Comparing Narrative Writing of Autistic and Non-Autistic College Students
Shevchuk-Hill, Szczupakiewicz, Kofner & Gillespie-Lynch (2023)
This article compared short stories by 19 Autistic university students and 23 non-Autistic university students. The authors used automated software and content analysis to code the stories. They found the writings were more similar than they were different. Autistic students’ writing however was rated at a higher reading level than the non-Autistic students’ stories. Additionally, the stories written by Autistic students contained fewer grammatical errors. They were also less likely to include a narrative climax. Autistic students showed a more positive writing affect than their non-Autistic counterparts. This was associated with writing highly fictional texts that contained more sentences. The findings of this research indicate that writing may be a strength for Autistic students and creative writing may encourage positive affect towards writing.
