The script model in relation to autism

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate autistic children's scripts for social routines. Scripts specify familiar events in terms of who does what, when, to whom, and why. Scripts are verbalizations of mental event representations, containing and organizing generalized knowledge of how the world works. Scripts are presumed to be of vital importance for the development of shared meaning, communication, and social behaviour. In this study, children with autism were asked to explain well-known social routines, such as how you shop in a supermarket, make a cake or celebrate a birthday. The scripts of the 12 children with non-retarded autism were compared to scripts of matched normal control children. Despite the fact that all of the participating children with autism had an IQ above 90 and a mental age between 8 and 14, a significant difference in autistic and normal control children's ability to generate scripts for familiar social routines was found. The results are discussed in relation to the same children's ability to pass theory-of-mind tests and their verbal intelligence.