Background: Autism spectrum conditions are diagnosed on the basis of impaired imagination. The present study used a totally free story-telling method to assess if narratives produced by children with autism or Asperger Syndrome (AS) contained fewer imaginative events.
Method: In Condition 1, children were offered an imaginary theme and asked to elaborate a story. In Condition 2, they were offered a reality-based theme with the same instructions. Comparison groups included 13 children with autism, 14 children with AS, 15 children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD), and 14 normally developing children. The non-autistic controls had a verbal mental age (VMA) either equivalent or lower than the autism and AS groups.
Results: Both the children with autism and AS were less likely to introduce imaginary elements into their stories in Condition 2, though the children with AS were more able to produce imaginative narratives than children with autism in Condition 1.
Conclusions: This study provides experimental evidence for imaginative impairments in story-telling in children with autism spectrum conditions. These are discussed in terms of two cognitive theories: executive dysfunction and theory of mind.
Limitations: In this study it was not possible to match the children with autism and AS with each other on VMA, as the children with autism were not as high-functioning. Future research could examine VMA matched groups of autism and AS.