalizing. On the one hand, it differentiates among non-autistic individuals and on the other hand it is sensitive towards performance differences in mentalizing among autistic adults. Implications for interventions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Jarvers
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Katrin Döhnel
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Lore Blaas
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Manuela Ullmann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Berthold Langguth
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Rainer Rupprecht
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Monika Sommer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.,Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany
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Davidson MM, Fleming KK. Story Comprehension Monitoring Across Visual, Listening, and Written Modalities in Children with and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:1-24. [PMID: 34994926 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05418-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Visual, as compared to verbal, tasks are often assumed to be easier for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but is this true for story comprehension? This study evaluated story comprehension monitoring across visual, listening, and written modalities and assessed predictors in two closely matched groups (age, socioeconomic status, language, nonverbal cognition, and word reading) of children and adolescents (8-14 years) with ASD (n = 20) and typical development (typically developing [TD]; n = 20). The results of mixed-effects models indicated that story comprehension monitoring was low overall, and performance was comparable across visual, listening, and written modalities for participants with ASD. Age, vocabulary, nonverbal working memory, response and distractor inhibition, and social communication significantly predicted comprehension monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meghan M Davidson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, KS, Lawrence, USA.
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, 1000 Sunnyside Ave., Rm 3001, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA.
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An eye-tracking study on autistic children’s visual attention: The use of spatial-progression, time-sequence, colours and shape-patterns in picture book designs. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03091-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Chapple M, Davis P, Billington J, Williams S, Corcoran R. Challenging Empathic Deficit Models of Autism Through Responses to Serious Literature. Front Psychol 2022; 13:828603. [PMID: 35222208 PMCID: PMC8867167 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.828603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Dominant theoretical models of autism and resultant research enquiries have long centered upon an assumed autism-specific empathy deficit. Associated empirical research has largely relied upon cognitive tests that lack ecological validity and associate empathic skill with heuristic-based judgments from limited snapshots of social information. This artificial separation of thought and feeling fails to replicate the complexity of real-world empathy, and places socially tentative individuals at a relative disadvantage. The present study aimed to qualitatively explore how serious literary fiction, through its ability to simulate real-world empathic response, could therefore enable more ecologically valid insights into the comparative empathic experiences of autistic and non-autistic individuals. Eight autistic and seven non-autistic participants read Of Mice and Men for six days while completing a semi-structured reflective diary. On finishing the book, participants were asked to engage in three creative writing tasks that encouraged reflective thinking across the novel. Thematic and literary analysis of the diary reflections and writing tasks revealed three main themes (1) Distance from the Novel; (2) Mobility of Response; (3) Re-Creating Literature. Findings demonstrated the usefulness of serious literature as a research tool for comparing the empathic experiences of autistic and non-autistic individuals. Specifically, autistic individuals often showed enhanced socio-empathic understandings of the literature with no empathy deficits when compared to non-autistic participants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Chapple
- Deparment of Primary Care and Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Philip Davis
- Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Josie Billington
- Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Sophie Williams
- Deparment of Primary Care and Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Rhiannon Corcoran
- Deparment of Primary Care and Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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Autism and the preference for imaginary worlds. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e279. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x21002211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Dubourg and Baumard mention a potential role for the human drive to systemise as a factor motivating interest in imaginary worlds. Given that hyperexpression of this trait has been linked with autism (Baron-Cohen, 2002, 2006), we think this raises interesting implications for how those on the autism spectrum may differ from the neurotypical population in their engagement with imaginary worlds.
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Chapple M, Williams S, Billington J, Davis P, Corcoran R. An analysis of the reading habits of autistic adults compared to neurotypical adults and implications for future interventions. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2021; 115:104003. [PMID: 34116300 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Revised: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND While research has consistently highlighted the usefulness of narrative texts for social development, this has not been fully explored with autistic adults. It has long been assumed that autistic individuals lack the social understanding to contemplate fiction, preferring non-fiction. This study aimed to explore the self-reported reading habits of autistic adults compared to neurotypical adults, accounting for higher education demands. METHODS A qualitative design was used, with 43 participants (22 autistic; 21 neurotypical) completing a reading habits questionnaire and subsequent semi-structured interview. RESULTS Neurotypical participants tended to prefer fiction, with autistic participants showing no preference between fiction and non-fiction. Four themes were identified from interview data (1) reading material choices; (2) text investment; (3) in-text social understanding; and (4) reading as a social learning device. Both groups reported evidence of empathising, perspective-taking and social understanding while reading. The autistic group additionally reported social learning outcomes from reading. DISCUSSION Findings contradict prior assumptions that autistic individuals lack the social understanding required by fiction. Instead, findings show that social benefits of narrative texts extend to autistic readers, providing important social learning experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Chapple
- Department of Primary Care and Mental Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
| | - Sophie Williams
- Department of Primary Care and Mental Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Josie Billington
- Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Philip Davis
- Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Rhiannon Corcoran
- Department of Primary Care and Mental Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
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