Personal pronouns and communicative engagement in autism.
Autistic kids may already say 'we' like peers but need help with 'he' and eye-gaze together.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sturmey et al. (2010) watched 20 autistic and 20 non-autistic kids play. Each child wore a head camera. The team counted how often the child said 'we' or 'he'. They also coded eye-gaze toward the adult.
Kids were matched on age and IQ. Sessions lasted ten minutes. The adult told short stories and asked simple questions.
What they found
Both groups said 'we' the same amount. Autistic kids said 'he' far less. They also looked at the adult's eyes half as often.
Less 'he' and less eye-gaze point to a gap in third-person social tracking, not in group words like 'we'.
How this fits with other research
Celani (2002) showed autistic kids prefer objects to people. Peter's data line up: less 'he' and less eye-gaze both signal weaker person-focus.
Boorom et al. (2022) used a computer to score vocal turn-taking. Their ASD dyads sounded stiffer. Peter's head camera shows the stiffness starts with gaze, not words.
Somogyi et al. (2013) found low-functioning children copy actions but miss intentions. Peter's kids could say 'we' yet skip 'he', showing a similar part-skilled, part-missing pattern in language.
Why it matters
You can stop drilling 'we' if the child already says it. Shift time to third-person pronouns and joint-attention games. Model 'he' during play-by-play: 'He scored!' while pointing. Pair each model with an expectant look so the child learns to glance and label together.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In three experimental conditions, we tested matched children with and without autism (n = 15 per group) for their comprehension and use of first person plural ('we') and third person singular ('he') pronouns, and examined whether such linguistic functioning related to their social interaction. The groups were indistinguishable in their comprehension and use of 'we' pronouns, although within each group, such usage was correlated with ratings of interpersonal connectedness with the collaborator. On the other hand, participants with autism were less likely to use third person pronouns or to show patterns of eye gaze reflecting engagement with an interlocutor's stance vis-à-vis a third person. In these settings, atypical third person pronoun usage seemed to reflect limited communicative engagement, but first person pronouns were relatively spared.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2010 · doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0910-5