Comparing narrative writing of autistic and non-autistic College students

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Shevchuk-Hill, S., Szczupakiewicz, S., Kofner, B., & Gillespie-Lynch, K. (2022). Comparing narrative writing of autistic and non-autistic College students. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53(10), 3901-3915. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05516-z

Publication date: 4 Aug 2022 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)
  1. Sergey Shevchuk-Hill
  2. Shana Szczupakiewicz
  3. Bella Kofner *
  4. Kristen Gillespie-Lynch

Abstract

We compared short stories by autistic (n = 19) and non-autistic (n = 23) university students. We used automated software and content analysis to code students' stories. We found that writings were more similar than different. However, autistic students' stories were rated at a higher reading level (p = .013) than non-autistic students'. Autistic students' stories contained fewer grammatical errors (p = .02) but were less likely to include a climax (p = .026). Autistic students reported more positive writing affect than non-autistic students (p = .026). Higher writing affect was associated with writing highly fictional texts (p = .03) that contained more sentences (p = .005). Findings suggest writing may be a strength for autistic students and opportunities to write creatively may promote positive affect toward writing.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 07:50.

Cited references
62
With a DOI
42
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
18
8 / 62 (12.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
18 / 62 (29.0%)
References with detected author names
45 / 62 (72.6%)
Without detected author names
17
Without a structured title
18
Without a stable identifier
18
References with raw author names still to review
17
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
149
From DOI or external metadata
149
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
23
68 / 149 (45.6%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 81 / 149 (54.4%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
10 / 149 (6.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 10 / 68 (14.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 7 / 129 (5.4%).
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