Perspectives on Personal Pronoun Reversal in Children with ASD: A Critical Review

Personal pronoun reversal (PPR), characterised by inverse use of personal pronouns (typically first and second person) is a hallmark of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis (ASD; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This literature review examines different theories accounting for the occurrence of PPR, in particular Kanner’s (1943) original view of PPR as echolalia, PPR as a result of impaired understanding of discourse roles (e.g. Tager-Flusberg, 1994), and PPR due to impaired theory of mind (Boucher, 2003). These existing theories are critiqued as overly simplistic, and the review argues that more complex theories are required to adequately explain the available evidence on PPR.