Background: Sharing personal experiences through storytelling (personal narration) is a
fundamental aspect of social communication, with personal narrative coherence linked to socioemotional
wellbeing and academic success. Despite the importance of personal narrative
proficiency for participating in daily activities, and the knowledge that many autistic children show
differences in social communication, research into the personal narrative skills of this group of
children is limited.

Aims: We investigated the personal narrative coherence of autistic children and compared their
performance to previously published results of similar-age children without an autism diagnosis.

Method: Following ethics approval, all parents and children gave informed consent to participate.
Ten autistic children (8 male), ages 7;11 – 12;05, produced personal narratives in response to the
six emotion-based prompts of the Global TALES protocol. All children scored within age
expectations on tests of receptive vocabulary (PPVT) and nonverbal cognition. Personal narratives
(max 6 per child) were transcribed and stories containing at least two past tense actions were
analysed on three narrative coherence dimensions (Context, Chronology, Theme), using the
Narrative Coherence Coding Scheme (NCCS).

Results: The children produced 30 personal narratives containing two past tense actions. On
Context: 70% of stories contained no information about time/place; with time and place
mentioned in two stories. Chronology: 60% of the stories contained minimal/no information about
temporal order, with 13% of the stories containing an identifiable timeline. Theme: Scores
included 0 (23%; difficult to identify topic), 1 (66%; identifiable topic with only limited evidence of
causal connections or evaluations), and 2 (10%; substantial topic development). Compared to
previously published results involving neurotypical children, the autistic children showed relative
challenges in Chronology and Theme.

Conclusions: A case example will be provided to illustrate how analysing the coherence of
children’s personal narratives may inform clinical assessment and intervention practices.

Implications for children and families: Sharing clear, well-structured stories about personally
experienced events helps you (your child) connect with friends and family at home, school, and in
the community.

Implications for practitioners: We strongly encourage you to evaluate personal narrative
coherence of autistic children on a routine basis to gain insight into this important discourse skill.

Key words: communication, quantitative methods, autism, wellbeing, education, children’s voices.

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education