Skip to main content

The narrative construction of our (social) world: steps towards an interactive learning environment for children with autism

  • Long Paper
  • Published:
Universal Access in the Information Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Children with autism exhibit a deficit in narrative comprehension which adversely impacts upon their social world. The authors’ research agenda is to develop an interactive software system which promotes an understanding of narrative structure (and thus the social world) while addressing the needs of individual children. This paper reports the results from a longitudinal study, focussing on ‘primitive’ elements of narrative, presented as proto-narratives, in an interactive software game which adapts to the abilities of individual children. A correlation has been found with a real-world narrative comprehension task, and for most children a clear distinction in their understanding of narrative components.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Abell, F., Happe, F., Frith, U.: Do triangles play tricks? Attribution of mental states to animated shapes in normal and abnormal development. Cogn. Dev. 15, 1–15 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Aurora.: Last accessed 21 May 2007, available from: http://www.aurora-project.com

  3. Aylett, R., Louchart, S.: Towards a narrative theory of virtual reality. Virtual Real. 7(1), 2–9 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Baron-Cohen, S.: Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind. MIT Press, Cambridge (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bateson, P.: The role of play in the evolution of great apes and humans. In: Pellegrini, A., Smith, P. (eds.) The Nature of Play: Great Apes and Humans, pp. 13–24. The Guildford Press, New York (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bogdashina, O.: A reconstruction of the sensory world of autism. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Autism-Europe Congress (2003)

  7. Boucher, J.: Interventions with children with autism methods based on play. Child Lang. Teach. Ther. 15(1), 1–5 (1999)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. Broks, P.: Into the Silent Land, Travels in Neuropsychology. Atlantic Press, Cornwall (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Bruner, J.: Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bruner, J.: Acts of Meaning. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bruner, J.: The Narrative Construction of Reality. Crit. Inq. 18(1), 1–21 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Bruner, J.: Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Bruner, J., Feldman, C.: Theories of Mind and the Problem of Autism. In: Baron-Cohen, S. (ed.) Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Autism. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Capps, L., Losh, M., Thurber, C.: The frog ate the bug and made his mouth sad; narrative competence in children with autism. J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 18(2), 193–204 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Cassell, J.: Towards a model of technology and literacy development: story listening systems. In: Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Narrative and Interactive Learning Environments, Edinburgh 2002

  16. Dautenhahn, K.: The origins of narrative: in search for the transactional format of narratives in humans and other social animals. Int. J. Cogn. Technol. Co-existence Converg. Co-evolution 1(1), 97–123 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Dautenhahn, K., Werry, I.: Towards interactive robots in autism therapy: Background, motivation and challenges. Pragmatics Cogn. 12(1), 1–35 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Davis, M., Dautenhahn, K., Nehaniv, C., Powell, S.D.: Towards an interactive system facilitating therapeutic narrative elicitation in autism. In: 3rd International Conference on Narrative and Interactive Learning Environments, Edinburgh (2004)

  19. Davis, M., Dautenhahn, K., Nehaniv, C., Powell, S.D.: Towards an interactive system eliciting narrative comprehension in children with autism: a longitudinal study. In: Clarkson, P., Langdon, P., Robinson, P. (eds.) Designing accessible technology. Springer, London (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Davis, M., Dautenhahn, K., Nehaniv, C.L., Powell, S.D.: Touchstory: towards an interactive learning environment for helping children with autism to understand narrative. In: ICCHP 2006, 10th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. University of Linz, Austria (2006)

  21. eCircus.: Last accessed 21 May 2007, available from: http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/EcircusWeb/

  22. Frith, U.: Explaining the Enigma. Blackwells, Cambridge (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Graesser, A.C., Wienner-Hastings, K.: Situation models and concepts in story comprehension. In: Goldman, S., Graesser, A.C., van den Broek, P. (eds.) Narrative Comprehension, Causality and Coherence. LEA, Mahwah (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Grandin, T.: Thinking in Pictures. Doubleday, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Grynszpan, O., Martin, J.-C., Nadel, J.: Designing educational software dedicated to people with autism. In: Assistive Technology: From Virtuality to Reality AAATE. IOS Press, Lille (2005)

  26. Happé, F.: Central coherence and theory of mind in autism: reading homographs in context. Br. J. Dev. Psychol. 15, 1–12 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Heerera, G., Vera, L.: Abstract concept and imagination teaching through virtual reality in people with autistic spectrum disorders. In: Assistive Technology: From Virtuality to Reality AAATE. IOS Press, Lille (2005)

  28. Hutto, D.: Folk psychological narratives and the case of autism. Philos. Papers 32(3), 345–361 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Jordan, R., Libby, S.: Developing and using play in the curriculum. In: Powell, S., Jordan, R. (eds.) Autism and Learning: A Guide to Good Practice, pp. 29–45. David Foulton Publishers, London (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Jordan, R., Powell, S.D.: Understanding and Teaching Children with Autism. Wiley, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Linde, C.: Life Stories, the Creation of Coherence. Oxford Press, Oxford (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Linde, C.: Narrative and social tacit knowledge. J. Knowl. Manage. Special Issue on Tacit Knowledge and Active Learning. 5(2), 160–170 (2001)

  33. Marshall, P., Rogers, Y., Scaife, M.: Puppet: a virtual environment for children to act and direct interactive narratives. In: Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Narrative and Interactive Learning Environments (2002)

  34. McCloud, S.: Understanding Comics, the Invisible Art. Harper Perennial, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Montemayor, J., Druin, A., Hendler, J.: A personal electronic teller of stories. In: Druin, A., Hendler, J. (eds.) Robots for Kids—Exploring New Technologies for Learning. Morgan Kaufmann, San Fransisco (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Moore, D., Cheng, Y., Powell, P.: Avatars and autism. In: Assistive Technology: From Virtuality to Reality AAATE. IOS Press, Lille (2005)

  37. Murray, D.: Autism and information technology: therapy with computers. In: Powell, S., Jordan, R. (eds.) Autism and Learning: A Guide to Good Practice. David Foulton Publishers, London (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  38. NAS. National autistic society: Last accessed April 2004, available from: http://www.nas.org.uk

  39. NAS. National autistic society: Play and autism. Last accessed 21 May 2007, available from: http://www.nas.org.uk

  40. Paris, A., Paris, S.G.: Assessing narrative comprehension in young children. Read. Res. Q. 38(1), 36–76 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Pino, B.: A study of the role of computers in enhancing social engagement and understanding in children with autism. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Autism-Europe Congress (2003)

  42. Porter Abbott H.: The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Powell, S.D.: Autism. In: Messer, D.J., Millar, S. (eds.) Developmental Psychology, pp. 243–261. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K., te Boekhorst, R., Billard, A.: Effects of repeated exposure to a humanoid robot on children with autism. In: Keates, S. et al. (eds.) Designing a More Inclusive World, pp. 225–236. Springer, London (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Sacks, O.: An Anthropologist on Mars. Picador, London (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Schank, R.C.: Tell me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence. Northwestern University Press, Evanston (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Sehaba, K., Courboulay, V., Estraillier, P.: Interactive system by observation and analysis for behaviour for children with autism. In: Assistive Technology: From Virtuality to Reality AAATE. IOS Press, Lille (2005)

  48. Steels, L.: The architecture of flow. In: Tokoro, M., Steels, L. (eds.) A Learning Zone of One’s Own. IOS press, Lille (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Tager-Flushberg, H., Sullivan, K.: Attributing mental states to story characters: a comparison of narratives produced by autistic and mentally retarded individuals. Appl. Psycholinguist. 16, 241–256 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Tjus, T., Heinmann, M.: Language, multimedia and communication for children with autism: search for the right combination. In: Powell, S. (ed.) Helping Children with Autism to Learn. David Foulton Publishers, London (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Tokoro, M., Steels, L. (eds.): The Future of Learning. IOS Press, Lille (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  52. Wing, L.: The Autistic Spectrum: A Guide for Parents and Professionals. Constable, London (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  53. Zwaan, R.A.: Five dimensions of narrative comprehension: the event indexing model. In: Goldman, S., Graesser, A.C., Wienner-Hastings, K. (eds.) Narrative Comprehension, Causality and Coherence. LEA, Mahwah (1999)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

We thank the staff and pupils of Childs Hill School Resourced Provision, ‘Pathways’ for their involvement in this case study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Megan Davis.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Davis, M., Dautenhahn, K., Nehaniv, C.L. et al. The narrative construction of our (social) world: steps towards an interactive learning environment for children with autism. Univ Access Inf Soc 6, 145–157 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-007-0076-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-007-0076-x

Keywords