Quantifying Question Asking in Young Autistic Children: Exploring the Role of Context.

Questions are an important component of social communication. Autistic children experience difficulties in social communication, and question asking is a common target of services. We know little about how context shapes question asking in autistic children. The current study quantifies the frequenc...

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Publicado en:Seminars in Speech & Language Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 71 - 86
Autores principales: Armstrong, Brianna, Arunachalam, Sudha, Nehilla, Lauren, Luyster, Rhiannon
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Thieme Medical Publishing Inc. Mar2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2026
      vid: 47
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      pid: 2811
      pub: Thieme Medical Publishing Inc.
      place: New York, New York
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        10.1055/a-2859-6546
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        atl: Quantifying Question Asking in Young Autistic Children: Exploring the Role of Context.
      aug:
        au:
          Armstrong, Brianna
          Arunachalam, Sudha
          Nehilla, Lauren
          Luyster, Rhiannon
        affil: Communication Sciences and Disorders, Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
      sug:
        subj:
          Autism Spectrum Disorder Psychosocial Factors
          Speech Acoustics Evaluation
          Questionnaires
          Verbal Behavior
          Social Environment
          Task Performance and Analysis
          Play and Playthings
          Human
          Male
          Female
          Child, Preschool
          Child
          Children with Disabilities
          New England
          Comparative Studies
          Descriptive Statistics
          Data Analysis Software
          Nonparametric Statistics
          Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test
          Pearson's Correlation Coefficient
          Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient
          Clinical Assessment Tools
          Checklists
          Interrater Reliability
          Validation Studies
          Parents of Children with Disabilities
          Social Behavior
          Activities of Daily Living
          Child Behavior
          Parent-Child Relations
          Information Seeking Behavior
          Speech Perception
          Funding Source
          Child, Preschool: 2-5 years
          Child: 6-12 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Questions are an important component of social communication. Autistic children experience difficulties in social communication, and question asking is a common target of services. We know little about how context shapes question asking in autistic children. The current study quantifies the frequency (rate per minute), form (wh-, yes/no, intonation), and function (information-seeking, directive, initiation/maintenance) of questions produced by autistic children (n = 15; mean age = 5.6 years) in two social contexts: a semi-structured activity (the "tablet task") and unstructured play (a naturalistic play session). Autistic children asked slightly more questions in the play session (M =1.35 questions/minute) than in the tablet task (M = 0.81 questions/minute), but there was no significant difference between conditions (effect size = 0.36). For question form, children asked wh-questions at similar rates across contexts, but they asked significantly more yes/no and intonation questions in the play session (effect sizes = 0.01, 0.62, 0.85, respectively). Finally, in function, children's use of information-seeking questions was similar across contexts, but they used significantly more directive and initiation/maintenance questions in the play session (effect sizes = 0.008, 0.82, 0.80, respectively). These findings offer important considerations for the assessment of question asking in autistic children.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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