Conversational Topic Shifts and Topic Maintenance in Autistic and Neurotypical Children.

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Background:

• Conversation relies on topic maintenance and shifts, yet quantitative measures are lacking.
• Previous research suggests autistic children struggle with topic management, but findings are inconsistent.
• Limited research exists on autistic children's topic shifts, especially in non-English contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively investigate topic maintenance and shifting in autistic and neurotypical Spanish-speaking children.
• To develop and validate a protocol for systematically coding topic shifts in conversation.
• To compare conversational skills between autistic and neurotypical children in a Spanish-speaking context.

Main Methods:

• Compared topic maintenance and shifting in 43 autistic and 46 neurotypical Spanish-speaking children.
• Utilized a semi-spontaneous conversation task.
• Developed a theoretically grounded protocol for coding topic shifts, validated by neurotypical adults.

Main Results:

• Autistic and neurotypical children showed comparable topic maintenance (topic-supporting responses).
• Autistic children exhibited significantly more topic shifts than neurotypical children.
• Autistic children's topic shifts were rated as less natural, more disruptive to conversation flow.

Conclusions:

• Autistic children may not struggle with maintaining conversation topics.
• The frequency and nature of topic shifts in autistic children can impede reciprocal conversation.
• The developed coding scheme provides a valuable tool for assessing and supporting autistic individuals' conversational skills.