A Preliminary Study of Writing Skills in Adolescents with Autism Across Persuasive, Expository, and Narrative Genres

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders volume 50, pages319–332(2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Writing is often difficult for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet relatively little literature exists that profiles specific strengths and needs within this area. This preliminary investigation compares the written language skills of adolescents with ASD without intellectual disability (n = 14) to typically developing (TD) adolescents (n = 12). Writing samples from persuasive, expository, and narrative genres were elicited. Variables of sample length, writing productivity, syntax, lexical diversity, and macrostructure were analyzed. In the persuasive and expository genres, the ASD group scored significantly lower than the TD group on sample length and some aspects of macrostructure. The ASD group scored higher than the TD group on lexical diversity in the persuasive genre. Other comparisons yielded large effect sizes but were not statistically significant.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the adolescents and families who participated in the study. We also thank Megan Black and Megan Schmidt for their assistance with data collection, as well as Hannah Martin, Kathleen Gildea, and Jordan Thompson for their assistance with data coding. This research was supported in part by a Provost Internal Research Grant from Western Carolina University.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, USA

    Johanna R. Price & Jennifer R. Jones

  2. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, St. John’s University, Staten Island, NY, USA

    Gary E. Martin

  3. Coulter Faculty Commons, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, USA

    Kong Chen

Authors
  1. Johanna R. Price
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  2. Gary E. Martin
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  3. Kong Chen
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  4. Jennifer R. Jones
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Contributions

JP conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, and drafted the manuscript; GM participated in the design of the study and critically reviewed the manuscript for important content; KC participated in the design of the study and performed the statistical analyses; JJ participated in data collection and coding and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Johanna R. Price.

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Price, J.R., Martin, G.E., Chen, K. et al. A Preliminary Study of Writing Skills in Adolescents with Autism Across Persuasive, Expository, and Narrative Genres. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 319–332 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04254-z

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Keywords

  • Written language
  • Writing samples
  • Adolescents
  • Autism spectrum disorder