Children’s Use of “I Don’t Know” During Clinical Evaluations for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Responses to Emotion Questions

Abstract

This chapter presents the authors' observations on children's responses to evaluation prompts about their experiences with emotions and their perceptions of others' emotional experiences. In doing so, these observations speak to the social-communication abilities of children on the autism spectrum. The focus on I don't know responses by children during their evaluations provides insights into the perplexing questions on the experience and expression of emotions for children on the autism spectrum as well as with their interactions with others such as the testing experience affords. The chapter presents data come from children engaged in answering evaluation questions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at a clinic for developmental disabilities. It specifically examines the use of I don't know (IDK) utterances in seven high-functioning, verbally fluent children (aged 6–17) who subsequently received an ASD diagnosis. Using conversation analytic methods, while also drawing upon interactional linguistics, the chapter investigates how IDK utterances work within the evaluation context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)