TY - JOUR
T1 - Enduring the silence
T2 - High silence tolerance and other tools for promoting topic initiations of a man with autism
AU - Emborg, Christina
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Persistent deficits in the ability to initiate social interaction is a core criterion for a diagnosis of autism, and quantitative research shows that children with autism initiate fewer bids for interaction than neurotypical children. This conversation-analytic examination of two interactions between a man with autism, Harry, and two familiar carers will provide insights into the scope of his competences in topic initiation. Analyses of the participants' online management of turn-taking and sequence organisation demonstrate that Harry's topic initiations can be facilitated by a high silence tolerance of the interlocutor in initiation-relevant sequential environments. Specifically, Harry initiates more topics, when his conversational partner endures the long silences after possible sequence closure. The analyses underline that Harry does not lack neither competences nor motivation to successfully execute initiations. Instead, it is proposed that Harry's deficits in initiation should be reconceptualised as a difficulty of initiating interaction on neurotypical terms, where the standard maximum silence between turns is approximately one second. Hereby, the study emphasises that communicative competences of individuals with autism are interactionally managed, emerging in interaction with conversational partners.
AB - Persistent deficits in the ability to initiate social interaction is a core criterion for a diagnosis of autism, and quantitative research shows that children with autism initiate fewer bids for interaction than neurotypical children. This conversation-analytic examination of two interactions between a man with autism, Harry, and two familiar carers will provide insights into the scope of his competences in topic initiation. Analyses of the participants' online management of turn-taking and sequence organisation demonstrate that Harry's topic initiations can be facilitated by a high silence tolerance of the interlocutor in initiation-relevant sequential environments. Specifically, Harry initiates more topics, when his conversational partner endures the long silences after possible sequence closure. The analyses underline that Harry does not lack neither competences nor motivation to successfully execute initiations. Instead, it is proposed that Harry's deficits in initiation should be reconceptualised as a difficulty of initiating interaction on neurotypical terms, where the standard maximum silence between turns is approximately one second. Hereby, the study emphasises that communicative competences of individuals with autism are interactionally managed, emerging in interaction with conversational partners.
KW - autism
KW - conversation analysis
KW - interaction
KW - silence
KW - Autism
KW - conversation analysis
KW - initiation
KW - interaction
KW - silence
KW - turn-taking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85169812334&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/02699206.2023.2250058
DO - 10.1080/02699206.2023.2250058
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 37661644
SN - 0269-9206
VL - 38
SP - 857
EP - 879
JO - Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics
JF - Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics
IS - 9
ER -