2018 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 348-363
In this study, interactions between a child with high functioning autism and a graduate student in a university playroom environment are analyzed in detail from the perspective of conversation analysis, and how misunderstandings and problems arose are described. Close inspection of the interactions revealed that the autistic child’s behavior in fact indicates his sensitivity to the current situation and his orientation to the interactional problem, even though this behavior may confuse the adult co-participant. In particular, the child’s seemingly monological actions, generally seen as characteristic of autism, are in fact produced in order to construct a tentative participation framework, through which he attempts to deal with interactional problems. This study demonstrates the describability of an autistic child’s so-called “inexplicable” behavior, and emphasizes the importance of carrying out similar in-depth case studies to deepen our understanding of the diversity of reasoning underlying autistic behavior.
