Embodied Imagination and Metaphor Use in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Imagination and metaphor understanding in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often seen as deficits within a standard linguistic framework. This paper argues instead for an embodied and enactive account, which views imagination and metaphor as grounded in bodily interaction and lived experience. A case study from a systemic therapeutic session with a child with ASD illustrates how metaphors emerge through embodied engagement. The authors conclude that this perspective reveals previously overlooked imaginative strengths in children with ASD and suggests interactive interventions—such as those involving physical movement and shared activities—to support metaphor comprehension and imaginative skills.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This paper discusses different frameworks for understanding imagination and metaphor in the context of research on the imaginative skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In contrast to a standard linguistic framework, it advances an embodied and enactive account of imagination and metaphor. The paper describes a case study from a systemic therapeutic session with a child with ASD that makes use of metaphors. It concludes by outlining some theoretical insights into the imaginative skills of children with ASD that follow from taking the embodied-enactive perspective and proposes suggestions for interactive interventions to further enhance imaginative skills and metaphor understanding in children with ASD.