Alleviating the Double Empathy Problem by Involving Autistic College Students in Writing and Autism Research

• In Event: 35.072 - Exploring the Writing Development of and Writing Instructional Needs for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Purpose
To involve autistic college students in the exploration of the challenges faced by autistic writers through researcher-derived and participant-derived coding perspectives.

Perspectives
A growing literature focuses on challenges faced by autistic college students, with limited focus on strengths [1]. However, the writing skills of autistic college students have received almost no empirical attention [2-3]. Autistic children and adolescents often exhibit writing difficulties [4-5]. Yet some autistic adults report that they communicate more effectively through writing than speech because writing provides control over the pace, focus and intensity of interaction [6]. Anecdotal evidence from one autistic college student suggested that he struggled adapting his writing to readers’ needs due to reduced Theory of Mind [ToM; 7). Indeed, writing quality was associated with ToM in a study documenting reduced writing quality among autistic relative to non-autistic participants [8]. However, autistic people with heightened language abilities often pass ToM assessments [9]. Therefore, autistic college students, who must pass writing assessments to enroll, may or may not face intertwined challenges with ToM and writing.

We initially hypothesized that autistic college students face challenges writing, including reduced ToM. Through dialogue with a participatory researcher, we realized that our initial hypotheses neglected the perspectives of autistic people. Therefore, we invited two autistic college students to develop their own hypotheses and coding scheme. They hypothesized that autistic students would produce more specific and creative writing that relied on first-person narration, due to reduced ToM. One autistic coder expected writing skills to be variable, irrespective of diagnosis.

Methods & Data Sources
Autistic (n = 24) and non-autistic college students (n = 24) completed Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RMIE; assessing ToM) and a personal essay, wherein they were asked to share something interesting they had learned. Two teams of coders (one neurotypical and one autistic pair) blind to diagnosis developed coding schemes and obtained reliability. The neurotypical team’s coding scheme included gestalt, logic, ToM, and non-literal language. The autistic team coded for creativity, readability, specificity, repetitiveness, emotional dullness, and point of view (Table 1). We used paperrater.com to assess length, errors, and quality (AutoGrader).

Results
Chi-square tests revealed that autistic students less frequently included multiple perspectives in their writing, p = .003, than non-autistic students but did not differ in other coding domains. They appeared more likely to produce writing coded as creative and lacking attention to the big picture (17%), than non-autistic students (0%), but not enough students received these codes to allow analyses. A linear regression revealed that autism classification (r = .56, p = .001) and RMIE (r = .64, p < .001) were positively associated with writing quality.

Scientific/Scholarly Significance
Findings highlight the value of involving autistic people in research about autism. Autistic college students may be able to leverage writing skills to help them succeed in college, yet face subtle difficulties using ToM in their writing. Low-stakes multimodal activities wherein students can practice addressing others’ perspectives through writing are likely to be beneficial for autistic students.

Authors

• Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, College of Staten Island

• Emily Hotez, Hunter College

• Dennis Bublitz

• Ariana Riccio, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

• Naomi Gaggi, College of Staten Island - CUNY

• Danielle DeNigris

• Matthew Zajic, University of Virginia

• Kavi Luca

• Bella Kofner