Imaginary Companions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Paige E Davis, Haley Simon, Elizabeth Meins and 1 others
PMID 29564680WHAT IT FOUND
Parents reported imaginary companions in 16.2% of children with autism and 45.2% of typically developing children.
When present in autism, companions were often a toy or stuffed animal, started later, and served social or comfort roles.
Key findings
01Parent report found imaginary companions in 16.2% of children with autism spectrum disorder and 45.2% of typically developing children, and creation was significantly less common in the autism group.
02In the autism group, 61.1% of reported imaginary companions were personified objects such as a toy or stuffed animal, and 38.8% were completely invisible; in the comparison group, 70.2% were completely invisible and 29.8% were personified objects.
03Children with autism spectrum disorder began playing with imaginary companions later than typically developing children, but parents did not report differences in social attributions given to companions or in their main social or comfort functions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
All findings came from parent report, and no direct child assessment was included. Parents may not know about invisible imaginary companions, and the authors note that children with autism may not show imaginary companion play as obviously as typically developing children. The group of children with autism reported to have imaginary companions was small, so comparisons within that group had limited power. The autism sample was recruited mainly from support groups and local autism events, so it may not represent all families of children with autism. The two groups were not matched on age: children with autism were 24 to 96 months old, while typically developing children were 59 to 64 months old. The typically developing parents did not complete the same demographic, diagnostic, education, or free-response questions as the autism parents, and 24 of 47 did not answer the longer imaginary companion questions. Only four parents reported their child with autism as low functioning, so the study cannot say much about functioning level and imaginary companion creation. The study did not test an intervention or outcome change.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that imaginary companions are common in autism or that they help communication. Parent report found them in 16.2% of children with autism, and the study did not test whether they improved play, communication, or social interaction.