Do Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Share Fairly and Reciprocally?
Calum Hartley, Sophie Fisher
PMID 29512018WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism offered similar sticker numbers to typical peers, but reciprocated a puppet's offers less often and accepted unfair offers more often.
Key findings
01In the Ultimatum Game, children with ASD reciprocated the puppet's offers significantly less often than TD children (49% vs 78.5%).
02Children with ASD accepted 40% of unfair offers, while TD children accepted 11% of unfair offers.
03Average first and second sticker offers did not significantly differ between ASD and TD groups in the Ultimatum or Dictator Games.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study included only 15 verbal children with ASD and 18 TD children, so findings may not generalise to all children with ASD. The ASD group was significantly older and had higher CARS scores than the TD group, and matching was on language comprehension rather than age or non-verbal ability. All children with ASD had delayed language, so results may not apply to children with ASD without language delay. The task was a structured sticker game with a puppet, not natural sharing with real peers, and authors note spontaneous sharing may differ. The difference in accepting unfair offers was borderline (p = .054), and the population effect in Dictator reciprocation was borderline (p = .07). The study did not directly measure friendship or bullying outcomes, although discussion raises these risks.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that children with ASD are less fair or more selfish. Their average sticker offers were similar to TD children and did not differ significantly; the differences were mainly in reciprocating a partner's offers and accepting unfair offers.