Making meaning together : embodied narratives in a case of severe autism

Delafield-Butt, Jonathan and Zeedyk, Suzanne and Harder, Susanne and Vaever, Mette and Caldwell, Phoebe (2018) Making meaning together : embodied narratives in a case of severe autism. PsyArXiv Preprints.

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    Abstract

    Human narrative understanding is co-created in imaginative projects and experiences displayed in serially organised expressions of gesture and voice. Shared timing of reciprocal actions develop between two or more persons in narrative events that build over cycles in a four-part structure of 'introduction', 'development', 'climax', and 'conclusion'. Pre-linguistic narrative establishes the foundation of later, linguistic intelligence. Yet, participating in social interactions that give rise to narrative development is a central problem of autism spectrum disorder. In this paper, we examine the rapid growth of narrative meaning-making between a non-verbal young woman with severe autism and her new therapist. Episodes of embodied, shared understanding were enabled through a basic therapeutic mode of reciprocal, creative mirroring of expressive gesture. These developed through reciprocal cycles and as the relationship progressed, complete co-created narratives were formed resulting in shared joy and the mutual interest and trust of companionship. These small, embodied stories enabled moments of co-regulated arousal that the young woman had previous difficulty with. These data provide evidence for an intact capacity for non-verbal narrative meaning-making in autism.

    Author(s):Delafield-Butt, Jonathan ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8881-8821, Zeedyk, Suzanne, Harder, Susanne, Vaever, Mette and Caldwell, Phoebe
    Item type:Article
    ID code:66880
    Keywords:autism, intersubjectivity, imitation, narrative, intimacy, sharing, Child Health. Child health services, Developmental and Educational Psychology
    Subjects:Medicine > Pediatrics > Child Health. Child health services
    Department:Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > School of Education > Education
    Strategic Research Themes > Health and Wellbeing
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:08 Feb 2019 14:55
    Last modified:24 Jan 2020 03:43
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/66880
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