Autistic adults benefit from and enjoy learning via social interaction as much as neurotypical adults do.
S De Felice, A Hatilova, F Trojan and 2 others
PMID 37674207WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic adults learned more unfamiliar facts from live video calls with a teacher than from recorded videos, and they enjoyed live learning more.
Their gains matched neurotypical adults, so live online learning may be better than pre-recorded videos.
Key findings
01Across both experiments, learning during a live video-call produced better recall than learning from pre-recorded videos.
02Autistic and neurotypical adults showed equivalent overall learning, and the live-learning advantage was not smaller in autistic adults.
03Participants enjoyed live learning more than recorded learning, and enjoyment did not differ between autistic and neurotypical groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Experiment 1 had only 20 autistic and 26 neurotypical adults, so its apparent delayed-recall drop for autistic adults after live learning may have been a false positive. About 50% of autistic participants were self-diagnosed, so the sample may not represent the whole autism population. Participants were recruited online from Prolific, which may attract people willing to take part in interactive video experiments and may exclude autistic adults who find such interaction less comfortable. The study tested short learning of unfamiliar facts in dyadic online video-calls, not clinical therapy, education, in-person interaction, or communication outcomes. The enjoyment questionnaire did not separate the two recorded conditions, so it cannot say whether live interaction was preferred over each recorded video type.
Declared interests
The funding statement names the Leverhulme Trust.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that live video therapy or teaching is better for autistic adults in everyday clinical practice. This study tested recall of unfamiliar facts after short online learning sessions, not communication, occupational performance, or therapy outcomes.