Conversational Topic Shifts and Topic Maintenance in Autistic and Neurotypical Children / Zuriñe ÁBALOS in Autism Research, 19-4 (April 2026)  

Public ISBD [article]  inAutism Research > 19-4 (April 2026) . - e70204 Titre : Conversational Topic Shifts and Topic Maintenance in Autistic and Neurotypical Children Type de document : texte imprimé Auteurs : Zuriñe ÁBALOS, Auteur ; Mikhail KISSINE, Auteur ; Agustín VICENTE, Auteur ; Elena CASTROVIEJO, Auteur Article en page(s) : e70204 Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : autism  children  communication  language  social interaction Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : ABSTRACT Topic maintenance and topic shifts are crucial components of conversation; however, existing research lacks a clear quantitative operationalization of these topic management skills. Previous studies suggest that autistic children are less likely than their neurotypical peers to maintain and elaborate on the interlocutor's prior topic, and that they shift topics inappropriately more often. Nevertheless, findings on topic maintenance remain inconclusive, and studies specifically investigating topic shifts are limited. Moreover, little is known about the conversational skills of autistic children from non-English-speaking contexts. We investigated topic maintenance and shifting in 43 autistic and 46 age-matched neurotypical Spanish-speaking children (M?=?8.55, SD?=?1.91) during a semi-spontaneous conversation task. Given their important role in social interactions, we developed a theoretically grounded protocol for systematically coding topic shifts, supported through a rating task conducted with neurotypical adults. Results showed that although autistic and neurotypical children provided a comparable number of topic-supporting responses, autistic participants produced significantly more topic shifts. Furthermore, autistic children's topic shifts corresponded to a less natural end of the empirically supported rating scale, indicating such topic shifts interrupted the conversation flow more drastically. These findings suggest that, while autistic children may not have difficulties maintaining a conversation topic, the frequency and nature of their topic shifts could challenge reciprocal conversations. Our study presents a coding scheme that captures relevant distinctions in how different topic shifts are perceived in conversation, serving as a valuable resource for research and clinical practice in assessing and supporting the conversational skills of autistic individuals. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70204 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=585 [article] Conversational Topic Shifts and Topic Maintenance in Autistic and Neurotypical Children [texte imprimé] / Zuriñe ÁBALOS, Auteur ; Mikhail KISSINE, Auteur ; Agustín VICENTE, Auteur ; Elena CASTROVIEJO, Auteur . - e70204. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Autism Research > 19-4 (April 2026) . - e70204 Mots-clés : autism  children  communication  language  social interaction Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : ABSTRACT Topic maintenance and topic shifts are crucial components of conversation; however, existing research lacks a clear quantitative operationalization of these topic management skills. Previous studies suggest that autistic children are less likely than their neurotypical peers to maintain and elaborate on the interlocutor's prior topic, and that they shift topics inappropriately more often. Nevertheless, findings on topic maintenance remain inconclusive, and studies specifically investigating topic shifts are limited. Moreover, little is known about the conversational skills of autistic children from non-English-speaking contexts. We investigated topic maintenance and shifting in 43 autistic and 46 age-matched neurotypical Spanish-speaking children (M?=?8.55, SD?=?1.91) during a semi-spontaneous conversation task. Given their important role in social interactions, we developed a theoretically grounded protocol for systematically coding topic shifts, supported through a rating task conducted with neurotypical adults. Results showed that although autistic and neurotypical children provided a comparable number of topic-supporting responses, autistic participants produced significantly more topic shifts. Furthermore, autistic children's topic shifts corresponded to a less natural end of the empirically supported rating scale, indicating such topic shifts interrupted the conversation flow more drastically. These findings suggest that, while autistic children may not have difficulties maintaining a conversation topic, the frequency and nature of their topic shifts could challenge reciprocal conversations. Our study presents a coding scheme that captures relevant distinctions in how different topic shifts are perceived in conversation, serving as a valuable resource for research and clinical practice in assessing and supporting the conversational skills of autistic individuals. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70204 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=585

Testing the Labeling Effect in Autistic Children / Elena CASTROVIEJO ; José V. HERNÁNDEZ-CONDE ; Ekaine RODRÍGUEZ-ARMENDARIZ ; Agustín VICENTE in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 55-8 (August 2025)  

Public ISBD [article]  inJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders > 55-8 (August 2025) . - p.2774-2787 Titre : Testing the Labeling Effect in Autistic Children Type de document : texte imprimé Auteurs : Elena CASTROVIEJO, Auteur ; José V. HERNÁNDEZ-CONDE, Auteur ; Ekaine RODRÍGUEZ-ARMENDARIZ, Auteur ; Agustín VICENTE, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.2774-2787 Langues : Anglais (eng) Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Our objective was to test the labeling effect in autistic children. The effect has been robustly tested in typically developing (TD) individuals. TD children expect that any two objects that receive the same linguistic label will have similar properties, which suggests that they generate concepts based on acts of labeling. The labeling effect has not been tested on autistic children, who may not be equally attuned to the relevance of linguistic clues or may not generalize as swiftly as TD children. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06388-1 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=565 [article] Testing the Labeling Effect in Autistic Children [texte imprimé] / Elena CASTROVIEJO, Auteur ; José V. HERNÁNDEZ-CONDE, Auteur ; Ekaine RODRÍGUEZ-ARMENDARIZ, Auteur ; Agustín VICENTE, Auteur . - p.2774-2787. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders > 55-8 (August 2025) . - p.2774-2787 Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Our objective was to test the labeling effect in autistic children. The effect has been robustly tested in typically developing (TD) individuals. TD children expect that any two objects that receive the same linguistic label will have similar properties, which suggests that they generate concepts based on acts of labeling. The labeling effect has not been tested on autistic children, who may not be equally attuned to the relevance of linguistic clues or may not generalize as swiftly as TD children. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06388-1 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=565

What Predicts Early Math in Autism? A Study of Cognitive and Linguistic Factors / Raúl FERNÁNDEZ-COBOS in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 56-6 (June 2026)  

Public ISBD [article]  inJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders > 56-6 (June 2026) . - p.2136-2147 Titre : What Predicts Early Math in Autism? A Study of Cognitive and Linguistic Factors Type de document : texte imprimé Auteurs : Raúl FERNÁNDEZ-COBOS, Auteur ; Irene POLO-BLANCO, Auteur ; Elena CASTROVIEJO, Auteur ; Maria JUNCAL-RUIZ, Auteur ; Agustín VICENTE, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.2136-2147 Langues : Anglais (eng) Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : This study aimed to examine early mathematical abilities in young children with autism aged four to seven without intellectual disabilities and their connection with autism severity, non-verbal intelligence, and linguistic abilities (receptive vocabulary and grammar). The study involved 42 children with autism. We assessed participants’ cognitive, mathematical, and linguistic abilities. Their mathematical performance was compared with that of typically developing children using standardized measures. Statistical analyses were conducted to identify potential cognitive or linguistic differences across groups based on mathematical performance, and to determine predictive factors for mathematical abilities in children with autism. The findings indicated a higher prevalence of mathematical difficulties among the participants compared to typically developing children. A classification based on mathematical performance revealed statistically significant differences in cognitive and linguistic variables across groups, particularly in the low-performance group. However, no significant differences were found according to autism severity between the groups. The analysis further identified that a combination of visuo-spatial and linguistic abilities was the most predictive factor for mathematical performance. The study suggests that young children with autism without intellectual disabilities may be more likely to experience mathematical difficulties compared to typically developing children. Assessing cognitive and linguistic abilities could serve as a predictive measure for mathematical difficulties of children with autism, even without a formal diagnosis. Future research, with larger samples or longitudinal approaches, could validate these findings or explore which specific mathematical abilities are more related to non-verbal intelligence and which ones to structural language. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06726-x Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=587 [article] What Predicts Early Math in Autism? A Study of Cognitive and Linguistic Factors [texte imprimé] / Raúl FERNÁNDEZ-COBOS, Auteur ; Irene POLO-BLANCO, Auteur ; Elena CASTROVIEJO, Auteur ; Maria JUNCAL-RUIZ, Auteur ; Agustín VICENTE, Auteur . - p.2136-2147. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders > 56-6 (June 2026) . - p.2136-2147 Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : This study aimed to examine early mathematical abilities in young children with autism aged four to seven without intellectual disabilities and their connection with autism severity, non-verbal intelligence, and linguistic abilities (receptive vocabulary and grammar). The study involved 42 children with autism. We assessed participants’ cognitive, mathematical, and linguistic abilities. Their mathematical performance was compared with that of typically developing children using standardized measures. Statistical analyses were conducted to identify potential cognitive or linguistic differences across groups based on mathematical performance, and to determine predictive factors for mathematical abilities in children with autism. The findings indicated a higher prevalence of mathematical difficulties among the participants compared to typically developing children. A classification based on mathematical performance revealed statistically significant differences in cognitive and linguistic variables across groups, particularly in the low-performance group. However, no significant differences were found according to autism severity between the groups. The analysis further identified that a combination of visuo-spatial and linguistic abilities was the most predictive factor for mathematical performance. The study suggests that young children with autism without intellectual disabilities may be more likely to experience mathematical difficulties compared to typically developing children. Assessing cognitive and linguistic abilities could serve as a predictive measure for mathematical difficulties of children with autism, even without a formal diagnosis. Future research, with larger samples or longitudinal approaches, could validate these findings or explore which specific mathematical abilities are more related to non-verbal intelligence and which ones to structural language. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06726-x Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=587

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