The Development of Turn-Taking Skills in Typical Development and Autism
Riccardo Fusaroli1,2,3, Christopher Cox1,2, Ethan Weed1,2
1Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University.
Cognitive Science
|July 7, 2025
Summary
Children with autism may respond faster in conversations than typically developing children, with overlapping speech being a key factor. Development of conversational skills varies with individual socio-cognitive and linguistic abilities.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Speech-language pathology
- Autism spectrum disorder research
Background:
- Social interaction relies on turn-taking and adaptation.
- Typical and atypical development of these conversational skills are not well understood.
- Previous research has not fully explored response latencies in early childhood autism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the development of turn-taking and conversational adaptation in children with and without autism.
- To compare response latencies and speech overlap between the two groups.
- To identify factors influencing conversational timing in early development.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of spontaneous speech in 64 parent-child dyads.
- Included 32 typically developing children and 32 children with autism (linguistically matched).
- Analysis of response latencies, speech overlap, and adaptation to interlocutor tempo.
Main Results:
- Children with autism exhibited faster average response latencies (189 ms faster) due to increased speech overlap.
- Response latencies decreased in both groups over time (47-78 ms per 4 months).
- Individual socio-cognitive, linguistic, and motor skills influenced latency, explaining all variance by age in the autism group.
Conclusions:
- Contrary to prior studies, faster turn-taking latencies may be observed in children with autism.
- Speech overlap is crucial for understanding conversational dynamics and timing.
- Turn-taking development is influenced by individual differences and interpersonal contexts.
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