1. Imaginary Companions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Author
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Paige E. Davis, Diana L. Robins, Elizabeth Meins, and Haley Simon
- Subjects
Male ,Early childhood education ,genetic structures ,Autism Spectrum Disorder ,Social development ,BF ,Friends ,behavioral disciplines and activities ,050105 experimental psychology ,Developmental psychology ,Typically developing ,Child Development ,mental disorders ,Social attribution ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,medicine ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,BF712-724.85 ,Child ,Imaginary companions ,The Imaginary ,Original Paper ,05 social sciences ,Erikson's stages of psychosocial development ,medicine.disease ,Autism spectrum disorder ,Child, Preschool ,Imagination ,Autism ,Female ,Psychology ,Attribution ,Preschool education ,050104 developmental & child psychology - Abstract
One of the deficits observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is impaired imaginative play. One form of imaginative play common in many typically developing (TD) children is having an imaginary companion (IC). The occurrence of ICs has not been investigated extensively in children with ASD. We examined differences in parent report of IC between TD and ASD populations in 215 (111 with ASD) gender-matched children aged between 2 and 8 years. Findings indicate that significantly fewer children with ASD created ICs, although there were many between-group similarities in IC forms and functions. Results are discussed in terms of qualitative differences in play, social attributions, and how children with ASD conceptualize their ICs’ minds. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10803-018-3540-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Published
- 2018