Paralinguistic abilities of adults with intellectual disability

Looking for social pragmatic communication disorder in the complex world of Italian special needs: an exploratory study

Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder (SPCD) is characterised by a number of pragmatic difficulties and may lead to obstacles in school readiness. These difficulties also apply to children with Special Needs. Several authors pointed out the difficulty to detect SPCD, also considering the lack of sensitive assessment tools. The aim of this study is to investigate the pragmatic ability of children with BES not otherwise specified (BES-NOS), compared to a control group of children with Typical Development (TD) using the Assessment Battery for Communication (ABaCo). Our expectation is that BES-NOS perform worse than children with TD. Furthermore, for exploratory purposes, we investigate whether it is possible to identify a subgroup of children with undiagnosed SPCD within the BES-NOS group, by performing a cluster analysis. Our results show that children with BES have a significantly lower pragmatic performance than the TD group and suggest the sensitivity of ABaCo in identifying individuals with undiagnosed SPCD among children and adolescents with BES-NOS.

Differences in pragmatic communication skills of adults with intellectual disabilities and dual diagnoses

INTRODUCTION

Pragmatics includes a set of skills related to language structure and meaning that allow the speaker to use the language appropriately and in accordance with different communication situations. The aim of this research was to determine the differences in pragmatic communication skills of adults with intellectual disabilities, dual diagnoses, and typical development, and to determine the effects of gender, age, the level of intellectual functioning and speech comprehension on their achievements on two assessment instruments.

METHODS

The sample included 180 adults (60 typically developing participants, 60 with intellectual disabilities, and 60 participants with dual diagnoses). We used two instruments to assess pragmatic communication skills - Communication Checklist - Adult, CC-A, and the Assessment Battery for Communication, ABaCo. In order to test the differences between the three groups of participants, we used canonical discriminant analysis.

RESULTS

Discriminant analysis revealed two significant canonical functions. Function one (speech comprehension and the level of intellectual disability, social engagement, and paralinguistic scale) differentiates between typically developing participants and participants with dual diagnoses the most. The second canonical function (language structure, linguistic scale, paralinguistic scale, extralinguistic scale, and context scale) differentiates between participants with intellectual disabilities and participants with dual diagnoses the most. According to the results, age did not affect pragmatic achievements.

DISCUSSION

Pragmatic skills are very complex, and different instruments measure different dimensions of these abilities. The results of this research lead to the conclusion that we can differentiate between the pragmatic abilities of typically developing people, people with intellectual disabilities, and those with dual diagnoses with the help of the ABaCo battery and the CC-A questionnaire.

A cross-sectional study to assess pragmatic strengths and weaknesses in healthy ageing

Background

Ageing refers to the natural and physiological changes that individuals experience over the years. This process also involves modifications in terms of communicative-pragmatics, namely the ability to convey meanings in social contexts and to interact with other people using various expressive means, such as linguistic, extralinguistic and paralinguistic aspects of communication. Very few studies have provided a complete assessment of communicative-pragmatic performance in healthy ageing.

Methods

The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess communicative-pragmatic ability in three samples of 20 (N = 60) healthy adults, each belonging to a different age range (20–40, 65–75, 76–86 years old) and to compare their performance in order to observe any potential changes in their ability to communicate. We also explored the potential role of education and sex on the communicative-pragmatic abilities observed. The three age groups were evaluated with a between-study design by means of the Assessment Battery for Communication (ABaCo), a validated assessment tool characterised by five scales: linguistic, extralinguistic, paralinguistic, contextual and conversational.

Results

The results indicated that the pragmatic ability assessed by the ABaCo is poorer in older participants when compared to the younger ones (main effect of age group: F(2,56) = 9.097; p < .001). Specifically, significant differences were detected in tasks on the extralinguistic, paralinguistic and contextual scales. Whereas the data highlighted a significant role of education (F(1,56) = 4.713; p = .034), no sex-related differences were detected.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that the ageing process may also affect communicative-pragmatic ability and a comprehensive assessment of the components of such ability may help to better identify difficulties often experienced by older individuals in their daily life activities.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03304-z.

Searching for Best Predictors of Paralinguistic Comprehension and Production of Emotions in Communication in Adults With Moderate Intellectual Disability

Paralinguistic comprehension and production of emotions in communication include the skills of recognizing and interpreting emotional states with the help of facial expressions, prosody and intonation. In the relevant scientific literature, the skills of paralinguistic comprehension and production of emotions in communication are related primarily to receptive language abilities, although some authors found also their correlations with intellectual abilities and acoustic features of the voice. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate which of the mentioned variables (receptive language ability, acoustic features of voice, intellectual ability, social-demographic), presents the most relevant predictor of paralinguistic comprehension and paralinguistic production of emotions in communication in adults with moderate intellectual disabilities (MID). The sample included 41 adults with MID, 20–49 years of age (M = 34.34, SD = 7.809), 29 of whom had MID of unknown etiology, while 12 had Down syndrome. All participants are native speakers of Serbian. Two subscales from The Assessment Battery for Communication – Paralinguistic comprehension of emotions in communication and Paralinguistic production of emotions in communication, were used to assess the examinees from the aspect of paralinguistic comprehension and production skills. For the graduation of examinees from the aspect of assumed predictor variables, the following instruments were used: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was used to assess receptive language abilities, Computerized Speech Lab (“Kay Elemetrics” Corp., model 4300) was used to assess acoustic features of voice, and Raven’s Progressive Matrices were used to assess intellectual ability. Hierarchical regression analysis was applied to investigate to which extent the proposed variables present an actual predictor variables for paralinguistic comprehension and production of emotions in communication as dependent variables. The results of this analysis showed that only receptive language skills had statistically significant predictive value for paralinguistic comprehension of emotions (β = 0.468, t = 2.236, p < 0.05), while the factor related to voice frequency and interruptions, form the domain of acoustic voice characteristics, displays predictive value for paralinguistic production of emotions (β = 0.280, t = 2.076, p < 0.05). Consequently, this study, in the adult population with MID, evidenced a greater importance of voice and language in relation to intellectual abilities in understanding and producing emotions.

Procedural Learning through Action Observation: Preliminary Evidence from Virtual Gardening Activity in Intellectual Disability

Intellectual disability (ID) compromises intellectual and adaptive functioning. People with an ID show difficulty with procedural skills, with loss of autonomy in daily life. From an embodiment perspective, observation of action promotes motor skill learning. Among promising technologies, virtual reality (VR) offers the possibility of engaging the sensorimotor system, thus, improving cognitive functions and adaptive capacities. Indeed, VR can be used as sensorimotor feedback, which enhances procedural learning. In the present study, fourteen subjects with an ID underwent progressive steps training combined with VR aimed at learning gardening procedures. All participants were trained twice a week for fourteen weeks (total 28 sessions). Participants were first recorded while sowing zucchini, then they were asked to observe a virtual video which showed the correct procedure. Next, they were presented with their previous recordings, and they were asked to pay attention and to comment on the errors made. At the end of the treatment, the results showed that all participants were able to correctly garden in a real environment. Interestingly, action observation facilitated, not only procedural skills, but also specific cognitive abilities. This evidence emphasizes, for the first time, that action observation combined with VR improves procedural learning in ID.

Defining breast cancer awareness and identifying barriers to breast cancer awareness for women with an intellectual disability: A review of the literature

INTRODUCTION

Incidence rates for developing breast cancer are similar for women regardless of intellectual ability. However, women with an intellectual disability present with advanced breast cancers, which often have a poor prognosis.

METHOD

A structured narrative review of the literature was performed to explore the concepts of breast awareness and breast cancer awareness and subsequently, identify barriers to breast cancer awareness encountered by women with an intellectual disability.

RESULTS

A total of 22 studies involving people with varying levels of intellectual disability informed this review. The barriers to breast cancer awareness encountered by women with an intellectual disability include: lack of their understanding, the role of the carer and literacy issues.

CONCLUSION

Identifying the barriers to breast cancer awareness for women with an intellectual disability will help to facilitate breast cancer awareness which has the potential to result in better long-term outcomes through an early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Body Expression-Based Intervention Programs for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review

The benefits of physical exercise on human health are widely known. However, the level of physical activity in the majority of the population is considered insufficient. People with intellectual disabilities (ID), in particular, show this lack of physical activity to a greater extent. It has been noted that the promotion of activities focused on corporal expression (CE) stimulates the motivation to carry out physical exercise in this population group. The aim of this study was to carry out a systematic review of the last ten years of CE programs carried out in people with ID. The criteria established in the PRISMA statement were followed in the literature search. The databases consulted were Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed, PsycInfo and Elton B. Stephens Company (EBSCO). Eight exclusion criteria were established for the selection of articles. For the analysis of the selected research, three quality criteria for interventions were established. Subsequently, a summary table with the characteristics of each study was made. In conclusion, it can be stated that CE programs in people with ID report benefits at both physical and psychosocial levels. It is necessary to extend this approach for the promotion of healthy physical activity that advocates social inclusion.