EP Reach-Out webinar – Autistic children and young people’s experiences of imaginary friends and imaginary worlds with Dr Kate Boyle

Kate Boyle outlines her thesis research which explores autistic children and young people’s experiences with and perceptions of their imaginary companions (ICs) and paracosms (imaginary worlds). Kate undertook qualitative interviews with autistic individuals aged 7-17; the children and young people used their ICs and paracosms for a range of purposes including to meet their needs for connection and control, to support their well-being and to help them make sense of themselves and their learning. There is limited research about autistic children engaging in such imaginary activities, due to the long-standing belief that autism is synonymous with imagination difficulties. This research challenges the imagination deficit discourse, the theory of mind hypothesis and the theory of sustained imagination.