biostudies-literatureUnknown29(3)Abbot-Smith KSchool of Psychology Seed Fund, University of KentKent HealthUniversity of Kent PhD Scholarship to Louise MalkinKeeping a conversation going is the social glue of friendships. The <i>DSM</i> criteria for autism list difficulties with back-and-forth conversation but does not necessitate that all autistic children will be equally impacted. We carried out three studies (two pre-registered) with verbally fluent school children (age 5-9 years) to investigate how autistic and neurotypical children maintain a conversation topic. We also investigated within-group relationships between conversational ability and cognitive and sociocognitive predictors. Study 1 found autistic children were more likely than neurotypical controls to give off-topic and generic minimal responses (e.g. 'mm', 'oh') and were less likely to give non-verbal responses (e.g. nodding or use of facial affect to respond). Nonetheless, the Autism : the international journal of research and practice684-697https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11894863biostudies-literatureConversational topic maintenance and related cognitive abilities in autistic versus neurotypical children.PMC11894863Bannard CAbbot-Smith KMalkin LHobson WNice JWilliams DMatthews DfalseConversational topic maintenance and related cognitive abilities in autistic versus neurotypical children.Keeping a conversation going is the social glue of friendships. The <i>DSM</i> criteria for autism list difficulties with back-and-forth conversation but does not necessitate that all autistic children will be equally impacted. We carried out three studies (two pre-registered) with verbally fluent school children (age 5-9 years) to investigate how autistic and neurotypical children maintain a conversation topic. We also investigated within-group relationships between conversational ability and cognitive and sociocognitive predictors. Study 1 found autistic children were more likely than neurotypical controls to give off-topic and generic minimal responses (e.g. 'mm', 'oh') and were less likely to give non-verbal responses (e.g. nodding or use of facial affect to respond). Nonetheless, the 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Mar2025-04-04T01:13:08.552Z2025-04-04T01:13:08.552ZS-EPMC118948633943162610.1177/13623613241286610