title: The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and narrative assessment: Evidence for specific narrative impairments in autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) contains a narrative generation task in which clients tell a story from a wordless picture book; however, the resulting narrative is not usually examined for its linguistic properties. This study aimed to examine narrative generation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by comparing narratives elicited from children with ASD during the ADOS to those produced by language-matched typically-developing (TD) peers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were children with ASD (n = 11) and TD controls (n = 17). Both groups were aged 9-15 years and were matched for expressive and receptive language skills and non-verbal intelligence. Narratives were analysed for local structure elements (length, fluency, errors, semantics and syntax), cohesion and global elements (story grammar and internal state language).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated that the narratives of the children with ASD were syntactically less complex, contained more ambiguous pronouns and included fewer story grammar elements than their control counterparts; with further analysis showing differences between younger and older children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings provide evidence that children with ASD exhibit subtle story generation impairments and provide preliminary support for the inclusion of narratives elicited as part of the ADOS in the assessment of specific language skills in this population.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland , St Lucia, Queensland , Australia.
authors.forename: Rebecca M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Banney
authors.forename: Keely
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harper-Hill
authors.forename: Wendy L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Arnott
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration
keywords: ADOS; ASD; Story generation; pronominal referencing; story grammar; syntax