Turn-taking in Typically and Atypically Developing Children Differs in Dyadic Temporal Entrainment

How does parent-child turn-taking compare across typically and atypically developing populations? Quick and nonoverlapping conversational turn-taking is observed across developmental stages and diverse cultures, mainly with typically developing (TD) children. In this study, we examined the timing of turn-taking between mothers and their toddlers with Autism Syndrome Disorder (ASD), Down Syndrome (DS), and TD peers. Our results revealed that dyads exhibited a minimal-gap minimal-overlap temporal pattern, which did not differ qualitatively or quantitatively across the three groups. However, only in TD dyads, we found that the mother’s and child’s turn transition latencies were significantly correlated. Their turn-timing was sequentially dependent on the previous turn’s timing, which suggests a turn-by-turn adjustment. ASD and DS dyads did not show such dyadic temporal entrainment. Despite sharing the reportedly universal tendency in turn-taking, TD, ASD, and DS groups differed in interpersonal temporal synchrony on the dyadic level.