Comparing the writing skills of autistic and nonautistic university students: A collaboration with autistic university students

Abstract

<jats:p> The writing skills of autistic university students have received very little empirical attention. Previous research has suggested that autistic people may struggle with writing, in part, due to challenges with Theory of Mind. However, other research indicates that Theory of Mind difficulties are far from universal in autism, varying across developmental and social contexts. Through a participatory research approach, autistic university students contributed to the current study examining the writing strengths and challenges of autistic ( n = 25) and nonautistic ( n = 25) university students. Autistic participants demonstrated more advanced writing skills, more perfectionistic attitudes about writing, and heightened nonverbal intelligence relative to nonautistic students. Autistic students did not exhibit reduced Theory of Mind skills. Although heightened nonverbal intelligence and being autistic were both initially predictive of writing quality, autism was no longer associated with writing quality after accounting for nonverbal intelligence. Findings suggest that autistic university students may often have enhanced cognitive and writing skills but may face challenges overcoming perfectionism. This research highlights the value of participatory collaborations with autistic students for identifying strengths that can help autistic students succeed in college. </jats:p><jats:sec><jats:title>Lay abstract</jats:title><jats:p> We do not know very much about the writing skills of autistic university students. Studies with autistic children and teenagers show that some autistic young people have difficulties writing. Other autistic people are talented writers. In fact, some autistic people would rather write than speak. Good writers often imagine other people’s points of view when writing. Autistic people sometimes have difficulties understanding others’ points of view. Yet, autistic people often work much harder to understand others’ points of view than not-autistic people do. We collaborated with autistic university student researchers to see if autistic university students are better or worse at writing than nonautistic students. Autistic university students in our study were better writers than nonautistic students. Autistic students in our study had higher nonverbal intelligence than nonautistic students. Autistic students also put themselves under more pressure to write perfectly than nonautistic students did. Autistic students did not show any difficulties understanding other minds. This study shows that some autistic university students have stronger writing skills and higher intelligence than nonautistic university students. Yet, autistic students may be too hard on themselves about their writing. Fun activities that help students explore their ideas without pressure (like theater games) may help autistic students be less hard on their writing. Teachers can help autistic students express themselves through writing by encouraging them to write about their interests, by giving them enough time to write, and by letting them write using computers if they want to. This study shows that collaborations with autistic people can help us understand strengths that can help autistic people succeed. </jats:p></jats:sec>

Burnt Out and Dropping Out: A Comparison of the Experiences of Autistic and Non-autistic Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…For example, Lei and Russell (2021) interviewed 18 autistic and 18 non-autistic students from the United Kingdom about perceptions of their self-determination (their ability to determine their own future and experiences) at university, noting that while there were commonalities, autistic students discussed autistic-specific strengths and more difficulties with transitions. Gillespie-Lynch et al (2020) compared the writing skills of 25 autistic and 25 non-autistic students in the United States, finding autistic students expressed more writing skill and quality, higher nonverbal intelligence, and more perfectionist attitudes toward writing. These studies indicate there are unique strengths and challenges experienced by autistic students and comparing could help us to identify autistic-specific support versus support that would benefit students more broadly.…”

Exploring the Career Motivations, Strengths, and Challenges of Autistic and Non-autistic University Students: Insights From a Participatory Study

“…Many autistic people are able to recognize details that may remain hidden to “neurotypical” individuals (e.g., Dakin and Frith, 2005 ; Lorenz and Heinitz, 2014 ). Autistic university students also exhibited enhanced writing skills relative to their non-autistic peers at one university ( Gillespie-Lynch et al, 2020 ). Similar patterns have been observed in more generalizable samples: incoming autistic university students in the Netherlands outperformed their peers on the Dutch Language Proficiency Test ( Bakker et al, 2019 ), as did autistic students in the United States on the verbal SAT ( Fernandes et al, 2021 ).…”

Design, Implementation and Evaluation of a Support System for Educators and Therapists to Rate the Acquisition of Pre-Writing Skills

“…In the medium term, we plan to adapt the system to support other guides than Battelle's and to deepen the existing knowledge about technology-aided interventions to improve pre-writing skills when necessary. In addition, we want to focus on the specific challenges faced by children affected by autism spectrum disorders, taking into account the findings of Gillespie-Lynch et al [26] in more advances stages of education. Through a study conducted with a sample of autistic and non-autistic university students, these authors found that some of the autistic students had more advanced writing skills than their non-autistic peers (mostly attributable to higher non-verbal intelligence).…”