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Predictors of imagination and creativity in verbally fluent children with ASD

Chapman, Louise, Kirsten, Abbot-Smith, Marume, Ruvimbo, Wood, Nicky (2015) Predictors of imagination and creativity in verbally fluent children with ASD. In: Psychological Perspectives on Autism, 8th June 2015, University of East Anglia. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:48937)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
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Abstract

One view of the deficit in imagination / creativity in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is that it is intertwined with social communication deficits because both result from poor joint engagement (e.g. Hobson et al., 2015). An alternative view is that imagination deficits are closely linked to ‘restricted interests and repetitive behaviours’ (RRBs) because an executive functions (EF) deficit underlies both (e.g. Jarrold et al, 1996). We examined whether social communication versus RRBs relate to imagination using a dataset of 59 verbally fluent children (4 – 16 years, 18 girls). All were assessed by the fourth author on the ADOS – 2, module 3. Our dependent variable was the ADOS imagination and creativity score, which assesses the degree to which creativity and inventiveness are exhibited, particularly in the 'make believe play' and 'creating a story' tasks. All variables were converted to z scores. Imagination was correlated with communication (p < .01) and social reciprocity (p < .05) but not RRBs (p = .82) or age (.92). RRBs only correlated with communication (p < .05). Social reciprocity and communication were highly intercorrelated (p < .001) which is unsurprising since the communication items measure pragmatics. We analysed the data in a three-step multiple regression analysis, first factoring out age, then entering social reciprocity and communication scores, and finally adding RRBs. Only communication was a significant predictor of the imagination scores (b = .32, SE = .15, t = 2.19, p < .05). Importantly, the relationship found between social communication and imagination is not due to overlap in the scoring or domains of assessment. Our data suggest that deficits in imagination are not closely related to impairments in RRBs. However, we cannot rule out an indirect relationship. We also consider the degree to which the ADOS can accurately measure the tendency to RRBs in high-functioning children.

Item Type: Conference or workshop item (Poster)
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Kirsten Abbot-Smith
Date Deposited: 07 Jun 2015 06:37 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 10:58 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/48937 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Chapman, Louise.

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CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Kirsten, Abbot-Smith.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8623-0664
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Marume, Ruvimbo.

Creator's ORCID:
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