Comparing the narrative coherence of Spanish-speaking autistic and typically developing children: focus on causal rhetorical relations

Abstract Previous research points to potential challenges autistic children face in constructing coherent narratives and establishing causal connections between events, although findings remain inconclusive. Furthermore, most studies focus on English-speaking children, leaving the narrative coherence skills of autistic children from other linguistic/cultural contexts underexplored. This study investigated the differences in narrative coherence between 42 autistic and 56 typically developing (TD) Spanish-speaking children matched on age ( M = 8.51 years). Based on theories of rhetorical relations (RRs), which track relations between discourse units, we aimed to offer a new perspective on how coherence is achieved in children’s narratives, with an emphasis on the causal RRs established. Causal RRs were coded for the specific type of RR, presence/absence of connectives, causality domain, and mention/omission of key events. Additional coherence measures included tallying the total number of RRs (causal and non-causal) and assessing narrative macrostructure through a rating scale, in line with more standard practices in the field. Results showed that, despite producing a comparable number of causal RRs, autistic children established significantly fewer causal RRs involving characters’ intentions and key story events compared to TD children. Moreover, autistic children established fewer RRs overall and obtained lower macrostructure scores, suggesting lower narrative coherence levels.