Toward autism spectrum disorder informed investigative interviewing for children: a cognitive–sensory–cultural framework

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are increasingly involved in investigative and judicial processes as victims and witnesses, yet prevailing interviewing practices often remain insufficiently responsive to their developmental, communicative, and sensory characteristics. Understanding how autistic children participate in investigative interviews is therefore critical for ensuring both communicative accessibility and testimonial reliability. This systematic review with narrative synthesis examined empirical and interdisciplinary literature on developmental mechanisms relevant to autistic children’s participation in investigative interviews, including theory of mind, autobiographical memory, source monitoring, executive functioning, emotion regulation, sensory processing, and face processing. Across the reviewed evidence, interview performance appeared to reflect the degree of alignment between interview demands and children’s developmental capacities rather than inherent deficits in reliability. Findings suggest that structured and developmentally supportive interview conditions – including predictable sequencing, pacing flexibility, explicit questioning, visual supports, and sensory-adapted environments – may facilitate improved narrative coherence, communicative clarity, and reduced vulnerability to suggestibility. In contrast, interview practices based on neurotypical pragmatic assumptions may impose cognitive, linguistic, and sensory demands that hinder effective participation. Building on these findings, the review proposes a Cognitive–Sensory–Cultural Framework that conceptualises investigative interviewing as an interactional process shaped by neurodevelopmental characteristics, interview structure, and sociocultural context. The review also highlights important gaps in the evidence base, including the underrepresentation of minimally verbal autistic children and the limited availability of research conducted within real-world Korean investigative settings. These findings have implications for the development of more accessible, developmentally informed, and culturally responsive investigative interviewing practices.