Conversations with autistic children: contingent relationships between features of adult input and children's response adequacy.
Yes/No, simple, and topic-linked questions quickly raise conversational adequacy in verbal kids with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Wilson et al. (1987) watched four verbal kids with autism chat with an adult. The adult changed how questions were asked. Some were Yes/No, some were short, and some stayed on the same topic. The team counted how often each child gave a clear, on-topic answer.
They used a single-case design. Each child served as their own control.
What they found
When the adult used Yes/No, simple, or topic-linked questions, the kids gave more adequate replies. The change was quick and easy to see.
How this fits with other research
So et al. (2022) later tracked Mandarin-speaking preschoolers for nine months. Parents who stayed on topic and echoed their child saw the same boost in good answers. The 1987 lab result held up in real homes and in another language.
Schaaf et al. (2015) flipped the script. They taught the kids to watch for bored faces and then ask a new question. Both studies show the same rule: good talk flows when one partner tunes in to the other.
Chin Wong et al. (2017) added extra prompts like “tell me its parts” to category questions. Their child gave more varied answers. Together the papers say: keep questions short, on topic, and add a cue when you want richer talk.
Why it matters
Next time you run conversation practice, start with Yes/No or short, topic-following questions. You should see more on-topic answers right away. Once the child is fluent, add extra prompts or teach them to read partner cues for even better chats.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The relationship between certain features of adult speech and autistic children's response adequacy was examined within the context of unstructured, dyadic conversations. On separate sessions, four verbal, nonecholalic children were observed talking with their mothers and teachers. Analysis of conversational turns showed that as the number of facilitating features contained in adults' eliciting utterances increased, the proportion of adequate replies from the children increased. In this analysis, facilitating features included the use of Yes/No questions, questions that were conceptually simple, and questions that were semantically contingent on the child's topic. In a further analysis, it was found that adults tended to modify their use of these features in response to child feedback, although this tendency was relatively small and observed only in a minority of the sequences evaluated. The findings are discussed in terms of pragmatic deficits associated with autism and implications for intervention with this population.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1987 · doi:10.1007/BF01487261