Narration und Emotion. Die sprachstrukturelle und affektive Gestaltung von Narrativen bei Kindern mit Sprachentwicklungsstörungen und Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen.

The project examines and compares narrative profiles of two clinical groups: children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASS). The focus lies on the affective organization of narratives. 69 children between eight and twelve years were tested: children with DLD, children with ASS and group of normally developed children. The central research questions were: A. Are there differences between the groups with regard to the linguistic structure of the narratives in terms of micro- and macrostructure? B. Are there differences between the groups with regard to the affective organization of the narratives, i.e. the ability to use words with reference to inner states and evaluative devices? The children had to produce retellings of a short video clip. There were three characters, experiencing different emotional and mental states. For the analysis, sophisticated categories were developed in order to record devices with which children referred to affective states of the characters (Internal State Words, ISW) as well as devices with which children engaged their listeners and pointed out the point of view of the narrator (evaluative devices). At the same time, the linguistic structure was measured at level of macro- (information and episodic structure) and microstructure (use of reference and connective). Performance profiles of both clinical groups proved to be very different. The group with ASS shows performance comparable to the normally developed group on the linguistic as well as the affective level. At the same time, children with DLD show significantly worse performance in all parameters and on both levels of analysis. They remain on a local level of organization and neglect the overall emotional quality of the events. The findings also emphasize the connection between the organization of the linguistic and affective level of stories.