Effects of Delay, Question Type, and Socioemotional Support on Episodic Memory Retrieval by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Twenty-seven autistic children and 32 typically developing (TD) peers were questioned about an experienced event after a two-week delay and again after a two-month delay, using the Revised National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol. Recall prompts elicited more detailed and more accurate responses from children than recognition prompts. Autistic children recalled fewer correct narrative details than TD peers when questioned using open invitations, cued invitations, and directive questions. Nonetheless, they were as accurate as TD peers when responding to all types of prompts. The informativeness and accuracy of children’s reports remained unchanged over time. Social support was beneficial when children were interviewed for the first time but not after a longer delay.

Commentary: Assessing the quality of child investigative interviewing in the Netherlands

“…Younger children give shorter disclosures than older children (Benia, Hauck‐Filho, Dillenburg, & Milnitsky Stein, ; Hershkowitz, Lamb, Orbach, Katz, & Horowitz, ). Another example is that children with autism spectrum disorder have difficulties in freely recalling information and need more cues to recall (directives; Almeida, Lamb, & Weisblatt, ; Maras, Gaigg, & Bowler, ). Also, closed questions are sometimes needed to clarify unclear information or can be more appropriate than an open question (e.g., “Is there anything else you can remember?” or “Did you talk to someone about this?”).Directive questions might also be needed to explore alternative scenarios for the origin of the child's story.…”

Interviewing alleged victims with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities and autism: A field study of police‐investigated cases of physical and sexual abuse in a Norwegian national sample

“…'what happened in the bedroom?') compared with open-ended questions (Agnew and Powell 2004;Almeida et al 2018). This seems to be even more evident for individuals with moderate ID (Brown et al 2012(Brown et al , 2017.…”

“…The quality of the interview techniques used in investigative interviews of PWID and PWA is therefore frequently referred to as a challenge in discussions of witness credibility. Additionally, studies have shown a relationship between the question types used and the accuracy of the witness account, for both PWID (Agnew and Powell 2004;Ternes and Yuille 2008;Gudjonsson and Joyce 2011;Brown and Lamb 2015;Brown et al 2017;Lamb et al 2018b;Morrison et al 2019) and PWA (Maras and Bowler 2014;Almeida et al 2018). The majority of these studies have, however, been conducted with children with or without ID in experimental settings (e.g.…”

“…The majority of these studies have, however, been conducted with children with or without ID in experimental settings (e.g. watching staged events or videos followed by an interview) (Agnew and Powell 2004;Brown et al 2017;Almeida et al 2018;Lamb et al 2018b). Some studies have examined interviews of adults with ID and autism in an experimental setting.…”

“…Best-practice recommendations for investigative interviewing are based on studies examining question types and interview protocols that are developed to enhance interview quality in investigative interviews. Studies and protocols generally recommend the use of both open-ended and directive questions (Brown et al 2017;Almeida et al 2018;Lamb et al 2018b). Open-ended questions (e.g.…”