The chronography of interactions with autistic speakers: an initial report

The aims of this study were to (a) describe the conversational time patterns of autistic persons capable of talking, and (b) examine the degree to which the autistic speakers synchronize the time patterns of their speech with those of the persons with whom they interact. Each of twelve autistic youths participated in two interactions, one with an experimenter and one with his or her parent. In addition, each parent engaged in a conversation with the experimenter. The results indicate that: (a) compared with those interactions involving the parents and experimenter, those involving the youths and parents exhibited longer switching pauses whereas those involving the youths and experimenter exhibited longer switching pauses and pauses; and (b) although the parents and experimenter achieved temporal synchrony in their interactions, there was no evidence that the youths achieved it with either the experimenter or their parents.