There has, to date, been little discussion of how autism may affect the experience of the reading of fiction for pupils in the classroom, other than through a deficit model. One of the researchers in this study ("Celia") is training to be a secondary school English teacher and identifies as autistic. Her experience provides an enriched…

This study tests the role of verbal mediation during theory of mind processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Adolescents with ASD or typical development completed a false belief task while simultaneously performing a verbal or nonverbal load task. There was no group difference in false belief "accuracy;" however, under verbal load,…

The writing skills of autistic university students have received very little empirical attention. Previous research has suggested that autistic people may struggle with writing, in part, due to challenges with Theory of Mind. However, other research indicates that Theory of Mind difficulties are far from universal in autism, varying across…

The writing skills of autistic university students have received very little empirical attention. Previous research has suggested that autistic people may struggle with writing, in part, due to challenges with Theory of Mind. However, other research indicates that Theory of Mind difficulties are far from universal in autism, varying across…

Among neurotypical adults, errors made with high confidence (i.e. errors a person strongly believed they would not make) are corrected more reliably than errors made with low confidence. This 'hypercorrection effect' is thought to result from enhanced attention to information that reflects a 'metacognitive mismatch' between one's beliefs and…

This article reports the findings of a qualitative inquiry involving two focus groups made up of experienced faculty who met to discuss academic concerns faced by college students with autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger's disorder. Analysis of group meeting transcripts indicated that student concerns fell into categories related to…

Over the past thirty years, researchers have documented a remarkable growth in children's social understanding between toddlerhood and the early school years. However, it is still unclear why some children's awareness of others' thoughts and feelings lags so far behind that of their peers. Based on research that spans an extended developmental…