Building Mutual Understanding

How Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Manage Interactional Trouble

Authors

  • Katja Dindar University of Eastern Finland
  • Terhi Korkiakangas UCL Institute of Education
  • Aarno Laitila University of Eastern Finland
  • Eija Kärnä University of Eastern Finland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.v7i1.28228

Keywords:

autism spectrum disorder, interactional trouble, repair, mutual understanding, intersubjectivity, conversation analysis

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are vulnerable to interactional trouble: difficulties in speaking, hearing and understanding. Prior conversation analytic (CA) work has examined how interactional trouble gets repaired mostly in verbal interactions among neurotypical speakers. Non-CA examinations have mainly been concerned with how children with ASD respond to others’ requests for clarification. Little is known about how children with ASD might manage and initiate solving interactional difficulties. Drawing on CA, this study reports on a sample of approximately 46 hours of video involving school-aged children with ASD and their adult co-participants. The analysis shows that children use both verbal and nonverbal resources to initiate the management of apparent trouble. However, the children are occasionally unable to effectively communicate the particular source of difficulty to the co-participants. The study suggests the co-participants’ active and sensitive facilitation as a resource for building mutual understanding.

Author Biographies

  • Katja Dindar, University of Eastern Finland

    Katja Dindar is currently working toward her PhD in psychology at the University of Eastern Finland. Her thesis focuses on interactional and attentional skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during educational interactions with adult co-participants. She applies multimodally informed conversation analysis in her research. She is also interested in the use of technology-enhanced activities to facilitate the interaction and learning of children with ASD.

  • Terhi Korkiakangas, UCL Institute of Education

    Terhi Korkiakangas is a social interaction researcher. Her principal research interests include the use of talk, gaze and body movement in clinical and professional interactions and in interactions involving children with autism. She played a key role in an ESRC-funded project on teamwork in operating theatres (2012–2013) and was a research fellow in MODE, a node of the ESRC’s National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) (2013–2104). She is currently a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (2014–2017), conducting video-based research on communication in operating theatres. In her PhD research, she examined interactions involving children with autism using a multimodal approach to conversation analysis.

  • Aarno Laitila, University of Eastern Finland

    Aarno Laitila works as a professor of psychology at the University of Eastern Finland. His main area of research is the field of psychotherapy, especially in the context of family therapy, and developing therapeutic expertise.

  • Eija Kärnä, University of Eastern Finland

    Eija Kärnä works as a professor in special education in the Philosophical Faculty at the University of Eastern Finland. She has worked in several international research and development projects and conducted multidisciplinary research with researchers from several fields of science, such as linguistics, psychology, nursing science and computer science. Her research interests are inclusive learning environments, technology for individuals with special needs and communication and interaction of individuals with severe developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorder.

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Published

2016-06-21

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles

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© Equinox Publishing Ltd.

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How to Cite

Dindar, K., Korkiakangas, T., Laitila, A., & Kärnä, E. (2016). Building Mutual Understanding: How Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Manage Interactional Trouble. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 7(1), 49-77. https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.v7i1.28228

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