Why Is Symbolic Play Problematic for Children With Autism?

Abstract

conflict, setting, and resolution during a narrative task describing film clips. They showed difficulties distinguishing elements that are relevant to the “big picture” from those that are not, and this extended beyond the realm of mental states or social cognition. Narrative language is a vulnerable domain in children and adolescents with ASD. Due to the limitations of standardized tests, such as lack of sensitivity (Botting, 2010), narrative assessment is valuable adjunct to assessment of children and adolescents with ASD. In this meta-analysis, their children’s performance was worse on all the variables considered, with a larger effect size in aspects that evaluate the macrostructure of the story. Consequently, for clinicians it is crucial to plan interventions designed to improve this weakness in discourse competence, especially considering the close relationships among the narrative domain, academic achievement, and social relations.